NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 Works Miracles for Parker, Saves Christmas & Teases a Big Return!

Critic’s Rating: 4.25 / 5.0

4.25

Holy tonal whiplash, Batman!

NCIS Season 23 Episode 9 had three distinct segments, effectively closing the chapter on the mystery surrounding Parker’s mother, threatening Christmas for kids in need, and kicking the door to the NCIS: Elite story wide open.

There’s a lot to talk about, and we might as well do it in three distinct parts. Let’s go!

Let’s dive deep first because one huge mystery was solved. Parker got closure on his mother and father’s deaths. If you expected a two-fer, you’ve got one on me!

Every answer was delivered at once, and how they all tied together gave Parker a sense of relief he hadn’t had in years.

Yes, his parents were both murdered, but at the very least, he has closure for them both now. There are no more lingering secrets, and all of the hurt he felt about his mother’s abandonment has washed away.

Talk about a win.

The episode opened with a flashback to 1972, and I called it immediately. I knew that we were witnessing the end of Eleanor Parker in real time with the reveal that she was protecting Lily.

Why she was doing that took some more time to flesh out, but it’s actually a lovely story that paints everything Parker believed about his past in an entirely different light.

Parker remembered Lily because, for a short time, they played together while her mother took piano lessons from his.

Those early friendships can sear a mark onto your heart, whether you remember them or not. My own childhood memory of a similar time comes in flashes: licking icing off beaters with a little boy I wouldn’t recognize if he stood in front of me.

But memories have a strange way of reappearing when you don’t expect them, and something in Parker’s world brought Lily back to life for him, and it led him down a path of discovery he wouldn’t have taken otherwise.

If Jimmy and Kasie hadn’t gone ahead with the exhumation, that would have been another dead end. And if Kasie hadn’t been looking for DNA related to the accident, that might have been the end of it.

But she did, and once it was revealed the woman in Parker’s mom’s grave wasn’t in fact Parker’s mom, the rest began to solidify with each new piece of evidence.

We often wonder why agents on such shows travel when they could pick up the phone, and “Heaven and Nature” put that question to bed twice. 

Visiting the State Trooper photographed in the old accident photo seemed fruitless at first. But once the facial reconstruction of the body in the grave was complete, Jess spotted something unexpected. 

The visage before her looked suspiciously like the trooper’s wife in the photo in his trailer. 

The trooper’s dead wife was in Eleanor Parker’s grave. He was an abusive man, and Eleanor, who cherished her friendship with Judy, Lily’s mother, offered to help them escape.

It almost worked, except he ran them off the road and killed his injured wife, burning the car and claiming the body was Eleanor’s. He was off the hook for a while, but Eleanor did escape, taking Lily with her.

There are still some lingering questions, but they don’t matter to the story that NCIS needed to tell, so they’re left unanswered. 

One such question is how Lily made her way out of that hotel room to help. Another is why on earth did he keep a photo of a woman he killed in his possession, on display, no less?

As I said, it really doesn’t matter for Parker’s purposes, so it doesn’t matter for ours, either.

The second trip that Parker and Jess took rather than picking up the phone revealed Lily, now called Nelly, and her mirror-image granddaughter. She remembered Alden, whom she called Aldi, and she shared her story with them.

It was she who left the lipstick-stained glass behind with Roman the night of his murder. She worried that State Trooper Les, who had been searching for her to kill her, might have killed his father.

And frankly, I didn’t remember that there was specific evidence or a confession from Carla Marino about his father’s murder, so I wondered if it could have played out differently. Since it wasn’t mentioned again, I assume not.

I loved that the NCIS team had to get their hands dirty to discover Eleanor’s whereabouts. When it counts, being willing to take that chance changes outcomes.

I wouldn’t be upset if Nelly, who can return to Lily if she chooses, since she has survived her nightmare with Les’s arrest, stuck around and got friendly with Parker. I do love me some Barbara Niven.

And honestly, did anyone think the trooper wouldn’t be the killer? You don’t cast Bruce Davison to be inconsequential. Still, the whole story ended beautifully.

From the festive side of things, we had the entire team purchasing Christmas gifts for kids who needed them, with the toy of the year high on their wish list. 

Five agents found the elusive Blaze the Dragon, and while some of them thought they should have connected first to avoid duplication, I say, yay! If it’s the toy on every kid’s list, then you can never have too many.

But it’s never that easy with NCIS, and when the truck of toys was stolen by guys who were looking for military swag, Nick and McGee set out to save Christmas.

Of course, they did, and Nick played dress-up as Santa. It was a cute little side hustle for them as the rest of the team was busy solving Parker’s family mystery.

And I have to ask: why are McGee’s shoes always so darn white?? I’ve never seen a grown man with shoes that never get dirty. That man needs to get out more often.

But the excitement doesn’t stop there, my friends!

Finally, after hearing about NCIS Elite for the duration of NCIS Season 23, we learned that Jess is crushing her training. She also got her first case, and it’s a doozy.

The big reveal at the end of the hour was that Jess’s first op will be to find and bring in Ellie Bishop. That’s right. Our girl, deep undercover, has gone rogue. 

At least, that’s the only reason I can think of that they’d be pulling in Elite to find her. Isn’t it for cases that more or less fall between the cracks? Of agents who outlived their usefulness or operatives they created who they can no longer control?

That’s been my reading of it, but I could be wrong. I know you’ll clue me in if I am.

Ellie left NCIS under the cover of darkness, more or less, to go deep undercover. And since she’s now a mission and right in NCIS’s backyard, something significant happened along the way. 

Whatever it is, she is lost to the agency and must be found. 

Don’t hate me, but I can’t help but think this is the storyline that will propel Knight and Torres into each other’s arms. 

The first thing Jess did when she received the assignment was look at Nick, and that exchanged glance had undercurrents beyond partners. They always do.

Torres has been dating, but even when he dated Jess’s sister, he was in a playful position with Jess at the same time. Things with Bishop ended, but it was rushed and offered little closure.

I can’t think of another reason to bring this specific character back at this time. Sure, it’s fun to see past characters pop up, but they usually have a purpose beyond just an appearance.

You may have an entirely different opinion, so please share it and your thoughts on the whole episode down below.

It was an excellent finale that finished long-gestating stories and set things up for an exciting return in the spring. But man, is that far off or what?

Now it’s your turn! I’m sure there’s plenty I missed (a more congenial interaction with Parker and Vance, for instance), so get yourself moving to the comments below and have your say!