‘NCIS’ season 14, episode 9 preview: Is ‘Pay to Play’ a key Vance story?

We’re not going to lie: Anytime we see the words “Pay to Play” these days, a shiver goes down our spine. It’s developed a connotation that is by and large negative, so seeing what “NCIS” season 14 is going to do when it comes to this story (airing on December 6) should prove rather interesting … even if CBS isn’t exactly being kind to share an abundance of details regarding what is coming up in advance.

Synopsis – “The NCIS team investigates a series of escalating threats against Congresswoman Jenna Flemming (Mary Stuart Masterson), while Director Vance oversees temporary protection detail.”

We do think that there is a very large degree of pop-culture relevancy within this narrative, with a lot of that stemming for the most part from the simple fact that we’re getting a story here that is all about a culture that has become very damaged and inundated with a lot of pain and fear. You have many people speaking out negatively just because they think that having a voice is better than no voice at all; not all of them mean what they say, but they feel like they have to say something in order to matter. That’s not necessarily the case.

Within the scope of this episode, we feel like the threat here is a little bit more credible given that the NCIS team is involved; we also get the sense that this could be a key story for Leon Vance, and it feels about the right time for that. We’re in the thick of the time of season when this show in particular likes to do these personal stories. We’ve had that as of late for several series regulars including McGee, Nick Torres, Alex Quinn, and tonight with Ellie Bishop. Why not continue to spread the love around? Vance is, after all, consistently underrated as a presence on this show.

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