NCIS season 15, episode 7 review: Did NCIS commit a crime?

We have been learning a little more about Jack Sloane on NCIS season 15 and we have to say that after seeing her working a little more closely with the team last week, we really think she’s a good fit. There’s still a lot to learn about her (she really is a bit of an enigma), but the little reveals here and there have been exciting. We know that she was in Psy-Ops in the army, that she has mysterious scars on her back and that there’s a little chemistry brewing with Gibbs. Whether that’s going to turn romantic or not is a different story, but for now there’s a nice working chemistry and what seems to be a developing friendship.

Did NCIS commit a crime?

There is a very an interesting case of the week we have in this episode! Normally NCIS is out looking for the bad guys, but here we have a man (Hicks) that’s been jailed for a crime he says he didn’t commit… and that NCIS are the ones that set him up to take the fall for this murder. This case was originally looked after with NCIS and the FBI, so there were a few cooks in the kitchen that could’ve been involved if this really was a frame job.

During Hicks’ trial, a second string medical examiner was the one who originally did the autopsy on the body, so they exhume the body and have Ducky take a look for anything that was missed. The original ME missed that this person was killed with a left handed swing to the head and Hicks is right handed and likely innocent. So who killed this man and was Hicks was framed by NCIS?

When more bodies start showing up, Tobias wants to link Hicks to these other murders as well and with a retrial going on Tobias wants to make sure that Hicks is jailed forever. Gibbs on the other hand wants to look at this from a different angle and see if maybe Hicks isn’t the man they are looking for. Gibbs finds a witness that tells him that it wasn’t Hicks and that she told this to Tobias 10 years back and he covered it up because he thought that Hicks threatened the witness. Tobias then goes on to say that his whole life will be ruined if this comes out – to which Gibbs says he doesn’t care in the least. Needless to say, there is some pretty serious tension between these two characters now.

Is Gibbs going to end up covering for Tobias? It’s a really difficult position for him to be in, so when Hicks’ lawyer asks about the witness he clams up. Now Gibbs is being called to the stand and after talking to Jack he realizes that he has to tell the truth…. all of it, including Tobias covering up the statement from the witness.

The twist at the end was that Hicks (now a free man), turned out to not be all that innocent after all and that it’s very possible that Tobias was right about him all along. We can’t wait to see this case revisited!!!! It’s been a while since we’ve had a villain like Hicks that was so sympathetic and believable that we bought into everything he was selling, so when we saw him switch hitting at the batting cages we really were surprised and it’s been a long time since this show has done that to us. Bravo!

CarterMatt’s overall thoughts

There have been some great cases of the week this season, but this one is head and shoulders above the rest. It was fantastic to see NCIS in the hot seat, investigating themselves tonight. What we especially loved seeing was some more interaction between Sloane and Gibbs. This relationship is growing in a beautiful way that is seriously roping us in. The touches, the smiles and the back and forth between them is intoxicating!

What did you think of tonight’s episode of NCIS? Leave us a comment in the box below with your thoughts. If you want more scoop on what’s coming up next time on NCIS then head to the link here and check out a preview.

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