NCIS: New Orleans: The team and we need to give Quentin Carter a chance

NCIS: New Orleans introduced Charles Michael Davis’s character to the series. Quentin Carter ruffled some feathers, but we all need to give him a chance.

It’s extremely hard to say goodbye to someone we love. Even fictional characters are hard to say goodbye to, so it’s no wonder NCIS: New Orleans fans are struggling with the new character right now.

Charles Michael Davis’s Special Agent Quentin Carter was introduced in Episode 14, and he certainly ruffled a few feathers. As Davis’s characters usually do, he came in with a cocky smile, a quirky attitude, and a need for change. That never sits well with anyone. But that’s his personality. Like we can’t expect others to change for him, we also can’t expect him to completely change for others.

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The team and we need to give him a chance. It does feel like he’s coming into replace Lasalle, and nobody can do that. Christopher Lasalle was one of a kind. Lucas Black is one of a kind. But there’s an empty space on the team that needs to be filled. If not, the team will soon find itself stretched too thin.

While Carter is here to take the spot and work with the team, he’s not here to be another Lasalle. He has an entirely different mentality to the work, and as we learned in the episode, he’s a former Marine (well, a Marine because once a Marine, always a Marine, right?). The writers are also being respectful. They’re not trying to make him come in and change everything.

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He does have a heart. When he put his stuff on the spare desk, he saw the looks on the faces of Sebastian, Gregorio, and Khouri. He realized that this desk was Lasalle’s and there was an understanding look on his face. He’s lost colleagues, too. You could see that for just a second but then the walls went back up.

It’s clear that he’s used to moving on quickly. He doesn’t have time to gel with a team, and part of that will be because teams don’t give him a chance. His attitude could be a breath of fresh air if the team is willing to accept him. He managed to help the Marine during his first episode in a way that none of the other team members could have done. This is a character who will bring in skillsets that the others simply don’t have.

When embraced, he could become a team player. He wouldn’t have succeeded as a Marine if he couldn’t be a team player in some sort of way. There’s hope for him, but it’s time to take a step back from the feeling of him replacing Lasalle and accept him as his own character coming in to fill a gap that an untimely exit left.

The problem is Carter doesn’t want to be part of a “family.” It’s clear he’s hurting from something in his past, something that is holding him back from being a part of another team or family. The team needs to give him time to accept his past and move forward. So do we.

We’ve also got to trust Pride. Carter is someone Pride has chosen on NCIS: New Orleans. He convinced Carter to stick around at the end of the last episode. There has to be a reason for that. What has Pride seen?

Are you ready to give Quentin Carter a chance? What did you think of his introduction? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

NCIS: New Orleans airs Sundays at 10/9c on CBS.