NCIS season 23 episode 5 is the second part of this week's crossover with NCIS: Origins. NCIS season 23 episode 4 featured a case with many twists and turns, and in that respect, the new episode comes close. But behind the surprises that a 33-year-old case still manages to throw the team's way lies an emotional connection to the past.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from NCIS season 23 episode 5
For McGee, in particular, working this case means remembering Gibbs and reconnecting with Vera Strickland — a memorable event that has its own ups and downs. The NCIS team has to blend past information with their modern ways of doing things to get to the bottom of the case.
An escape from prison sets things in motion in NCIS season 23 episode 5
Thomas Mulligan, the former sheriff of Serenity, California, escapes prison, and the NCIS team is called in to track him down. Parker fills them in on the charges and the fact that it was one of Gibbs's first cases.
The team and the prison warden think Mulligan is dangerous and violent. They don't yet know about the wrongful conviction. His escape makes no sense to them either — Mulligan was to be released in just three weeks. Things don’t start to make sense until Director Vance fills them in on the old case's details. It's a long line of flashbacks from the NCIS: Origins crossover episode.
Mulligan's cell was filled with drawings of Lainey Sims, the woman he went to prison for. Vance also tells the team how Mike Franks never got over the case, calling it "the one that got away".
Vera Strickland joins the team in NCIS season 23 episode 5
Vera is the team's strongest link to the past, much better than the old evidence box, despite the way she gets on Parker's nerves. She needs to be on the case, to close it for Franks, and for herself.
Once Vera tells the team to talk to Congressman James Wallace — Jimmy Wallace from back then — new details about the old case start to surface. Grandpa Dom, the beating of whom Mulligan allegedly killed retired Navy officer Louis Burke over, died from his injuries. Jimmy even says he visited Mulligan in prison, helping with his parole.
Meanwhile, Torres and Knight find Mac Sim, Lainey's ex-husband, in Serenity, California. He reveals that Lainey died three years before because of the guilt. She killed Burke in a fit of rage, while he buried the gun and staged Burke's suicide. He also lets slip that he doesn't think Burke killed Dominic Wallace, right before killing himself.
Vera brings Woody and Phil in as a link to that case. They even bring the original murder weapon — bloodied bat used to strike Dominic Wallace. Kasie's DNA results reveal that Mac was right — Burke had nothing to do with Grandpa Dom's death.
NCIS season 23 episode 5 opens a case within a case
The team now has to get to the bottom of the Dominic Wallace case while still looking for Mulligan. Gibbs's notes help them find out that Wallace filed multiple files with the San Diego County Office and set up a meeting on the day he was beaten. He was in the process of gifting his property to Serenity to get the town access to the aquifer underneath, instead of making a fortune off it from the water company.
Somehow, Jason Cross, who Mulligan himself reveals to be his and Lainey's son, figured out all that when his mother told him the truth on her deathbed. He also pieced together who the real killer was: the only man who had something to gain from Dominic Wallace not giving the property away, his grandson.
The team has to find and stop Jason before he can get his revenge. Parker and Vera do, and it's Vera who manages to talk him out of committing suicide over what he sees as failing his mother. Jason and Mulligan are reunited, and Vera's happy with the closure she got.
By the episode’s end, the team solves two cases at once, clearing up both Mulligan's and Burke's names. Justice may have taken 33 years, but the truth finally finds its way through.
NCIS season 23 episode 6 will reprise its normal time slot, coming on Tuesday, November 18, on CBS at 8/7 c.
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