If a show lasts for 22 seasons, it just proves how popular it is. Though NCIS is a crime show, the camaraderie between the characters, their family joys and sorrows and their romances also make the thriller safe for family viewing, since violence is kept to a minimum and there is no profanity or vulgarity of any kind.
The series, created by Donald P Bellisario and Don McGill, that commenced in 2003, is about a team of special agents that form the fictional Naval Crime Investigative Services (NCIS). After a shaky start, it went on to become the third longest running show, currently airing. It had several spinoffs and an origin series too. Over the years the cast has changed, a few actors passed away (like the beloved Dr Donald Mallard or ‘Ducky’ played by David McCallum), so their characters were dropped, but the current team has formed a tightly-knit unit, who are brave, cheerful and unconditionally loyal to one another.
After the exit of the original leader Leroy Gibbs (Mark Harmon) in Season 19, he was replaced by the equally solid Alden Parker (Gary Cole), and the core team now consist of Agent McGee (Sean Murray), Nick (Wilmer Valderrama), Jessica (Katrina Law), medical examiner Dr Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen), and the forensics wizard Kasie (Diona Reasonver), all overseen by the avuncular Director Vance (Rocky Carroll).
At the end of the last season, Jessica, who was dating the widowed Dr Palmer, took a promotion and moved out, breaking his heart. But the writers have found a way to get her back into the team, after she helps rescue Nick when his undercover role is blown, brings down a drug cartel, and refuses another promotion that would take her away again. She is taking it slow with resuming the romantic relationship with Dr Palmer, whose efforts to move on are doomed to failure.
In Season 22, the most out-of-the-headlines episode was the one in which the moral strength of Parker controls a situation that could have led to World War-III. Intelligence reports indicate the build up of Russian nuclear missiles sneaked into Belarus and aimed at Europe. US military brass is all for dropping a bomb on Belarus, which would obviously lead to an escalation of hostilities with Russia and possibly a big war. Parker insists that a subsequent series of encrypted mails be decoded first, facing arrest and court martial; with Kasie hard at work in a building with the internet cut off and power shut-down manages a split second aversion to catastrophe. Ukraine comes up here, and in a positive way.
The team is stuck with a devious candy-chewing deputy director Gabriel Laroche (Seamus Dever), who interferes with their work and obstructs them whenever he can, and then takes credit when they solve a case.
In this season, Parker’s PTSD sparks off, and brings in the topical problem of mental health issues caused by stress. Hopefully, in the next season, he and the others will expose and get rid of the annoying Laroche, and find solutions to their own troubles..
Like previous seasons, this one too is fast-paced, with quick banter between the characters, with a warmth that suffuses the famous orange room, and the escalator that is halted often for quick secret conversations.
NCIS Season 22
Created by : Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill
Cast: Gary Cole, Sean Murray, Wilmer Valderrama, Katrina Law and others
On Amazon Prime Video
