NCIS 15x03 "Exit Strategy" Review

SPOILERS

“Exit Strategy” was one of those episodes where I loved the buildup and hated the resolution.

Torres is on a joint stakeout with someone from the PD. He goes to apprehend their target and while away from the car his partner for the day has disappeared. He’s run off with a woman whom Detective Sergeant Sportelli is positive died ten years before. It turns out she had escaped the bomb that supposedly killed her and started over with a whole other life. There’s a whole bunch of digging up the past, discovering who the real father of her son is, who could possibly have kidnapped him, why they are still after the money she was looking for ten years ago. And it turns out…one of the dirty cops is Sportelli. They rescue the son and corner Sportelli, who, instead of surrendering, decides to commit suicide. There’s a happy ending for Michelle Lane and her son as she is able to put her crazy past behind her.

There’s also a very nice subplot carrying on from last episode with Ducky over in Scotland. He is giving a talk about his best cases, including the only instance of “Body in a Body”. A fellow alum rescues him from a barrage of fanboy questions and offers him a teaching residency for a semester at her college, John Jay. The episode ends with Ducky telling Palmer he is going to take the residency. He’s discovered he isn’t as needed as much as he thought.

Ducky gives a lecture.

This is an episode where there are “lasting consequences to the universe”. Sportelli has showed up in several episodes before. He was always a thorn in their side, like any non-NCIS law enforcement on the show. But to almost using him as a scapegoat and taking him out of the narrative permanently seemed like the easy way out instead of bringing in a new character. Also, Ducky transitioning out of the show is one I had not really been expecting. Here’s one more of the original characters moving out of the show.

I still don’t dislike the show, don’t get me wrong. So far it hasn’t seemed like they are running out of ideas for plots. But the characters are starting to get exhausted, and after 15 years, who wouldn’t?

9/10