Sam Hanna returned to the universe on NCIS Season 22 Episode 18, bringing with him a vibrant jolt of flavor to savor as the series continues.
I may have seen one episode of NCIS: LA in its history, and I didn’t watch NCIS: Hawai’i other than a few times, either, so I’m kind of in the dark here.
So, that’s the bad news. The good news is that I enjoyed his “return,” even if he was more of a new (but recognizable) face to me.
So what brought Sam Hanna back to the NCISverse after not one, but two of his previous shows were canceled?
I’m glad you asked.
I was totally on board with the poor guy trying to get a good night’s sleep in his hotel room. Who hasn’t been there (maybe without the squeaky bunny slippers)?
When you can’t afford top-rate accommodations, traveling can be a bear. Thankfully, most of us don’t get killed for spreading good cheer by pounding on an inconsiderate neighbor’s door.
But when NCIS got to what was really one nasty-looking motel (seriously, no way could I have slept there as an adult), we learned Squeaky Slippers was not alone. He was collateral damage. The real job was done next door.
No WONDER it was so loud. Arguments leading to death will create quite a ruckus.
The antics at the murder scene were top-notch NCIS fun, from Parker telling Nick not to be so judgy about his wanting a pair of squeaky skippers (for his dad) to Jimmy’s “I am the fort” declaration.
Who says murder can’t be fun?
All three of the men in the other room were veterans. One man, covered in blood, remained alive, and he was asking for Sam Hanna aka XT5256.
Was the bloody fella, Mark Davis, sent on a mission with Sam as backup? It turns out that Sam isn’t an NCIS agent anymore. After his ELITE team was killed in Hawaii, he needed a change of pace.
I guess that really screwed with Sam’s head because he needed blood, and getting it meant fighting wars on foreign shores, intervening in sqirmishes halfway around the world — with a laser pointer.
That’s right. Sam’s fighting bureaucracy in Washington to keep democracy alive in foreign nations, I think. It was a very short introduction to what he’s doing now to connect the dots to how he relates to the case.
Sam said Mark Davis, who he called Captain Caveman, was a Special Forces legend, and if his data was cleaned, they needed to know why. He saved Sam’s life more than once, and Sam would still trust him with his life.
The problem? The guy covered in blood was not Mark Davis. It was his brother, Roger. Mark was in danger, but for some reason, he couldn’t pick up a phone.
Funny how that happens. He managed to call his brother and repeat his badge number, but he couldn’t contact Sam directly. Huh.
The kicker is that Mark, who feared he was in terrible danger, fully believing the only man who could help him was Sam Hanna, called his estranged brother instead. Forehead slap.
Sam had the appropriate attitude during Roger’s interrogation. He was rather flippant and annoyed. He wondered why the guy didn’t, you know, call 9-1-1 when he stumbled upon a group of men who were clearly in bad shape.
He just shook his head as if he had no idea why he wouldn’t have done something so logical.
At least it piqued Sam’s interest.
Probably more outrageous than Roger’s plight was that Jimmy keeps in touch with Sam, and when Sam comes to town, they get together for Karaoke night.
You know what’s scarier than gunshots? Bed bugs. Sam and Parker practically jumped out of their skin at the mention of them.
All three of the vets were using veteran job services through Liberty Staffing, where Sam folded a paper duck for one such man in the waiting room. That’s where Jess got to express her condolences about Sam’s ELITE Team, since she experienced something similar with her REACT Team.
Those names are ridiculous. Does the government really have such naming conventions? Yikes.
The Liberty Staffing agent used her screentime to tell them what they already knew. Soldiers find it hard to return from war, struggling to find their place in the world. SEAL Team did it better, but that was kind of the point.
Another fun tidbit? Parker was a failed Boy Scout, having been kicked out for stealing wallets instead of making them. That’s a reference to the old days when scouting included things like making ashtrays and wallets for your parents.
The adventure boys, as Sam called them, weren’t doing either. Instead, they appeared to be getting ready for war.
But what does all of this have to do with Mark?
A photo of Desiree Wilson landing a right hook offered another clue. Mark lied to her, and she didn’t like it. While being questioned, Desiree cracked pretty quickly. She thinks Mark killed the men in the hotel, and she might have been next.
Sam wanted Jess and Nick pulled out immediately so he could conduct his own questioning, but Parker wouldn’t have it. If he had, Jess and Nick might not have pulled the details out of Desiree.
Mark pulled her and others into Iron Horizon, a private military contractor, who was hired to protect Columbian bad guys. Everyone pulled in wanted out, and Desiree claimed Mark gave them their wish by erasing them from the world at large.
That hit Sam hard, so he hit the heavy bag. That gave our favorite NCIS tactical wallpaper time to drop by for a chat with Sam, where Sam revealed that Iron Horizon was revealed during some senate hearings.
Sam is struggling with what Mark might have done, and Director Vance offered words he needed to keep trying to prove his old friend was innocent. This is a puzzle of some sort.
The paper the map is on was an origami marker that formed an IP address with a boatload of evidence about Iron Horizon and what they’d been doing. It wasn’t pretty.
Mark had victim’s names in his files, and Iron Horizon was systematically taking them out. Nobody had accessed the IP address but NCIS, so what info they do have came from Mark. He must have been alive.
The senator who gave Sam guff early in the episode received significant donations from Iron Horizon. The senator, who knows better than anyone that me comes before we, pulled strings to get a list of the company’s assets, revealing a transport ship in Baltimore.
Mark is being held there by a bunch of mercenaries. Is this where Sam’s tactical skills come in? He leads McGee, Jess, and Nick through the body of the ship. The mercenaries should have been manning their iron horizon better.
These fellas aren’t Columbian. They’re Russian (one of the few countries we’re still allowed to portray as bad guys) because of course they are.
They found Mark thanks to Parker’s understanding of the language. He was in the pump room. A ruckus ensued, putting NCIS in fabricated danger (this is no Bobby Nash situation… we have heard of no departures thus far).
Things got tense for a while, with the Russian baddies cracking their necks. Nick likened their continued emergence to a Russian clown car and invoked Die Hard before they attacked. Yippee Ki Yay.
Does anybody see our NCIS team winning against a bunch of Russian goons? They would have called in the SEALs for a detail like this. There is no way the Navy is sending in a few landlocked NCIS agents to take down mercenaries. Not a chance in hell.
The action is appreciated, but it’s ridiculously unrealistic. However, it accomplished what was necessary: Sam was reunited with Mark.
The annoying lady at Liberty Staffing, who talked down to Sam about the plight of veterans, was behind it. She was helping veterans by putting them in extreme situations. Hopefully, real life isn’t as cruel, but how we treat veterans isn’t much better.
We may love to watch soldiers on TV and in movies, but when it comes to supporting them after the fact, we receive no commendation.
NCIS: Hawai’i fans who were hoping for an update on their favorite agents got a little something in the end. Jane Tennant gave Sam the recipe for a tasty donut-like treat. If you wanted more than that, you were greatly disappointed.
Still, LL Cool J’s Sam Hanna has been in the NCISverse far longer, and his visit was fast-paced and fun. It also reminded us that veterans deserve our respect.
They also have an update on NCIS: LA‘s Hetty, which I know came as music to the ears of at least one TV Fanatic reader.
Sam has decided to quit his bureaucratic gig and reconsider his future. That may or may not include helping Hetty, who has found herself on the wrong side of the DMZ.
So, two nuggets there. Sam may return to NCIS, and he will more than likely assist his old friend.
But that’s not all! If you were worried that we lost all focus on what happened on NCIS Season 22 Episode 17, two short scenes alluded to it.
First, McGee’s top-secret quest to take down Laroche was making the rounds, and no wonder. He was discussing it in the building’s common area.
But making noise worked because Vance intercepted a file that McGee requested, giving him precious time alone with it. That’s as good as a green light to continue the investigation.
What it uncovers will have to wait.
What did you think about Sam’s visit to NCIS? Did your heart sing with the (extremely limited) mentions of past characters?
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