NCIS: New Orleans - NOLA Confidential - Review: “It All Comes Back to Clearwater”
3.20 - “NOLA Confidential”
Directed by Geary McLeod
Written by David Appelbaum & Taylor Streitz
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
“NOLA Confidential,” opens with some excellent music and two people meeting in a bar. It looks like a drug deal. They go out back to make the deal when the younger guy gets suspicious because he hears something. He raises his gun and ends up shooting the older man who he bought the drugs from a few moments ago.
An undercover police officer/detective shoots the younger man and radios in that there’s an officer down.
Meanwhile, back at the HQ kitchen, Rita and Pride are having a romantic dinner. She wants to talk to Pride and she admits that the food and drinks could help make the conversation easier.
Rita has some info, she thinks that Mayor Hamilton is forcing people in Clearwater, a region of NOLA that is struggling, to sell their properties. The question is, why?
Rita drops another bomb. She has a job offer in Washington D.C. They want her right away, but she thinks what she and Pride have is special and she wants to give it a chance. Before much can be said, Pride gets word of the murder. Rita understands and jokes that he has to clean the dishes when he gets back.
The victim, Nathan Kelly, is a naval officer working at the port during the day and dealing drugs at night. He was selling fentanyl, a highly addictive opiate drug, which according to Loretta, is, “fifty times more powerful than heroine.” How did he get his hands on the fentanyl?
Looks like the team has company and there’s some tension. LaSalle tells Lieutenant Spencer that they are, “always willing to step in a fix some local’s messes.” Oh! Ha ha ha! They are just joking! They are friends! He used to work VICE with them.
They think the victim had a hook up at the ports. LaSalle wants to know where Marino is, another old buddy from VICE. His friends tell him the bad news, that he took a bullet during the crime.
Pride and LaSalle go to the hospital and visit Marino. He pulls out a flask and starts drinking. Marino leaves the hospital with Pride and LaSalle. He says that Kelly must have had a hook up at the dock. Marino tells them that he’s pissed Spencer got a promotion awhile back.
Kelly’s digital footprint doesn’t show any signs of selling drugs, especially not fentanyl. He did however alter a ship log for a cargo ship bringing supplies to the navy in Panama. He added an additional crate, but there isn’t a record on the ship. Looks like he might be moving the drugs overseas.
Sebastian found something! Fentanyl has a signature make up and the fentanyl they found on Kelly matched a batch that NOPD confiscated last year. The drugs should be locked up in NOPD storage. If Nathan Kelly is moving these drugs, someone inside of the NOPD Vice Squad is most likely helping him. This does not sit well with LaSalle.
Sebastian says that the drugs match the 50 kilos that was confiscated by NOPD Vice Squad. He and Gregorio are going to meet the cargo ship that is heading to Panama. Sebastian is excited about going, says that he’s cool with ships, it’s just the water that makes him nervous a.k.a. seasick. Gregorio tells Sebastian that she’ll shoot him if he pukes on her.
LaSalle points out that the guys at VICE took him in after Hurricane Katrina and they helped him rebuild his house. They are like family to him. He doesn’t think any of them would be capable of helping steal the fentanyl from the NOPDF lock up.
Pride and LaSalle are still in HQ. Pride tells Christopher if it gets, “too close to home,” that he can stop out, but he wants to stay on the case.
Meanwhile on the ship, Gregorio gives Sebastian an “herbal” pill to help with his seasickness. Aw, Sebastian. The guys on the ship don’t seem happy that they are there to inspect cargo.
Pride and LaSalle head to NOPD. Christopher wants to go check it out himself, he says that Pride will be considered an “outsider.” While Christopher is inside, Rita calls Pride with an update. She says that Audubon Industries are the company buying up all of the property in Clearwater. Who wants to bet the Mayor owns or has something to do with Audubon industries? *raises hand*
Rita wants to go investigate. Pride wants her to wait for him, but she says since she’s already there, not to worry about it. I have a bad feeling something is going to happen to Rita.
LaSalle is talking to Marino at NOPD about the case. Marino is drinking at work and LaSalle is concerned. Marino tells LaSalle that there’s no way Kelly was involved in the fentanyl deal from before, that a bunch of “chemistry students,” were responsible for making that batch. All of the people involved are allegedly in jail and the drugs are in the evidence locker.
LaSalle wants to take a look at the drugs. Marino wants to know why. Things are getting a little bit tense and to top it off, Spencer and the other cop from the night before are watching his every move.
Ooh! Marino says that the drugs aren’t there anymore. LaSalle wants to know where they are. Marino says that he took him to the incinerator last week. He tells LaSalle that he signed off on it himself. Marino wants to know if LaSalle is accusing him of something, LaSalle says that he isn’t, but clearly something is going on and he wants to get to the bottom of it.
Back on the ship, Sebastian and Gregorio are escorted to the extra crate. Uh oh! The seal on the crate is broken, which according to the naval officer is “impossible.” When they open the crate, they quickly find out that it’s empty. That means the drugs have been moved and are most likely somewhere on the ship. Not good!
LaSalle leaves NOPD HQ and breaks the news to Pride. He tells Pride that Marino signed the evidence out and gave it to Kelly, instead of incinerating it. He’s torn up about it.
Sebastian and Gregorio video conference in with LaSalle and Pride. Turns out there was more than just fentanyl in the crate. There’s trace evidence of heroin, cocaine, and other drugs. Pride wants them to search the entire ship. Sebastian is talking really fast and seems pretty jacked up. Pride asks if he’s experiencing seasickness, he says that he isn’t, he said he’s feeling great thanks to the Chinese medicine Gregorio gave him. Ha ha ha! I love Sebastian!
They have to find the accomplice in order to find the drugs. If they can’t, they’ll have to search a hundred crates before they get to the Panama Canal. This is going to be a big task.
Pride wants to know how Marino and Kelly are connected. Patton to the rescue! Brian Cooper and Nathan Kelly grew up together and played ball together. Turns out that Brian Cooper is in charge of incinerating evidence taken by the NOPD. Did Cooper give Kelly the drugs? Was Marino involved?
Sebastian and Gregorio are looking for the drugs. Sebastian has an idea! What if the drugs were never meant to be taken off the ship, hidden as cargo? What if they were going to be dispersed sooner? Makes me think of the scene in Bad Boys II where Johnny hides the drugs in the bodies that are placed in caskets that can go underwater. FYI, that is one of my favorite movies. Don’t judge, just appreciate.
Sebastian has an idea, but it might be smelly. Ewwww, did someone try to put them down the waste disposal?
Pride and LaSalle head over to talk to Cooper. The incinerator is going, which could mean something dangerous is about to happen, what do you think?
The door to the incinerator is locked and Brian Coper won’t answer the door. They break in and find Brian Cooper, IN THE INCINERATOR! Eek!
Before Pride and LaSalle can call it in, Pride gets a phone call. Rita has been run off the road. He races off to find her. Dang!
Pride gets there before the police. Rita isn’t in her car, so Pride follows her blood trail. She is hiding in an open warehouse. She tells him that a truck rammed into her and it’s a truck that she’s seen before. It’s a truck that has been following her around Clearwater all day. If Hamilton is involved, calling the police will be counterproductive. Rita tells Pride that he’s the only one she can trust.
Sebastian and Gregorio are down in the compost area of the ship. He thinks that the drugs are in one of the composting containers, ready to be dumped into the ocean and picked up by drug dealers. Sebastian is all lit up. Gregorio finds the drugs, but a bad guy finds her at the same time. Woo hoo! Sebastian takes down bad guy! Gregorio says, “You did great, baby. You did great.”
LaSalle visits Loretta while Pride takes Rita to the hospital to get checked out. Loretta says that Cooper was shot and killed first before being shoved into the incinerator. Uh oh, she found evidence, finger prints to be exact. Loretta warns Christopher that she doesn’t think he’s going to be happy once she tells him who the finger prints belong to.
Pride and LaSalle head to the NOPD Vice Squad’s bullpen. They arrest Marino for murder. I don’t think he’s the only one involved. What about you?
LaSalle interviews Marino. He accuses him of taking the drugs before they were incinerated by Cooper. LaSalle tells Marino that he’s a “disgrace.” Marino says that he, “didn’t kill anyone and that he didn’t steal anything.” Christopher shows him the gloves with the finger prints. Marino says that he was set up. He says, “I’m not the guy you’re looking for!”
LaSalle is frustrated. He tells King that Marino, “is too far gone.” King tells LaSalle that things are just too neat, the crime is just too perfect. I agree. King says that both Kelly and Cooper have had an influx of cash lately, while Marino remains broke. Pride asks LaSalle, “If that were me in the interview room, would I get the benefit of the doubt?” That’s deep. Real deep.
Gregorio and Sebastian video conference Pride and LaSalle. They tell him Mitchel Castor, who is the Maintenance Officer on the ship. Pride is proud of Sebastian. I love it! Castor admits that Kelly brought him in on the drug operation. He was supposed to drop the drugs overboard for the buyers to pick up. The plan stopped working when the buyers, who are Mexican drug cartel members, were picked up.
A company has been paying Castor large sums of money and you’ll never guess the name of the company! AUDUBON INDUSTRIES! The same company Rita was going to investigate before her car was run off the road.
Pride brings Rita a cup of coffee in bed. Aw, sleepover! He tells Rita about the connection to the drugs. Rita says that Audubon Industries is a, “glorified shell company.” She tells him, “They have an empty office.”
Rita and Pride think there is a cop that is working for Mayor Hamilton, so he’s not getting his hands dirty, at least, not directly.
Rita wants to head downtown to request NOPD personnel records. Ha ha ha! She tells Pride she’s not asking for permission, she’s just doing it. Get it, Rita! Pride is all, “Okay, well fine then… then I’ll come with you and I’m not asking for per-” He’s cut off because Rita shuts the door on him! Ha ha ha!
Patton is impressed! Rita got files on everyone who is part of the VICE Squad at NOPD. Wonder if they have LaSalle’s file? They must, has they have files that go back 15 years. Pride tells them to look for cops with deep ties to Hamilton. LaSalle finds the file! His buddy Spencer, was accused of stealing drugs, but they magically reappeared in evidence. Instead of being charged and going to jail, everything was swept under the rug and by some miracle, he was promoted to be head of the VICE Squad. Wonder who made that happen? *cough cough* Mayor Hamilton!
Pride and LaSalle head out to find Spencer. Turns out he’s getting arrested by Spencer and his friend, who tell Marino that “too many people know” him at the NOLA jail, so they are going to take him to a different one.
Christopher and King are speeding down the highway, trying to find Spencer. I hope Spencer and his buddy aren’t trying to kill Marino. Patton
Uh oh! Patton just tracked Spencer down and gives the info to King and LaSalle, who is worried that they are going to kill Marino to cover their tracks!
Spencer tells his friend to pull the car over, he tells Marino that they believe him and know he didn’t take the drugs. OH MY GOSH! Spencer shoots the other cop! He has the gun pointed at Marino when LaSalle and Pride show up. They get into a gunfight. Marino ends up shooting Spencer and he dies at the scene. Pride is devastated! He knows that he can’t tie Mayor Hamilton to the Audubon group and/or the drugs now.
Patton, Sebastian, and Gregorio are back at HQ after the shooting. Sebastian still thinks Gregorio gave him Chinese herbs, she laughs and pulls out a bottle of over the counter allergy medicine. Patton says, “You got placeboed!”
He’s super excited, because he kicked butt and didn’t get seasick. Ha ha ha! He tells Gregorio to go on “the Twitter and tweet #SebastainsAwesome!” Ha ha ha ha ha!
LaSalle meets Marino at the NOPD. Christopher apologizes to Marino and urges that this could be his fresh start. Marnio admits that he hasn’t had a drink since LaSalle arrested him. LaSalle tells him, “I’m here for you, if you need anything.” That’s really sweet!
Pride heads back to HQ and meets Rita in the kitchen. He’s bummed about Hamilton. He tells Rita that they make a good team and that he wants to work with her to take Hamilton down. Rita doesn’t want Pride to worry about her and she doesn’t want to have toworry about her own safety. She drops a bomb, she’s moving to D.C. Rita says that Pride needs to be on the top of his game and fully concentrating in order to take down Hamilton. She doesn’t want to get in the way. They agree that what they have isn’t ending, it’s just being put on pause for now.
*******
My Thoughts:
Another intense and fantastic episode! I really liked the focus on Christopher’s past (I was hoping they would pull his old file and show everyone a picture of him from ten years ago, in full on rookie mode, anyone else?) as well as Sebastian going into beast mode and handling the scene on the ship like a pro! I think he and Gregorio work together well. I also really like that he saved her after freezing before he headed off to training.
I find it interesting that Rita is leaving. I wonder if she’ll come back? What are your thoughts on her role?
Leave me a comment below with your thoughts!
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