The NCIS season 23 premiere had Agent Alden Parker doing everything he could to find Carla Marino, who he suspected of his father’s untimely death. Despite the threat of getting in trouble with Vance, the team did what they could to help. What happened at the end that could have endangered Parker’s life?
Flashbacks in the episode also showed how Alden got into trouble as a kid, stealing and ending up in jail, while his dad and sister looked on in disappointment. Parker had always talked about how he wasn’t the best kid growing up, and now he has lost his father, which he feels personally responsible for.
Despite the team trying to do things by the book to find Carla, Parker quietly calls in dozens of bomb threats to make sure she can’t travel out of the country. This does lead them to finding her abandoned vehicle, which has the ID that was used by the fake federal agent, Ford, she had with her when Parker was abducted earlier.
How did the team help Parker in the aftermath of his father's death in the NCIS season 23 premiere?
Even though Vance tells the team to stand down, they go to help Parker anyway. They learn that there have been multiple attacks in areas led by Carla’s enemies, whom she had betrayed. An informant of Torres’s leads them to Ford, but before they can make a move, he is taken by other men with guns.
They end up finding Ford, where Parker questions him about his father’s death. He learns that Carla did pull the trigger using Parker’s own weapon, which she still had and the team knew about. They didn’t want to hurt Parker with the information, knowing Carla did that on purpose to make him suffer.
When he does find out, he is angry, but the team tells him to stay back now that they have a lead on where Carla is going. Supposedly, she is escaping on a rundown ship called The Quentin, and now, without the team at his back, Parker has gone onboard.
We were also introduced to Parker’s sister, Vice Admiral Harriet Parker, who went to see Jimmy about her dad’s effects while also seeing the folder regarding her mother’s death. She doesn’t ask about the folder, but their conversation makes it clear she still sees her brother as a troublemaker.
Parker hasn’t been returning her calls, likely due to the fractured nature of their relationship. But later, when she takes over the investigation of The Quentin, she has a tough decision to make. She has orders to take out the ship to stop Carla before it heads to International waters. Knowing Parker is on board, it is clear she is torn on what to do, but Vance and the team do not have any other options to try.
Meanwhile, on the ship, Parker had been following Carla’s men when they spotted him, so he made a run for it. He managed to lock himself in a room, when he turned and muttered, “Oh crap.”
Does this mean he ended up in the same room as Carla? Or did he see something that took him by surprise?
However, this plays out for Parker, we’ll have to wait for answers in the next episode when it comes back on Tuesday, Oct. 21 on CBS. In the meantime, you can find the newest episode streaming on Paramount+.