A bomb is certainly quite a dramatic way to return from the winter break!

On NCIS: New Orleans Season 1 Episode 11, the team discovered that someone wanted Agent Pride dead and that it was connected to his takedown of a mob family back in the day.

Agent Pride had to deal with not only the guilt of the innocent people suffering on his account but also feelings connected to the way he handled the mob case two decades earlier.

Join TV Fanatic Round Table panelists David Taylor, Doug Wolfe, Amanda Wolf and Kathleen Wiedel as they take a look at NCIS: New Orleans's latest entry. Be sure to add your own thoughts in the comments section below!

Was there any particular scene or quote that stood out for you?

David: I liked the quote Kathleen used in her review ("Let me put this in terms you'll understand: move, and the gun goes 'boom'!"), and I liked LaSalle's "Wrong answer" when a suspect called Brodie "the B-word." I also liked how LaSalle took charge immediately after the bombing since Pride was seeing to his daughter and Orion; however, this also included something I didn't like (see my next response).

Doug: I know it was sort of a cheesy scene but I enjoyed the father-daughter moment between Pride and Laurel outside of the hospital room, when he apologized for bringing her and Orion into his mess.

Amanda: I liked the fact that Orion was still in the game. I am glad that they haven't broken up yet, and I am glad that he wasn't written out of the show by an untimely death. It will give their relationship something to go on, unless it ends it completely.

Kathleen: All three of you hit on moments I really enjoyed! I also really liked the party scene where Loretta was totally wearing everyone out with her superior dancing stamina.

Did you find anything in the episode that you didn't like or just didn't work for you?

David: La Salle took charge after the bombing and said "Let's go learn things." While a bit of an homage to Pride, I just don't like the line no matter who uses it. I think it's melodramatic and borderline campy.

Doug: I’m with David. That line just is starting to rub me the wrong way. It’s starting to sound ridiculous.

Amanda: That line and others just didn't work for me. There were too many lines that had me cracking up, and it made parts of the episode hard to believe and distracted from them.

Kathleen: It is a bit of a silly line, isn't it? Anyway, one ongoing problem NCIS: New Orleans faces is the convoluted, complicated, and just plain confusing plots. When laid out end to end, they just make no sense. I wrote about this more extensively in my NCIS: New Orleans Season 1 Episode 11 Review. Basically, the writers need to take a step back, breathe, and consider these things more carefully before sending their scripts out.

Watch NCIS: New Orleans Season 1 Episode 11 Online

There have been a lot of complaints about Sebastian Lund as a character: specifically, that he's grating, annoying, and poorly written. Now that we're past the half-way mark in NCIS: New Orleans Season 1, do you think his characterization shows any improvement?

David: He was less annoying this episode and even showed a softer side by bringing flowers to Orion's bedside. I think if they keep him at this keel, he'll be more tolerable.

Doug: Yeah, he’s still irritating to me. He seems borderline antisocial at times - like when he was yelling at the evidence. That scene showed him as being childish. I think in order to salvage the character he’d need a total social makeover. In effect he’d need to become a different character entirely. I don’t see that happening - hence, I don’t have any hope for him.

Amanda: I agree with Doug, I think the character needs a social makeover. I feel like the writers are going over the top on him being the nerdy lab guy. He could still be a socially awkward character, but it doesn't need to be presented the way it is for the viewers to understand.

Kathleen: I'm with David: I found Sebastian Lund much better in this episode than he has been previously. His quirkiness was toned down and basically limited to the scene with the violas, but even that was a thoughtful gesture. I think that him yelling at the evidence was more an expression of stress than antisocial behavior; he nearly got blown up, too, after all.

Do you have any thoughts or insights into the peek we got into Pride's past and how he took down the Broussard Syndicate?

David: Nothing really comes to mind other than I enjoyed learning the backstory.

Doug: The explanation into how he brought them down was super short and neatly wrapped up. I think they could have done a lot more with that back story. But who knows? We’ve only seen one part of this story - so maybe the writers have more in store for us.

Amanda: I am hoping the writers come up with some more back story for us. The family's relationships with each other over the years and with Pride could be really interesting and have a lot of depth.

Kathleen: Hopefully, we'll see more of this story further down the road. I was actually surprised that we didn't get any actual flashbacks. I did find it interesting that Pride was willing to let so much of Baitfish's misdeeds slide in order to catch the "big fish". Today, Pride seems far less willing to compromise on that level.

Baitfish receives a huge payoff at the end of the episode. Who do you think is paying him and what is the goal of all the mayhem?

David: OK, I've got two theories. The first seems obvious--Steven Weber's character (Councilman Douglas Hamilton). We haven't heard from him in a while, but he's still out there. However, since we have no proof of his involvement yet, I'm gonna say Sasha. Yup--the "good" daughter. All of her siblings and cousins are dead or in jail so she'd rake in all the profits from the family business and she told Pride about Baitfish's threat which is why Pride drove to Baitfish's house.

The only problem is as Kathleen said in her review of the episode--neither Baitfish nor Pride died, so why the payday? I wonder if it was just a scare tactic from Councilman Hamilton, who would need to keep his hands clean for political reasons. We could all go down a rabbit hole on this one.

Doug: I think David might be onto something here. For some reason I didn’t buy Sasha’s carefully-wrought “daughter looking for a way out of the family” deal from the get-go. I wouldn’t put it past Hamilton to have struck a deal with the family - and more specifically Sasha - to take Pride out. He’s been a thorn in the side of both the Broussards and Hamilton from the start. Both have motive, so a deal makes sense. Someone has some deep pockets - Hamilton (with all of his dirty dealings) seems to be the perfect guy to fund all of this.

Amanda: I agree, I think David is on to something with suspecting that Sasha is the one that paid off Baitfish. Throughout the episode I wasn't buying her story and has half expecting the bomb reveal at the end to be about her. Although, if it isn't Sasha, another good story would be a new crime boss character coming in and clearing up the turf to make way for his empire. Just a thought.

Kathleen: Honestly, I'd actually be surprised if Sasha isn't involved in this somehow. She seemed way too helpful, actually coming to them on her own. I'm not sure if Councilman Hamilton would go the route of blowing up a gala (which I'm surprised he wasn't attending!). Maybe the purpose of the bomb wasn't so much to kill Pride as to just send a message. Though the full meaning of the message remains to be seen. All things considered, it was a bit ambiguous and probably could have been conveyed more clearly.