Pride is back after following his own path.

He proved he's the only person for his job on .

As the episode opened, it's six weeks after Pride took down corrupt Mayor Hamilton and foiled his backers on NCIS: New Orleans Season 3 Episode 24.

Pride was on administrative leave until he is willing to sign a paper saying in essence that he won't go off the reservation again. Not much chance of that happening and him meaning it.

Still, Pride was afraid that he had lost control and was almost willing to kill Hamilton, and he won't return to NCIS until he can be sure that he won't do such a thing again.

Another of his concerns was that there are people in New Orleans who resented what he did because the city lost jobs when the Naval shipyard didn't come there. So what if multiple people were killed in pursuit of that goal?

Pride seemed perfectly content to be a bar owner and part-time piano player. He had done an amazing job restoring his bar in a short period of time.

It was a hoot to hear Pride sing on stage. It was possible to envision him as a weekend musician.

Also high marks for having Jimmy Buffett singing "I Will Play for Gumbo" at Pride's grand opening.

But as nearly everyone said, he missed the action, and a return was inevitable. 

Still, it took Loretta and the new mayor, and the threat of a nuclear catastrophe, to get Pride back in action. 

I like Zena Taylor, the interim but likely full-time new mayor. Since the show has beaten the "corrupt mayor' card to death, it would be nice to have Pride enjoy working with Taylor.

I'm glad that Pride's period of introspection was kept short and sweet. One episode was more than enough of Supervisory Special Agent Paula Boyd.

In her role, she gets temporarily dropped into hot spots to solve short-term problems. So she had lots of war stories and no real feel for New Orleans.

Pride's team was definitely chafing under her by-the-book approach. Maybe she was hoping she could train the Pride out of them. She should have been listening to them instead since they knew the lay of the land.

So, when she turned the case over to the feds, naturally LaSalle led the home team on their own secret investigation. And, of course, they got better, faster results.

Still, this approach led to situations such as a suspect firing away with a machine gun while Gregorio hid behind the world's sturdiest couch, at least until Percy can draw a bead on him.

Yet it was this fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants approach that worked for the home team. Pride and company got answers a whole lot more quickly than the feds, despite a decided disadvantage in resources. Knowing the territory paid off for them.

Boyd also seemed to have a grudge against Pride from a long time ago, another reason she was coming down hard on him and his people. But she also knew him well, predicting that he would go his own way and probably get in trouble again, regardless of whatever paperwork he signed to get re-instated.

Will Pride tread any lighter as a result of what he's been through? I'm betting no. His style wouldn't work in Washington, but it's just right for New Orleans.

How does the rest of the team seem to be faring? Well, they appear to have drawn closer while under siege, finishing each other's sentences.

Apparently, we're done playing fledgling field agent Sebastian for laughs. He seems a lot more confident now.

LaSalle has become a solid No. 2, running a shadow team while Pride was MIA. It might be good to have situations where he's leading scattered through the season.

Gregorio and Percy seem to have become BFFs over the series hiatus. A good example was Gregorio urging Percy to forget about LaSalle and find another man.

And Gregorio solved her housing crisis by returning to the apartment they had shot up earlier and talking down the rent with the landlord. I like the idea of the two as roomies.

There wasn't much Loretta or Patton this time, but you have to spread the love around. Their times will come.

So good grades for working through Pride's existential crisis in 42 minutes. Pride's back and all is right at NCIS: New Orleans. Now we can get back to cases of the week featuring recurring characters, such as Isler and Eva Azerova, who return in NCIS: New Orleans Season 4 Episode 2. Will she and Gregorio pick up where they left off?

To catch up on the rogue Pride, watch NCIS: New Orleans online.

Are you glad Pride's back in charge, or did you want a longer separation? Will Percy and Gregorio make good roomies? Do we need an over-arching storyline this season? Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.