NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 4 Review: Legacy
Dale McGarrigle
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Pride's new position has been a win/win so far.
The possibilities were on full display on NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 4.
Pride is taking advantage of his title of Special Agent in Charge of the Southeast Region, cherry picking what he wants to work on.
Meanwhile, his "former" team gets a kindly caretaker in Hannah to nudge them along, who seems more like a veteran teammate than a boss exerting her authority to make a point.
It's an interesting study of contrast to see how well this leadership "transition" (we all know it's temporary) has been handled here, compared to the trainwreck (Jeep wreck?) that has marked Mosley's tenure on NCIS: Los Angeles.
I have to start with Pride, because, even though this week's case was timely, Scott Bakula is at the top of the credits. He's the straw that stirs the drink, to use a postseason baseball analogy.
Related: NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 3 Review: Diplomatic Immunity
What we've learned from the first two weeks of SAC Pride is that his new office is going to be a set rarely used.
On NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 3, he was there just long enough to establish that he didn't mesh with the staples of bureaucracy. This episode, he visited briefly to pick up some files, chat with Gregorio about LaSalle and encourage his aide about her ambitious post-graduate studies.
He doesn't seem like a man seriously striving to find a new home, does he? Rather, it's like he's on sabbatical, researching how the out-of-touch other half lives.
It's a nice place to visit, with some fun new powers, but he really doesn't want to live there. He's humoring Laurel and healing his abused body; then he'll head back to where he belongs, just ahead of the broom wielded by his supervisors. Water seeks its own level and all that.
In the meantime, he's going to help out his team, unofficially, of course.
In this case, that means helping LaSalle get rid of that albatross of a storyline that's been around his neck since NCIS: New Orleans Season 4.
Related: Former NCIS: New Orleans Boss Fired
In a nutshell, his father Beau left Christopher his failing oil business when he died. To make matters worse, the IRS has been coming after LaSalle for back taxes.
Yup, nothing like number crunching to crank up the excitement.
With LaSalle's company facing $10 million in back taxes, Pride used his shiny new badge to requisition the case file, which overwhelmed a dolly. Then Patton's number crunching (more fun with figures) found a suspect in a former company accountant and some hinky-looking trips by Beau to Jamaica (mon).
But, of course, Beau, the big softy, wasn't stealing the funds for himself. He was just hiding the money from the IRS so that he could gift it back to his employees. What kind of self-serving businessman was he?
Related: Watch NCIS: New Orleans Online: Season 5 Episode 3
This left LaSalle with only one option: liquidate the company he never wanted to pay off the IRS. Then he won't have that cloud hanging over him anymore.
As a bonus, he came out of this ordeal with a possible instant family in accountant Leila and her academically gifted son Connor. So a win-win for LaSalle.
Then there was a case of the week that hit all the hot spots: Immigrants being squeezed by corporate forces, dealing with powerlessness about a fading way of life, even climate change indirectly.
It also gave Hannah and Gregorio the chance to emote about injustices in the world, while dispensing empathy to the downtrodden.
But it came down to a simple triangle: a man who was proud of where he came from, in this case, the victim, a man embarrassed by his background, the killer, and the woman caught between them.
Related: Get CBS All Access via Amazon Channels for Hit Shows, Exclusive Originals & Live TV!
It was an invigorating change of pace not to have some faceless corporate entity as the villain, but instead having it be Eddie, who did several wrong things for what he felt were the right reasons.
Hannah continued to impress, able to apply her worldview to what are local concerns and find solutions. She did that while managing to fit into the team rather than making the team fit her philosophy. She's new and still learning, but has generally been making the right calls.
SPOILER ALERT: Next week is the series' 100th episode, in a flashback-filled episode featuring Dwayne's dad Cassius.
To see Pride as the big boss, watch NCIS: New Orleans online.
Are you glad LaSalle's travails are over? When should Pride come back? Do you want to see Hannah stay when that happens?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.
