Paul may be one of the most formidable foes Gibbs has faced.

NCIS Season 19 Episode 3 took Gibbs, Parker, and Paul on a road trip with some disastrous results.

If you watch NCIS online, you know Paul has been killing people left, right, and center, and there was no way he was going to die when Gibbs shot him at the end of NCIS Season 19 Episode 2.

It would have been a strange move to end the character's life so soon, but what we got on "Road to Nowhere" from Paul was bizarre, to say the least.

Paul wanted to rattle Gibbs to the point that he'd kill him, but it seems there's a lot in common between these two men.

They both took very similar paths in life, aside from Gibbs becoming a cold-blooded serial killer. Gibbs has also killed people, but not on the same level as Paul.

Paul desperately wanted Gibbs to believe they were the same person, and that's where Gibbs should have realized this was never going to end any other way than with one of them dead.

The explosive at the location he led Gibbs to was a bit much, but it was an effortless way for Paul to take his fate into his own hands and, you know, blow himself up.

This may be easy for some to believe, but are we to believe that in all the time those explosives were there, not a single soul was in the vicinity?

It's a tough sell, but hey, we got an explosion. The only positive from this strange turn in the story is that we now know more about Nantock Bay, and we should be headed there on NCIS Season 19 Episode 4.

With reports ahead of broadcast that Mark Harmon was scaling back his role, the season has thus far been revolving around the lead character.

It's hard not to worry that Gibbs could be killed off at every turn, and maybe this storyline is the beginning of the end for the character.

It has all the makings of a last hurrah, especially given the personal nature of it for the show's leading man.

Gibbs made a potentially grave mistake by ditching Alden and taking Paul with him on the journey for answers.

Gibbs knew this would be a gnarly experience, and he didn't want someone like Alden screwing it up for him.

If he got to kill Paul, he wanted to do it on his own terms, and when you consider how many times Paul has put members of the team in jeopardy, well, it makes sense.

Paul using the disguise that he was taking them to the first victim was a compelling way to turn the storyline on its head.

There must be repercussions for the actions of Gibbs. Going rogue will not get him in the good graces of the higher-ups and it could complicate a full-time return to the office.

Vance knew that the optics of a suspended agent going on a mission across the country with a serial killer would not be good, but he allowed it to go ahead.

The reason for Gibbs going rogue was obvious, but it certainly seems like the show is preparing to say goodbye to him, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens in the next few episodes.

The conspiracy surrounding the company essentially spying on people was decent, but the best part of it was Knight going undercover and getting under the salesperson's skin to steal his keycard.

Katrina Law is perfect on this show. Knight might be her best character to date, and it doesn't hurt that there's a connection between her and Torres.

They built up a rapport quickly, and it continues to grow. They work well together, and their mission to find Libby was another decent part of the hour.

Libby's corpse laying in her home for two years was tragic, and after learning she was an innocent party in Sokova's conspiracy, well, it was sad.

The woman representing Sokova was hiding a lot. You could tell the moment she walked into the interview. She had her lawyer as her accessory to tell her what she could and couldn't talk about.

But the lawyer also looked surprised, which added to the allure of the mystery. Lawyers are supposed to be in the know about anything that could harm their client, so let's just say they'll have had quite the conversation when they left the office.

The tricky aspect of this is that she also boarded a plan to leave the state. She understood that her ways of spying on the opposition were coming back to haunt her and acted accordingly.

There's still a lot we don't know about the mystery, and I suspect we'll have a lot more twists and turns before this one wraps up.

I like the procedural format better, but the long-drawn-our mystery only increases my suspicions that we'll be saying goodbye to Gibbs before long.

What about you, NCIS fans?

Do you think this mystery is building towards a Gibbs-less NCIS?

What did you think of all the twists and turns as the reveals came out?

Were you surprised by the way Paul died?

Hit the comments.

We'll be covering NCIS for as long as CBS provides screeners in advance of the episodes airing.

Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.