NCIS: New Orleans Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Confluence
Kathleen Wiedel
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Most, if not all, cop shows feature a by-the-numbers "protect the witness" story line at some point during their run. "Confluence" pulled the rug out from under viewers in a good way by linking it to an ongoing story arc.
In this case, there is a direct link from NCIS: New Orleans Season 2 Episode 8 back to the start of the season. It seems that now the militia guys have identified Pride and are taking the fight to him by setting him up.
The whole plan was a bit of a head-scratcher, if you ask me. If the Sic Semper Tyrannis guys are really so desperate to kill Pride, why don't they just walk up to the NCIS office in New Orleans and, I don't know, just shoot him?
It's also a bit mind-boggling that they are so fixated on taking revenge on a single federal agent. Think about the resources they're expending, simply to kill one man. Is this a sign that something even bigger is in play, and the militia guys are just tools?
It certainly seems more and more likely that this may be the case, especially given the final scene of the episode. And whatever is motivating the mysterious person who came to see Zed Hastings, something tells me that it's probably personal.
There were a lot of questions left over from NCIS: New Orleans Season 2 Episode 1, and this just raises more.
In a technical sense, I was expecting the cat-and-mouse portion of this episode to last much longer than it did. In fact, I practically got whiplash with how fast the situation was resolved once Pride identified Zed as one of those chasing them.
It did give him the chance to drop this little line:
You go, you get him to court. Because if you come back here for me, and I'm alive, I will fire. Your. Ass.
Pride
Never really got that far, because the next thing we knew, everyone was back in New Orleans, anway. I guess the Texas Rangers showed up? I'm not sure if they were running out of time in the episode or what, but the transition there was incredibly jarring.
Moving on! There was some small but significan progress in Sonja Percy's character arc involving her childhood friend Marian. Surprise: she's a drug lord! Sonja requested to be loaned out to the DEA to help take Marian down in order to help her.
Something tells me that Marian won't appreciate the sentiment.
Sonja made a comment earlier in the episode about everyone wanting to "yakkity yak" all the time, express themselves and talk and everything, a statement that is made absolutely hilarious if one watched NCIS Season 13 Episode 8 the hour before, as I did.
In that episode, the "functional mute" Gibbs is told point-blank that he needs to talk to people more! Anyway, by the end of this episode, Sonja agreed to work on exactly that.
Lastly, I'll return to the the Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom that started it all and say that Vivienne Lambert came across as incredibly idiotic (though perhaps no less than her husband). Seriously, this is your life. The Marshals aren't kidding when they say cut off all ties!
Of course, if they had followed the instructions of the Marshals, well, then there wouldn't be an episode, would there? Ah, well.
A few assorted thoughts:
- The comments regarding LaSalle's accent reminded me of one or two comments I read in the past, declaring that Lucas Black's accent is terrible – which is actually really funny since that's his real-life accent!
- It was awfully convenient that the bomber's car had picked up rare bees that just happened to lead the agents to the victim's wife. It came across as a cheap way to move along the plot.
- I was personally pleased that Pride didn't let his, well, pride get in the way of making the case against Garza and gave an apology with impressively little reticence.
- Pride and LaSalle in their court attire made me wish they dressed in suits more often.
- Anyone else waiting for the militia storyline to somehow connect back to Councilman Hamilton? Confluence...
So, what did you think of "Confluence"? Were you surprised that it was all about Pride after all and that it linked back to the militia movement? What was your favorite bee pun? Let us know in the comments section below!
Until the next new episode airs, remember that you can watch NCIS: New Orleans online to relive the excitement and fun!
