Elvis is back in the building.

New Orleans' favorite underground hacker returned in NCIS: New Orleans Season 3 Episode 13.

First introduced in NCIS: New Orleans Season 3 Episode 2, Elvis Bertrand was the perfect guest star to help solve the mystery of why a hacker would gun down four people in order to steal data from a federal server farm.

First, I like Tom Arnold's Elvis. He's a bit of a rogue but his heart is in the right place. 

He just uses his considerable cyber skills at tweak the foibles of those in power.

The only downside of Elvis's visit is there's no Patton this week. Overlapping skill sets, don't you know.

That's happening too much this season. Patton gets sent off to another conference so someone else can do something cyber-ish.

I know some people are down on Arnold because of his antics with Roseanne Barr a couple of decades ago.

But I feel he's OK in small doses, when he's reined in, such as is the case with the character of Elvis.

Elvis has come out of hiding because his former protege, Ethan Beck, is using stolen data to out public officials in New Orleans who are under investigation.

He blames himself for Ethan going in this direction.

But things just don't add up in this case of the week.

Gregorio: This guy's in the middle of a crusade, exposing people left and right, then he just offs himself. Does that seem right to you?
Pride: Nothing about this seems right.

• Permalink: Nothing about this seems right.

Hackers are generally peaceable folk, with the keyboard their weapon of choice. Whenever possible, they do their thing remotely.

They don't need to start shooting people just to pilfer data.

It was clear pretty quickly that the voluminous Beck wasn't the shooter. As Loretta pointed out, he'd be lucky to have the energy to get up to answer the door.

I applaud the hackers' goal of exposing corrupt or hypocritical politicians.

It's amazing that smarmy Mayor Hamilton was able to skate yet again. He was sleeping with multiple co-workers, yet he's a hero because he threw resources behind NCIS.

It's realistic that Hamilton keeps surviving because of Louisiana's long history of accepting slimy politicians. They're colorful, after all.

The case was eventually solved with another suspect coming out of left field at about the half-hour mark. A former Triad member with mad cyber skills, looking for his daddy that the CIA had spirited away.

Well, that accounts for the violent tendencies that hackers usually don't have. Someone piggy-backing on the Collective's crusade for his own ends.

One thing the episode did well was show how the team was still coming together as a unit. Percy's fairly new, Gregorio is definitely new, and then there's Sebastian.

So the email deluge quickly had its desired effect.

Pride: I'm surprise at how little it took to throw us off our game.
Loretta: No one's off their game. We're a family and families bicker.

• Permalink: No one's off their game. We're a family and families bicker.

Good thing Elvis reversed that program in the end, to restore good feelings.

The squad shouldn't be a smooth-running, well-oiled machine at this point.

Only Pride, LaSalle and Percy are used to working with each other in the field. Gregorio and Sebastian are still being worked in.

Now back to newbie Sebastian, now suddenly a full-blown field agent. God help us all.

His scenes from Elvis were fun, as he went total fan-boy. Definitely creepy, as Elvis noted.

Then there was his fight scene in the tattoo parlor, when he resembled a crane. The gawky bird, not the effective fighting style.

Still not buying Sebastian as a field agent. It looks like the plan is to keep him in the lab, where he belongs, a good chunk of the time.

It looks like Loretta's new helpers may be kept offstage. This time around, it was the new tech found ink, but only Sebastian was qualified to analyze it. 

That's one way to keep production costs down.

Next week it's a crossover with NCIS. That way, NCIS: New Orleans can get back a little of the ratings love it lost when Bull instead was given the cush slot behind NCIS.

Of course, Bull is still on at 9, so the two-parter gets broken up by another hour-long show, which does nothing for continuity.

To follow the rise of Sebastian Lund, Field Agent, watch NCIS: New Orleans online.

Where you happy with Elvis's return? What did you think of Sebastian's debut? Are you looking forward to the crossover? Comment below.

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