It's been rumored all season long.

Finally, the "someone high in government is after Pride" storyline exploded on NCIS: New Orleans Season 4 Episode 22.

The big question between this episode and the two-episode finale next Tuesday, May 15, is who Pride has pissed off enough that that person is using all of his or her political capital to take him down.

Of course, it wasn't that difficult to get this ball that threatens to run over Pride in motion.

He's put away a lot of people through the years, which means many aggrieved friends and relatives.

More recently, there are those in New Orleans that are angry with him for derailing a much-needed new source of jobs. So what if it would drive families out of their homes, even some who value those jobs?

Related: NCIS: New Orleans Season 4 Episode 21 Review: Mind Games

And, yes, Pride has pushed out of the box more than a few times through the years. It's always been with the best of intentions, but it's going to infuriate bureaucrats everywhere.

So Pride has set himself up as a target for anyone with a grudge. Once you add in the resources of someone well placed in government, it becomes even easier.

Just feed some classified material to a "digital journalist" hungry for the chance to remake a name for himself, and voila! Instant scandal.

Pride and his team certainly didn't help any. There's no impacting a mob mentality using common sense. Instead, they were only adding to the hysteria.

Once it was clear that Pride was the target of an organized attack, it baffles me that he would leave headquarters. 

Worse yet, go to Clearwater, a bad part of town, just he and Estes. Even though he saved that neighborhood, still many blame him for the lost jobs, not credit him for the saved homes. Was anyone surprised that escalated?

Related: Watch NCIS: New Orleans Online: Season 4 Episode 21

Thank God for Rita. Pride should count himself lucky that he has a girlfriend who can step away from her job in DC and hop a plane to New Orleans whenever his ass needed bailing out, which has happened pretty regularly the last couple of seasons.

It's a good thing that Rita was there to keep Pride from doing so many dumb things. His thinking that he could go out and make protestors see reason was unreasonably flawed.

LaSalle was trying to take point on the case and solve the murder, but Pride's actions weren't making it easy. Isn't desk duty a thing anymore?

The team did reasonably well, despite having to rein in Pride and having precious few resources. They were able to track down the man facilitating the smear campaign on the ground, although they weren't able to hold him long enough to get anything out of him.

The person pulling the strings has got to be somewhat powerful to get the leaker/murderer kicked and to have Pride in front of a jury almost instantly. You could tell the assistant D.A. was unhappy about getting dragged again into someone powerful's scheme against Pride.

Related: CBS Renewals: What Big Show is Missing?

A better question might be why now. Yeah, I know, it's the end of the season, and it would be nice to wrap things up. But, frankly, there's no guarantee of that happening.

Another part of this is that Rita said whoever is behind this wants to shutter the NCIS office in New Orleans. So it seems to be something more than just a vendetta against Pride.

Is this more fallout from the Hamilton storyline, which never seems to go away? Or is it trying to get rid of Pride and NCIS so that some questionable or criminal activity can more easily take place in New Orleans?

So stop me if you've heard this one before: Pride is cut off from his team, but he must find a way to avoid a miscarriage of justice. Didn't we go through this at the end of NCIS: New Orleans Season 3? I guess that's the price he pays for being too creative.

Related: Get CBS All Access via Amazon Channels for Hit Shows, Exclusive Originals & Live TV!

SPOILER ALERT: Without his team, Pride improvises on NCIS: New Orleans Season 4 Episode 23, gathering an off-the-books team which includes Elvis Bertrand, Sydney Halliday, Oliver Crane (the writer who got him into this mess) and attorney Elliott Newman.

I wonder if Sydney will finally get her badge after this? I hope so.

To catch up before the finale, watch NCIS: New Orleans online.

Who's after Pride? How is he going to get out of this one? Why does the power behind this want NCIS gone? Comment below.

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