Finally, Gregorio got another turn in the spotlight.

A conman tied to a fatal hit-and-run pressed all of Tammy's buttons on NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 21.

Since her conman ex-husband ruined her first life in New Orleans, she's particularly sensitive toward such felons.

So pursuing such a suspect naturally made her even a little more reckless than usual.

Not Pride reckless, mind you, but close.

Fortunately, Dylan Samuels (his current identity) was so full of himself that he made for a despicable target. The team just had to get ahead of him, which definitely took some time to accomplish.

It must have been so much easier for conmen trying to rip off women before the internet existed.

As it was, it took little time at all for Patton to establish that the killed doctor was once married to the stepfather of the injured victim in the hit-and-run.

I had to wonder why Samuels chose another victim who was living in the same area where Dr. Barnes, another of his victims, had relocated to after he ruined her reputation.

This misstep enabled the doctor and his new stepdaughter Natalie to conspire together to ruin him.

But since Samuels was surveilling both his new wife Candace and Natalie, there was nothing that they did which he wouldn't know about.

Also he bent them to his will with scopolamine.

NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 20 Review: Jackpot

Enter Gregorio, who could just smell the weasel on him and decided to bring him in, regardless of the cost.

Samuels seemed to feed off her anger, smirking because he was seemingly one step of the law at all times.

As Gregorio noted, he did have an answer for everything, largely because he had set everything in motion. 

Which wound up Gregorio even more, to the point when she would have attacked him if LaSalle hadn't interceded.

Was Gregorio desperate or devious when she slipped into the psych ward?

Related: Watch NCIS: New Orleans Online: Season 5 Episode 20

Pride was almost ready to let her discover what she could from Candace even if it wouldn't be admissable.

That was until they figured out that Candace's room was also bugged, and Samuels was hearing their whole conversation. Oops.

Fortunately, Gregorio finally wised up and answered Pride's frantic call. Once she found out she was being monitored, she was pitch-perfect in telling off Pride.

It's amazing how many on his team feel free to follow his freelancing lead when they're sure they are right, legal niceties be damned.

In the end, Gregorio used Samuels' cockiness against him.

After he crushed her phone, he committed that cardinal sin of villains by laying out his entire plan, without realizing Gregorio was broadcasting his confession to her waiting team.

That had to be a satisfying arrest for her. Then she was able to offer her hard-earned wisdom as a conman's victim to Candace afterward.

CBS Announces Fate of NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans

As is usual in any episode in which Patton appears, he did much of the heavy lifting during the investigation: figuring out Samuels was a conman who had duped and ripped off multiple women and that he made heavy use of surveillance.

Knowing those things were essential to eventually arresting Samuels.

Pride also found himself with a bit of a dilemma with which to deal.

Hannah's estranged husband Ryan approached Pride with a tempting offer. Boy, was he lucky to actually catch Pride working at his SAC office.

Fortunately, it's easy to tell when Pride is pretending to be the SAC. That's because he has on a tie and suitcoat rather than the usual windbreaker.

You certainly couldn't tell from his actions, which are the same as he's done from years past, back when he was in his "former" position.

Sorry. Pet peeve. I'm still waiting for the hammer to come down on Dwayne for all his freelancing. Why does this pretense continue?

Anyway, an old contact of Ryan's had a line on Appolyon's leader Walker.

The catch was that Ryan wanted to be involved since it was his contact. And he didn't want Hannah knowing that he was getting back into the spy game.

Ryan's approach left Dwayne in a quandary.

The contact's intel could prove valuable for the task force hunting Apollyon, of which Pride was an unofficial member.

But he didn't want to keep Hannah out of the loop, since Ryan's proposition could affect their family.

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

Pride did the right thing and read Hannah in on the Apollyon investigation and asked for her approval of Ryan's involvement.

Naturally, she went directly and confronted Ryan.

Because the way things are supposed to work was that Ryan is the retired spy/professor/househusband while she is the law-enforcement professional.

Would some viewers scream if those gender roles were reversed? Oh, yeah.

Ryan was just as obstinate as Hannah about wanting to be involved with the Apollyon investigation, and Pride really did need him.

Hannah eventually came around on this important investigation, as long as the three of them coordinated activities.

She can pick up the slack on the homefront while Ryan is elsewhere, as she's based in New Orleans.

No reason they can't both follow their bliss, as weird as that seems.

Now that NCIS: New Orleans has been renewed for a sixth season, I can foresee an Apollyon-related cliffhanger.

And since Ryan is the recurring character, I wouldn't be shocked if he's the one in peril.

To catch up on Ryan, watch NCIS: New Orleans online.

Did Gregorio go overboard, or were her actions understandable?

Should Ryan be going back in the field?

Are you happy NCIS: New Orleans has been renewed?

Comment below.

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