Finally, there is a happy ending for Pride.

He was beaten and drugged within an inch of his life on NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 24.

But he came out the other side, decidedly the worse for wear.

The celebration at his bar echoed the ending on NCIS: New Orleans Season 4 Episode 24 when he went up to his apartment only to have three bullets pumped into him by Parsons.

This time around, fortunately, he just got the joy.

That isn't to say that Dwayne hadn't been through a hard few days.

The action picked right up after his capture by Apollyon at the end of NCIS: New Orleans Season 5 Episode 23.

Pride was being pumped full of mind-altering drugs by Walker's best pharmacologist so he could probe to find out what information about Apollyon that Dwayne had.

The laptop that Walker recovered had gotten fried to a crisp, so he needed the laptop which Pride had ... somewhere.

So Dwayne spent the episode talking to people past and present who are important to him, including the Angel of Death, his frequent companion this season.

What does it say about Pride that his inner voice is a symbol of death instead of a cute cartoon animal such as Jiminy Cricket?

But Dwayne resisted Walker and his drug pusher at every turn.

Does crossing over give a person a tolerance for hallucinogens? Or has Pride been hallucinating so much recently that he's learned to manage it somewhat?

Eventually, we learned that Walker wasn't out to protect Apollyon but was specifically after something personal to him. That was why he kept directing Pride to his file. Dwayne instinctively knew he shouldn't cooperate with that effort.

Like Pride himself, I figured the little boy he kept seeing was himself. Having it be Walker's son who he was seeking to steal away and protect was an enjoyable twist.

In the end, Pride's mother convinced him to give Walker what he wanted, but to fight to escape and eventually win the day (not in so many words, mind you).

Dwayne was even there at the end for the showdown with Walker. As weak as it was, it's a good thing that he had sniper Gregorio in position just in case Walker did something stupid, as he did.

Of course, nothing was simple for the home team, either.

After the international incident and Isler's "death," naturally some bureaucrat decided to take over the investigation, if for no other reason than optics.

Agent Parker had to be the mole, since, well, she was the only new character introduced this episode, and someone got a photo of dead Isler from Autopsy.

Also, she seemed determined to shut the locals out of the investigation and did everything in her power to do so.

So Hannah and company took a page out of the Dwayne Pride playbook and went around Parker. Is it any wonder the DC bureaucrats don't trust the New Orleans office?

I was disappointed that Isler had died despite the efforts of Pride and Lasalle.

Disappointed, mind you, not distressed. Isler doesn't rate that highly on the character scale.

Naturally, it was a ruse, aimed to unearth the mole helping out Apollyon.

It's N'awlins, y'all, so the dead coming back to life ain't no big thang.

Before long, Jimmy was read in on what's happening, and he and his new buddy Isler were tossing Pride's apartment, looking for the laptop. Did anyone else guess the piano contained a hidden clue?

That note led to the Pride family crypt. What a clever hiding place!

But Parker had a cleverer tailing method with an NSA satellite and quickly grabbed the prize, taking Hannah out of the game in the process.

Then Isler rose from the dead to tail Parker, pulling in Gregorio and Sebastian to help.

Gregorio has learned damn near all of Pride's bad habits, and had no hesitation about breaking into a secure government facility, dragging Sebastian along. What are housemates for?

Before long, Gregorio was brawling with Parker, then Sebastian shot up the servers because it was the quickest way of halting the information upload. Unplugging it wouldn't work?

What was amazing was the facility manager trying to sort everything out. Summoned by a dead man, Rita breezed in just in time to proclaim Parker the mole and get the investigation back on track, somewhat.

Patton got a timely communications blip and everyone headed to Texas, for the glorious final assault on the Appolyon compound. Wasn't that a subtle hideout?

Dwayne reappeared to give everyone perspective and to be a guide to the showdown with Walker.

I was afraid Walker was going to disappear again, but not this time. That's not to say that an offshoot of Apollyon might not reappear down the road, but Walker's gone.

The best part was the celebration at the Tru Tone, especially watching husband and wife dance with joy.

Then everyone got into it, even Isler. I guess coming back from the dead, first professionally then physically, will help a person to lighten up.

Pride remained Special Agent in Charge at season's end, but I'm sure that will be remedied by the season of NCIS: New Orleans Season 6 rolls around.

That position was supposed to be a way for him to recuperate. He never took advantage of that, so let's bring in a bureaucrat at heart as SAC and let Dwayne go back to what he does anyway.