- Title: NCIS: Hawai’i – Gaijin
- wiki: link
The death of a Japanese sailor on Hawaii calls the attention of NCIS to a related murder from years before in Okinawa. Madeline Zima guest-stars as the prime suspect in both crimes, as psychopath who was the original victim’s roommate and met with the second victim on the day of his death. The other guest-appearance of note is Toshiji Takeshima as the officer who was unable to solve the original murder. It’s not often you see s procedural introduce a psychopath as a suspect only to use them as a red herring, but “Gaijin” takes some interesting turns as NCIS is able to solve two murders with the help of the woman originally suspected of both.
Although it’s a small moment, Ernie (Jason Antoon) steals the episode in understanding that NCIS can’t judge the suspect in terms of a normal person’s reactions. While small, this vital moment forces the team to step outside themselves and consider the possibility that the suspect tailor made for both crimes might in fact be innocent. More than just clearing her of the crimes, the team takes the time to try and understand events from her perspective. In terms of ongoing character building, we get scenes of Jesse (Noah Mills) buddying up to the visiting detective and Lucy‘s (Yasmine Al-Bustami) hatred of karaoke. It also puts the kibosh on the possibility of a romantic relationship between Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and Captain Milius (Enver Gjokaj) before it even begins.
