NCIS season 19 episode 12: Nick deals with abandonment

NCIS season 19 episode 12 reintroduced us to Agent Dale Sawyer, who the team has had beef with in the past, and also saw a case that had plenty of twists to it. This episode highlighted an ongoing arc involving Nick and his abandonment issues he’s faced since childhood. How did the case pan out for Nick and the team? Let’s take a closer look.

In the episode, the team is assigned to the case of Lieutenant Junior Grade Kane Lantz, whose job was to patch computer system vulnerabilities for the Naval Office of Intelligence. He is found dead, beaten, and missing an eyeball. Unfortunately, the DIA takes over the case, but Parker’s connection with the Director helps to smooth things over. Apparently he has connections everywhere.

The DIA is concerned that with Lantz’s computer being missing, someone could use it to hack into the various systems within different departments. The only one who could access the information was Lantz, but this is apparently not an issue for the people who killed him since his eyeball is missing.

While the team tries to figure out who killed him, Kasie finds evidence that leads them towards a suspect, Maxim Dhoval. He came to the U.S. with his wife for opportunities, but was lured into a human trafficking situation. Dhoval had been forced to fight Lantz after he got the man’s foster brother to take his laptop.

NCIS season 19 episode 12 highlights Nick’s anger and abandonment issues

Evidence leads them to an underground fighting ring, where supposedly no one has ever seen the boss. Nick, Sawyer, and McGee go undercover, but things take a turn when Nick is forced to fight a huge man named Verne. Nick worries McGee when he seems to purposely be taking a beating to get himself hurt. He tells McGee that no one would care. Despite McGee’s pleas to the contrary, Nick still has trouble believing him.

Even though they turn the fight around and Sawyer discovers the victim’s eyeball while sneaking around, Nick doesn’t meet “the boss.” However, the team finds them in time and it turns out the boss is actually hiding in plain sight.

Throughout the episode, the team has been trying to figure out what is going on with Nick. They try to get him to open up, but he is closed off. It isn’t until he goes down to talk to Jimmy that he begins to open up. Jimmy admits to Nick that he was angry with his wife for dying and felt abandoned. This strikes a chord with Nick, who already has felt off ever since Gibbs left, added onto his father and Bishop as well.

Jimmy tells him that he needs to be open to the possibility of being hurt in order to heal. He wants Nick to see that he is not alone. Even though McGee said something similar, Jimmy is able to break through because he has experienced it in his own way, however irrational his feelings may be. They were still present and he has had to work through it in order to heal himself.

It was nice to see them working through Nick’s feelings of abandonment and showing how it has affected him. He didn’t get to have closure with Gibbs like McGee did, so we can understand how losing his team leader so suddenly, and then losing Bishop, would cause him to fall into anger so easily.

Hopefully, Nick will be able to see that he has support and people around him who care. It’s understandable why he would be unable to trust that, and hopefully Jimmy’s words help him in the long run.

Until next time, let us know your thoughts on NCIS season 19 episode 12 in the comments below. What did you like about the episode?

Watch NCIS Mondays on CBS. Catch up the next day on Paramount+.