NCIS: Hawaii the Final Season DVD is the last chance to enjoy the show

NCIS: Hawaii Season 3 is now on DVD, so is it worth getting the final year for the spinoff?

Every TV season, there’s one cancellation that elicits a huge backlash and outrage from fans. In 2024, that was easily NCIS: Hawaii, as few could believe CBS canceled the series after three seasons.

Canceling any spinoff of the CBS franchise would be jarring. However, ending NCIS: Hawaii after only three years made no sense. The series was still doing well in the ratings, and the producers were blindsided as they had ended the year on a cliffhanger that was meant to set up a bigger season 4. It was more frustrating given the season had been delayed by the 2023 Hollywood strikes so not even a full year.

Now, the entire season is on DVD, so is it worth getting for fans?

NCIS: Hawaii Season 3 overview

The season kicks off with Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) returning to work after the events of Season 2, only to find NCIS: Los Angeles agent Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) is now assigned to Hawaii. This sets up a long-term subplot of Tennant convinced Hanna has an ulterior motive she tries to discover.

It’s a fun dynamic with LL Cool J great as ever playing Sam and Tennant’s initial distrust giving way to respect. That helps through the season, which, at only ten episodes, can feel lacking in the usual depth for the characters. Yet we get good stuff with the team getting used to Sam, including Jesse (Noah Mills) forming an unlikely bond.

Some episodes are fun, like one where Lucy (Yasmine Al-Bustami) and Kate (Tori Anderson) go undercover at a resort to showcase their relationship. There’s a thriller hunting a killer in a forest, while a more lighthearted one has Sam triggered by thieves wearing clown masks. 

The finale is a two-part story that puts the team in serious danger, and then there is a big ending. This makes this season frustrating as the short length means we don’t get enough time with the other characters with so much focus on Sam’s arrival. There’s still a good supporting cast, some humor, and action, yet it’s obvious the writers were holding off on other plots to build for Season 4, which won’t happen.

NCIS: Hawaii deserved a far longer life or at least one more year to make up for a shortened one. Instead, Season 3 is the end of it, and it’s terrible that the show had to end in a shorter episode run when fans shouldn’t have bid aloha to it so soon.

The “Final Season” DVD set has the show's final ten episodes spread across three discs. Besides the gag reel, there are only two special features. The first is “Rauh’s Rules: Directing NCIS and NCIS: Hawaii,” which focuses on Daniela Rauh (who played Kenzi on NCIS: Los Angeles) directing episodes of both series. 

It’s a fun bit with producer Stephen Binder saying, “It’s like the cousin you haven’t seen in a while coming back.” Rauh talks about how odd it felt to come back without acting and the challenges of filming in Hawaii and D.C. rather than L.A. Naturally, she and LL Cool J get along well and it’s fun seeing Rauh behind the camera. 

The other feature is “NCIS: Hawaii Season 3: The Third Wave,” which is the typical overview of the season. Most of the focus is on the arrival of Sam Hanna and how he sparked the show with a fun bit from the set of them welcoming him with a Hawaiian ceremony. We get a quick overview of some plot points of the years with the actors discussing them on set and a nice bit from every main cast member. The interviews were made before it was clear this was the end, so it’s not so much a sendoff of the series but expecting to be back and making Season 3 as good as they could with the shorter run time.

It’s a good set overall yet also a reminder of how NCIS: Hawaii was cut far too short and a shame this smaller set is the last run for what had been a fun spinoff. It’s worth getting for fans for the extras, but it's bittersweet to see it end so soon.

NCIS: Hawaii The Final Season now on DVD.