Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “Empty Next” are ahead!
In addition to the NCIS Season 21 finale setting up an intriguing mystery concerning Alden Parker’s past, it also saw Jessica Knight agreeing to become the new Chief REACT Instructor at Camp Pendleton. As a result, it was unclear for months if Knight would continue being a leading character in Season 22, although Katrina Law knew early on her character would stick around. Now we know how, as in the final minutes of the Season 22 premiere, Knight decided to turn down a REACT promotion and instead go back to Washington DC to rejoin her NCIS cohorts. Ahead of the episode’s premiere on the 2024 TV schedule, I had the pleasure of speaking with Law, and she opened up about why Knight made that big decision.
It was a given that Jessica Knight would go back to working with Parker, Nick Torres and Timothy McGee again regularly since Katrina Law remains part of NCIS’ main cast. Still, the character needed proper motivation to resume her duties as an NCIS agent, and Law went over that with me in detail, starting with this:
I think one of the reasons why Knight wanted to go back was that when she was at Camp Pendleton, she was genuinely happy. She had a great time, she left her new job, she left California. It was everything that she expected it to be. But I think there was something gnawing at her that she couldn't quite put her finger on, and I think maybe she thought, ‘Oh, it's because I just moved, it's a new job, it’s growing pains, blah, blah, blah.’ But as soon as Parker walked in, I think it all came into focus for her, of her going, ‘I actually miss and love my team and I love what we do.’
The events of “Empty Nest” saw Alden Parker traveling to central California to ask for Jessica Knight’s help in trying to track down Nick Torres, who’d gone undercover with the Nexus drug cartel, but had his cover blown and was in trouble. Parker flew out to interview one of Knight’s trainees, who was the ex-wife of a killed Nexus enforcer, but events played out that ultimately led Parker and Knight to El Padre, who, as it turned out, was an actual reverend named Edward Pike. However, without any proof that he was in fact the kingpin, Jessica seemingly went rogue and took Pike hostage to coerce him into revealing his true identity and Torres’ whereabouts.
This was eventually revealed as an elaborate ruse to expose Celia Ross, a divorce attorney who was actually working for El Padre, and by the end of the episode, Ross and El Padre were in custody, and Torres was rescued before he was killed for not executing the aforementioned trainee, whom Ross had been representing. But this case also made Jessica Knight realize that being an NCIS agent was what she was meant to be, despite the fact that she’d been offered the REACT promotion after initially thinking she’d be fired. As Katrina Law told me:
Ultimately, she loves the chase. She loves the thrill of catching the bad guy, and you don't necessarily get to do that as a Chief REACT agent… so as soon as she saw him, I think she realized, ‘I’m definitely missing a part of this.’ And even though she's made new friends in California, after four years of going through all the cases that the NCIS team has been on, and they've been through some stuff, some really great stuff and some really terrible stuff, it’s hard to find that connection, and I think she just missed it.
Jessica Knight was a REACT agent before she joined in the NCIS team, and in the six months between NCIS Seasons 21 and 22, she did good work training others to carry out the work she once did. But now she’s ready to turn the page on this chapter of her life, with Alden Parker’s arrival providing the clarity she needed: Law concluded this portion of our conversation by saying:
So when she goes back, it's kind of like that family or member or that friend who, if you haven't spoken to them in six months, but then you pick up the phone and you call them and it's like you never left off. I think that's what the NCIS team is for her. As soon as she goes back, it's like, ‘Oh, we are right as rain again. This is how it was supposed to be. California was a weird blip. It's like I never left.’ Not that she shouldn't have left, but yeah, this is right for right now.
Jessica Knight’s return to Washington D.C. comes as some sketchiness emerges with Inspector General Gabriel LaRoche, who ended up scoring the job that McGee was angling for during this episode. Couple that with Jessica having a long-coming conversation with Jimmy Palmer about their relationship and showrunner Steven D. Binder teasing “World War III” starting in the fourth episode, and there’s already a lot to look forward to this early on into Season 22.
So continue reading CinemaBlend’s coverage on the latest NCIS happenings. Also, remember that new episodes can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription after they air on CBS Monday nights at 9 pm ET.
