Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “In From the Cold” are ahead!
NCIS is one of those procedurals where although the crux of each episode is the very-serious investigation into someone’s murder or another kind of crime, there are a lot of lighthearted moments sprinkled throughout each story. But every now and then, the long-running CBS procedural, which is now airing its 22nd season on the 2024 TV schedule, leans more strongly into goofy territory. “In From the Cold” was one of those episodes, as it delivered a wild ‘70s throwback necessary to solve one of the team’s more unusual cases. In the midst of that, I was psyched to see one of the cast members from the beloved ‘90s sitcom Boy Meets World along for the ride.
NCIS Went ‘70s For This Week’s Case
This week’s episode of NCIS revolved around Thomas Butler, who was a captain in the U.S. Navy and now suffering from dementia. During a visit at the Naval Medical Center in Virginia with his caregiver son (more on him later), Thomas started suddenly speaking another language and took the doctor hostage. Fortunately she wasn’t hurt, and when Alden Parker and the other protagonist’s showed up, Thomas had no idea what had happened. They soon discovered the language was Finnish, and that he’d been speaking a set of numbers. However, when McGee attempted to look up these numbers, it bricked his phone, and when he tried to repeat the process on one of the hospital’s computers, power was knocked in all of that city block.
It turns out this strange occurrence was thanks to a digital tripwire set by the CIA, as an officer from the agency named Conrad stopped by Director Vance’s office to loop him and Alden Parker on what was going on. He told them that Thomas Butler had once been an intelligence asset for the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and while the CIA caught wind of this early on, they wanted the Soviets to think they had a high-level mole in the Pentagon. Later on, Conrad admitted that what he’d said wasn’t entirely true, as the CIA didn’t actually know Thomas was the spy.
Meanwhile, Thomas Butler suffered another dementia episode and escaped the hospital and was accused of killing an orderly. The team discovered that the numbers were part of an old code used in his Cold War days that used War and Peace and other books as ciphers. But Thomas going on the run became more complicated when he broke into Navy Archives, stole something called Project Laurel, then hid it for safekeeping. The team apprehended him, but Parker had no luck convincing the man it was the present day, not 1979.
The only way they could find out where Project Laurel was located was by playing into Thomas Butler’s 1979 reality. So Timothy McGee disguised himself as Brian Banaszak, a.k.a. “Sparrow,” a dirty CIA agent whom Thomas knew and had been dead since 1980; Jessica Knight was nearby also dressed in ‘70s attire; and Nick Torres even hung out in a “shaggin’ wagon,” in Parker’s words. The steps they took to make it seem like it was 1979 was wild and somewhat amusing, although it ended up not working out, as Thomas got spooked and seemingly shot McGee.
Then the biggest twist in “In From the Cold arrived: this was all a sting to capture the episode’s true villain, Conrad, and it was only accomplished because Parker was actually able to coax Thomas Butler back to reality. It turns out Project Laurel was a laundry list of CIA crimes, and Conrad’s name was written all over it. So when he learned Thomas was having memory issues, Conrad tried to eliminate him, and he was the one who really killed the orderly. Fortunately, Thomas regained his memory just in time and clued everyone in on Conrad’s true nature, so they were able to apprehend him. Then there was one final surprise to enjoy in this NCIS episode, but before I talk about that, let’s loop back to that Boy Meets World alum.
Boy Meets World’s Matthew Lawrence Guest-Starred
When “In From the Cold” started playing, I immediately knew I recognize the actor playing Danny Butler from somewhere. Then I saw his name flash across the screen: Matthew Lawrence. While some may know him best from his earliest appearances in movies like Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Mrs. Doubtfire, I’d argue Lawrence is best known from his time as a series regular on the final three seasons of Boy Meets World, which aired from 1993 to 2000 on ABC. Lawrence played Jack Hunter, the half-brother of Rider Strong’s Shawn Hunter and best friend of Will Friedle’s Eric Matthews.
To be clear, there’s absolutely nothing nodding to Matthew Lawrence’s Boy Meets World past in this NCIS episode. Still, as someone who enjoyed the sitcom when I was younger and hasn’t seen the actor perform in anything since he reprised Jack Hunter in an episode of Girl Meets World almost a decade ago (although I did hear him talk about his uncomfortable encounter with Justin Timberlake), I was delighted to see him appear. Danny Butler’s main purpose in “In From the Cold” was to look surprised and hurt about his dad’s secret past, and understandably so. But the episode ends on a happy note for the father and son, as it revealed that Thomas had actually been working as a double agent for the CIA and passing disinformation for the Russians to lead them on wild goose chases.
Now that Matthew Lawrence has stopped by NCIS, hopefully I’ll see him pop up in other primetime programming I enjoy… or really any of the Boy Meets World crew. And hey, at least I can stream the sitcom with my Disney+ subscription or listen to the Pod Meets World podcast if I ever feel a hankering to dip back into that comedy space. For those of you who are strictly NCIS fans, the next new episode will air on November 25, but you’re welcome to break out your Paramount+ subscription to stream the entire catalog of this procedural franchise.
