The Season 22 premiere of NCIS introduced us to Gabriel LaRoche (Seamus Dever) as the guy who got hired as the Deputy Director over Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and as the bureau’s potential mole. Despite this polarizing entrance, he hasn’t really been casting much suspicion on himself throughout the season, with only McGee obsessively keeping tabs on him, though the team simply chalks this up to jealousy over the lost promotion. However, Episode 17 feels like a turning point in this storyline as LaRoche’s relationship with McGee takes center stage and more evidence (albeit circumstantial) against him is exposed.
LaRoche Would Make a Dangerous ‘NCIS’ Season Villain
NCIS unveils an assassin-for-hire company that becomes a connection between LaRoche and another potential season villain: Carla Marino (Rebecca de Mornay). The Kansas City mob leader from Alden Parker’s (Gary Cole) past was suspected to have taken out a hit on LaRoche, but then they discover that LaRoche was part of a top-secret nuclear power-related detail that crossed Marino’s territory. Forming a connection, however tenuous at the moment, between these two antagonists creates an intimidating network, especially considering how much power each has. Marino is at the helm of a crime ring while LaRoche has a wild amount of security clearance and resources — if they are working together, they would make a formidable villainous duo.
Laroche’s status as a mole would make him even more terrifying. During the episode, LaRoche and McGee have a heartfelt bonding moment where the latter welcomes the alienated deputy director to the NCIS family. If he wasn’t close enough as their boss before, this subtle assimilation reminds us of his physical and emotional proximity to the team, allowing his betrayal to impact them more intensely. That being said, the last time we had a long-term mole was in Season 6, and we are overdue for another nerve-racking situation. On top of this, the hitman’s client’s representative was described as having a tattoo of the Nexus symbol: the cartel that Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) infiltrated, and LaRoche was first implicated as a mole for giving away his cover. As such, this raises questions about whether LaRoche was the one who took out the hit on himself, a twisted and overly deceptive move that would make him even more of a relentless force to reckon with.
However, what makes it scarier is McGee’s Nocturne reveal. The tech team found out that the anonymous tip that led them to “The Poet” hitman was sent from a government server called Nocturne, which was the word McGee saw on a notebook when he snooped in LaRoche’s office. It suggests that Laroche was the one who sent in the tip, an assumption McGee makes as he threatens him in the episode’s closing scenes. It doesn’t seem like McGee has revealed this little detail to anyone else on the team yet, making us fear for his safety as he goes up against this villain alone.
McGee May Get His Well-Deserved ‘NCIS’ Promotion
Tim McGee (Sean Murray) in the forensics lab in NCIS
While the stakes have risen with the revelation of Laroche’s darker side, it also has a silver lining, specifically in McGee’s storyline. Knowing how driven and intelligent McGee is, we know that his investigation of LaRoche will bear fruit sooner or later, but this episode gave McGee the first substantial lead to follow: Nocturne. As such, he is more likely to create a compelling case that would get Laroche arrested or at least removed from his current position, opening up the opportunity for McGee again. As a face that has been around since the beginning of NCIS, everyone has established that McGee is long overdue for some upward professional mobility, specifically, the job he lost to LaRoche.
While we don’t have to prove that McGee is deserving of the position, LaRoche’s confession during the episode emphasized the idea that the position should have been McGee’s. LaRoche revealed that he had sent a letter identifying the closeness of the NCIS team, suggesting that they operated far too much like a family rather than a professional federal agency and would require a leader from an external source. This letter swayed the decision in LaRoche’s favor, forcing McGee to return to his stagnant position. As such, it seems the show is setting up McGee’s long-awaited promotion.
Episode 17 felt instrumental in shaping up the finale of this season, as pieces are carefully laid on the chessboard, and there is a sense of momentum that is building. Season finale villains seem to take root, while the resolutions of certain storylines feel mapped out. Even though LaRoche’s status as the mole and potential alliance with Marino spells out peril for our favorite characters on NCIS, at least we can hope that one loyal, earnest, and dependable character will finally be given the flowers he earned a long time ago.
