With over 400 episodes of NCIS spread across 22 seasons, the police-procedural series has seen its fair share of main characters and guest stars. One would question how a procedural show can go on for so long without feeling repetitive. In the case of NCIS, it’s due to its fleshed-out characters. The Major Crimes Response Team (MCRT) has evolved over the years with many beloved NCIS characters coming and going. With people from all walks of life joining the show, the series has presented different dynamics and shown that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, a family isn’t always connected by blood. At its core, NCIS is more than just a team of people coming together to get justice for those in the Navy — it highlights the bonds you make with the people you spend every day working with.
The latest example of this connected family is in NCIS Season 22, Episode 16, “Ladies Night,” where Jessica Knight (Katrina Law), Robin Knight (Lilan Bowden), and Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) step back from their work lives to enjoy a simple night together as friends. Unfortunately, Jess and Kasie are still hung up on a case to actually focus on the fun plans Robin put together, and it brings up her trauma about how Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) handles their relationship. While not everyone will agree that Robin and Torres are a perfect match, it’s nice to see the ladies talk about their work/life balance because not a lot of their personal lives have been showcased this season. With the episode seemingly teasing that Torres and Robin are breaking up, it doesn’t mean that Robin should no longer pop up from time to time. If anything, her dynamic with Jess and Kasie is something NCIS is lacking.
Jess, Robin, and Kasie Crack the Case in ‘NCIS’ Season 22, Episode 16
After last season was cut short due to the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, NCIS Season 22 has the space to include character-focused episodes outside the typical case-of-the-week format. Torres and Alden Parker (Gary Cole) have especially been given numerous noteworthy storylines to propel their development. While it’s nice to see them get their chance in the spotlight, it doesn’t leave room for the other members of the team, like Jess and Kasie. Thankfully, that changes in NCIS Season 22, Episode 16. After Robin chews out Jess and Kasie for ruining her plans for them, she still finds herself interested in the case because it is a life-or-death situation that might put an innocent person behind bars.
With Robin’s experience as a spiritual EMT (apparently someone who cleans auras and opens third eyes), she looks over the crime scene photos and notices that the stones on a chakra statue are ordered incorrectly. While it takes McGee, Torres, and Parker a while to catch up on the case, they eventually run into Robin, Jess, and Kasie already reviewing the crime scene before them. It’s a little funny that despite being called “Ladies Night,” it’s the women who weren’t even supposed to be working the case who ended up solving who the murderer is. If this series were more experimental with its storytelling, it would’ve been nice to have fully followed Jess, Robin, and Kasie for most of the episode instead of also seeing the guys have an impromptu night together as well.
This Is the Relationship Jessica Knight Needs To Maintain in ‘NCIS’
Even though Jess and Robin are sisters, seeing how well Kasie blends into their family dynamic is fun to see. When Robin was introduced in NCIS Season 20, Episode 8, “Turkey Trot,” co-written by Reasonover herself, Jess and Kasie’s relationship was forever deepened outside of work when they and Robin were held hostage by a vengeful criminal. In an interview I conducted for Collider, Reasonover highlighted how much that episode impacted the dynamic between Jess, Robin, and Kasie moving forward. “I think that that episode definitely brought them closer together […] Once you’ve been through that with somebody, it’s like you can get through anything. I mean, I’d be shocked if anything ever kind of broke them apart.”
Before the suspenseful hostage situation, Jess and Robin shared passive-aggressive comments with each other, as siblings do. While they were arguing, Jess casually referred to Kasie as her best friend, which happily surprised Kasie. At this point in the series, Jess was only part of the team for one season after Emily Wickersham’s Ellie Bishop exited at the end of Season 18. In that short time, Jess and Kasie’s friendship bloomed faster than the love between Jess and Jimmy. As much as the emotional thrust of Jess temporarily leaving NCIS at the end of Season 21 was between her and Jimmy, it would’ve been nice to see how this decision affected Jess and Kasie’s friendship.
‘NCIS’ Needs To Treat Its Female Characters Better
Throughout the history of NCIS, there have been more men than women in the main cast, with the most being three women at the same time. Currently, there are only two with Law and Reasonover, but the season has brought in wonderful women to guest star, like Bowden and Elle Graper as Victoria Palmer, who should be a series regular. We know that Margo Harshman’s Delilah Fielding-McGee, Tim McGee’s (Sean Murray) wife, will be appearing very soon, but, sadly, there aren’t more women in the main cast. Even the most tenured female character on NCIS, Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), was starting to regress in her development before her exit.
“Ladies Night” gets to highlight the personal struggles that Jess, Kasie, and Robin deal with daily, which humanizes these characters more. If Torres and Robin really are done as a couple now, it’ll be the first time in a long while where Robin, Kasie, and Jess are all single at the same time. With NCIS nearing 500 episodes as it approaches Season 23, hopefully, the series can further strengthen the friendship between Jess, Robin, and Kasie without having to worry about love interests and have them solve cases together.
