Parker’s Revenge Mission Puts [Spoiler] In Grave Danger — Grade It!

Parker is still fuming about his father’s murder as “NCIS” kicks off Season 23, and his quest for vengeance lands him in hot water — international waters, actually.

Tuesday’s premiere begins with a flashback to Parker’s wild youth, with him sitting in a holding cell after being charged with grand theft auto. His dad is there to bail him out, but Parker fires back that Dad “chose the uniform over your own kid.” Now in the present day, Parker watches as his dad’s dead body is wheeled away — and blames himself for his death. Jessica notes that the lipstick on the wineglass found near the body is “Carla’s shade,” and the team worries that Parker will go to any lengths to bring her to justice. Case in point: They want to keep Carla from fleeing the country, and suddenly a string of bomb threats shut down all the local travel hubs. Bomb threats, it seems, called in by Parker.

They get a lead on Carla when an SUV registered to her is found abandoned at the airport, but Vance shuts them down, reminding them that Homeland Security has jurisdiction and ordering Parker to cool it. Does Parker listen? Of course not. He manages to steal the SUV and bring it back to the lab, and Kasie convinces Vance to let her process the car before handing it over. Vance is fed up, though: He officially relieves the NCIS team of this investigation. Do they listen? Of course not. They head to Parker’s, where they learn that the fake FBI agent who kidnapped Parker in the finale left his fake ID in Carla’s car, and Torres traces it to a forger he knows from his undercover days.

Parker gets a call from his sister Harriet, which he promptly ignores, and we see another flashback where a young Harriet blames Parker for their father’s untimely heart attack. In present day, Harriet, a Navy Vice Admiral — hi, Nancy Travis! — visits Jimmy’s morgue to collect some of her dad’s things, and to let us know that she and Parker are, um, not close. (She also notices that Jimmy has a file out with her mother Eleanor’s name on it.) Torres and Jessica meet the forger, a real charmer named Fernando, and Jessica seems to be taken in by his charms, which elicits a groan from Torres. They get him to tell them where he gave the fake FBI guy the fake ID, and Jessica seems to hand the guy her number… but really, she’s just cuffing him to the table so the feds can arrest him. (So that was the scene from the trailer that made it look like Torres and Jessica might be a thing. What do you think: just a false alarm?)

Kasie tells McGee that the bullet that killed Parker’s dad came from an NCIS weapon — meaning that Carla shot him with the gun she took from Parker. Kasie also traces residue in the SUV to a meat shop that’s right by the forger’s handoff spot, so they head there and spot the fake FBI guy… and some guys with big guns right behind him. A shootout ensues, and the guys with big guns throw the fake FBI guy into a truck and speed off. Vance is furious that they’re still on the case, but Parker claims he was just grabbing a sandwich at the meat shop. (Yeah, not convincing.) Torres tracks the truck to an old water treatment plant, and they distract the bad guys with fireworks while they drive off with the truck so they can interrogate the fake FBI guy themselves.

The fake FBI guy thanks them for saving him from the bad guys, but Parker corrects him: “I’m not your guardian angel. I’m the other guy.” He demands to know where Carla is — and is shaken to learn that Carla shot his father with his own gun. The fake FBI guy tells them Carla was planning a big score on a boat called the Quentin, and Parker snaps at McGee for not telling him his own gun killed his father: “I don’t need protecting, McGee!” He admits he hasn’t slept in days and promises to go home and rest, but when the team locates the Quentin, they see Parker’s cell is pinging from the same location. Yep, he’s already onboard. The team wants to help, but Vance tells them Navy Special Operations is taking over the investigation from here — led by Parker’s sister Harriet.

While Parker sneaks around the boat and eludes a few guards, Harriet says the ship is headed for international waters, so they need to act fast. She calls in air support, saying the ship is “a threat to national security” with a terrorist like Carla onboard. So does that mean she’s willing to blow up her own brother to take out Carla? Parker locks himself in a room on the boat and turns around to see… something we don’t see that makes him say “Oh, crap.” And as the ship edges towards international waters, Harriet ignores Vance and the NCIS team — and orders her jet fighters to fire. Holy “The Best of Both Worlds”!

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