Summary
There are many enthralling episodes ofNCIS: Sydney,despite season 1 only comprising eight episodes. The latest location-basedNCISspinoff from the massiveNCISfranchise launched in 2023. The series filled a vital need for programming amid the 2023 Writer’s Guild of America strike, which essentially halted American television and film production during ongoing negotiations. Filming in Australia against the beautiful backdrop of Sydney, theNCIS: Sydneyproduction crew was able to get the spinoff started at a vital time. Ofall theNCISspinoffs,NCIS: Sydneyhas distinctive qualities that make it stand out.
In season 1, vitalNCIS: Sydneycharacterswere inaugurated. Viewers were introduced to Olivia Swann as Special Agent Michelle Mackey, Todd Lasance as Jim “JD” Dempsey, Sean Sagar as DeShawn Jackson, Tuuli Narkle as Constable Evie Cooper, Mavournee Hazel as Bluebird “Blue” Gleeson, the team’s forensic scientist, and William McInnes As Roy Penrose, the team’s forensic pathologist. Moreover, as part of the sharedNCISuniverse, theSydneycharacters now exist in all the shows connected to the franchise.NCIS: Sydneyhas been renewed for season 2, making the episodes in its first season all the more vital.
8 Reasons NCIS: Sydney Deserves More Attention Ahead Of Season 2
NCIS: Sydney has been renewed for season 2 but hasn’t received a positive reception from all NCIS fans. That said, there are strengths to consider.
8Season 1, Episode 2, “Snakes In The Grass”
The AFP/NCIS Sydney Task Force Busts An Undercover Animal Smuggling Op
When the team is investigating a dead Navy officer killed by a venomous snake bite, their investigation leads them to an animal smuggling ring.It’s the first episode where the Australian Federal Police and the NCIS agents work as a team, with each faction bringing coffee in for the others. JD brings a tray of coffee, and so does Mackey, but Mackey brings"double jumbos,“saying it was their largest size. The simple moment at the beginning of the episode begins to peel back the layers of the cultural differences the agents will experience in the series.
The team also taps into themes of Australian wildlife, investigating military personnel for their involvement in skimming valuable animals off the top of imports and exports from a customs operation. The episode begins to establish the team’s dynamic. Evie Cooper and DeShawn Jackson are shown to have chemistry, while a playful but competitive relationship develops between JD and Mackey. While it was cool to see the team bust the undercover operation,it’s at the top of the list because it was gruesome to see portrayals of dead animals in the trash can, albeit necessary to bring attention to the issue.
7Season 1, Episode 4, “Ghosted”
NCIS Sydney Helps A Vietnam War Veteran
The team investigates a Vietnam War veteran in connection to a murder in “Ghosted,“and the episode dives deep into the Mackey character and what makes her tick. By the fourth episode of the series, there is a growing sense of unison and trust among the task force members. Mackey proves to be a capable leader, but her judgment in their investigation in “Ghosted” is compromised. After Mackey finds out that the Vietnam War veteran presumed to be dead is alive, she becomes furious that he abandoned his post, allowing her emotions to cloud her judgment during his interrogation.
A pivotal conversation between the veteran, Frank, andNCIS Agent Mackeyis usedto underline the complexities of war and the differences between Vietnam-era disputes and modern warfare.Frank claims that Vietnam was different, recalling his ability to see the whites of people’s eyes as he killed them and searching for the pieces of his fallen friends. He points out that Mackey, as a helicopter pilot, was removed from the conflict in a way he could not have been. In a tender conclusion, the team clears Frank, and he marries Mei, his sweetheart from the war, to avoid extradition.
6Season 1, Episode 6, “Extraction”
Constable Evie Cooper Is Pulled Into An Undercover Drug Op
After looking at Roy, DeShawn, and JD in the previous episode,“Extraction” hones in on Constable Evie Cooperand her background before the AFP/NCIS Sydney Task Force.After the team is called in to investigate someone who died on a bus wearing a Navy jacket, Evie begins to act strangely and is soon abducted by someone who turns out to be an old colleague from her days working in undercover drug busts. When local law enforcement gets involved, they reveal that Evie isn’t authorized for the job since she was previously involved with another undercover operative, compromising an investigation.
After she kept her guard up in the first half of the season,it’s fascinating to get such a deep take on Evie’s life.“Extraction” shields whether Evie’s behavior in operation is ethical, and while trying to protect Kane, her former lover and partner, she compromises DeShawn’s trust. Agent Jackson witnesses Evie withholding evidence from him. When he tracks her down out of concern, Evie punches DeShawn in the face, knocking him to the ground so as not to blow her cover. It’s the episode where Narkle’s character blossoms after her antics had become somewhat one-dimensional.
5Season 1, Episode 1, “Gone Fission”
NCIS Establishes The AFP/NCIS Sydney Task Force With Michelle Mackey As Its Supervisory Agent
“Gone Fission” is one of the best episodes ofNCIS: Sydneybecause it’s the first. In it, viewers meet Special Agent Michelle Mackey, Agent Afloat, assigned to the USS Ronald Reagan. After the mysterious death of a Navy sailor,the episode witnessed the establishment of a task force between the Australian Federal Police and the NCIS agents afloatin Sydney Harbor after they unwittingly collaborated on the investigation. Agent Mackey is promoted to the task force’s supervisory agent, becoming theNCISfranchise’s second official female team lead afterJane Tennant ofNCIS: Hawai’i.
In many ways, “Gone Fission” followed the playbook of “Yankee White,” the flagship series' debut episode and one of thebest episodes ofNCIS.Mackey is established as the team’s leader, a veteran with an elusive past and a rebellious spirit who evokes the earliest developments of the Leroy Jethro Gibbs character. While agents of competing investigative bodies initially clash over disagreements regarding turf, the agencies ultimately collaborate on the investigation, like Gibbs and Kate Todd, as part of the Secret Service.The AFP even has the authority to use firearms when the NCIS agents don’t,precisely like “Yankee White.”
4Season 1, Episode 3, “Brothers In Arms”
Mackey And Team Investigate The Murder Of A Retired US Navy SEAL
When a shark spits up an arm in an ocean pool in Sydney, the team is called in to investigate. The team identifies the man as a Navy SEAL, and while they don’t trace him to the detachment of U.S. Seals training in Sydney, they trace him to a local commercial diving operation. The local op is run by fellow veterans and friends of the missing SEAL, who later washes up dead on Malabar Beach. The team uncovers the retired SEAL was killed by one of their partners over disputes about uncovered drone footage the team links to the CIA.
The team is beginning to gel in “Brothers in Arms.” Roy gets a fancy Italian coffee maker on the NCIS budget as the team settles into their warehouse office. Roy’s relationship with Blue begins to take root. The team’s arc throughout the episode centers on the forensic scientist, who is sad about leaving her temporary lab post at NCIS. After she receives a call, thinking it’s a signal her replacement is returning, she plans a farewell party for herself. Still, it’s eventually revealed thatMackey has requested that Blue permanently join the team. Blue tearfully accepts.
3Season 1, Episode 5, “Doggiecino Day Afternoon”
Roy Is Held Hostage At A Doggie Café
“Doggiecino Day Afternoon” looks closer at the team’s membersas Roy is held hostage at a doggie café. JD collaborates with local law enforcement to negotiate the hostage situation, and it’s revealed that JD had intimate relations with the other law enforcement lead. In a distant and bitter conversation between the officials, it’s revealed JD has been married and has a child but is in the midst of a divorce. The episode also solidifies DeShawn Jackson as an agent who, despite liking to joke around, has a tenderness that sets him apart from the rest of the team.
A different side of Blue also materializes as she tries to save the offender, Louie, and ultimately cracks under the pressure of the job for the first time. At times, it’s uncomfortable to watch Louie, a 15-year-old girl, hold the café hostage, but ultimately,the episode centered on essential conversations about the state of mental and physical health.Louie, the episode’s misled antagonist, has a little sister dying of cancer, while Roy is internally embattled regarding his wife’s dementia. The episode illustrated the struggle of a family not being able to afford cancer medication and assisting a loved one with dementia.
2Season 1, Episode 8, “Blonde Ambition”
JD’s Son Is Kidnapped And Ana Niemus Escapes
In one of the season’s best episodes, the crime that kicks off theNCIS: Sydneyseason 1 finaleis JD’s son getting kidnapped from his ninth birthday party.After the team captures the series antagonist Ana Neimus in episode 7, one of her colleagues kidnaps JD’s sonand proposes a trade. While the team is trying to figure out where they can find him, they get word that the FBI is on the way, and JD breaks out with Ana to make the trade. It’s an emotional episode for JD, understandably, as he’s told repeatedly his son may be killed.
When JD makes the trade, he ultimately uncovers that Ana and her partner are somehow connected to the Department of Defense Attaché,which has appeared throughout the series concerning mysterious happenings they can’t explain,including a CIA surveillance drone ending up in Sydney harbor in episode 3. It’s a thrilling episode full of suspense and high-strung emotions from start to finish. Ultimately, it’s not the best because there are a few instances where the story could have been more watertight; the main lead to their suspect is a sandwich shop that JD just happens to enter.
1Season 1, Episode 7, “Bunker Down”
Mackey, Evie, And Blue Almost Die In A Sealed Bunker
“Bunker Down” is the best episode ofNCIS: Sydneyso far because it’s the most memorable.The Department of Defense invited the team to a launch party for a satellite-free geolocation technology called GaiaMetricthat uses the Earth’s magnetic field to determine location. When the team has to split up at the last minute after finding a dead Office of Naval Research scientist, Evie, Blue, and Mackay attend the futuristic tech launch while JD and DeShawn go to investigate the dead scientist. When GaiaMetric fails, the team is trapped in a sealed bunker with two hours of oxygen.
It’s a harrowing episode for the team that signifies how far they have come in working together.
The strenuous circumstances cause anxiety for the team members and the viewer. Part of the gimmick is that no one knows where the bunker is other than the event planner, and the bunker hasn’t been functional for two decades. Before connecting the technology’s jam to antagonist Ana Neimus, Evie, Blue, and Mackay experience vulnerable emotions as they give in to death with just seconds left to live. It’s a harrowing episode for the team that signifies how far they have come in working together. Episodes like “Bunker Down” kept things unpredictable and set up an excitingNCIS: Sydneyseason 2.
NCIS: Sydney
Cast
NCIS: Sydney is an Australian crime-police procedural series and is another spin-off in the long-running NCIS franchise. The series is set in Sydney, Australia, and follows Special Agent-in-Charge Michelle Mackey as she and her fellow partners deal with various high-profile cases and crimes.
