SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for NCIS Season 24, Episode 5.
NCIS Season 24, Episode 5 is nothing new as far as crime dramas are concerned. “Speechless” is another story in which the heroes find a child as the only witness to their case, and have to work with (and befriend) the kid to solve said case. The difference in the CBS drama is also its marketing hook: that in this instance, the child is played by the daughter of one of the show’s stars.
Katrina Law’s daughter Kinley Andreen portrays Chloe Sims, the seven-year-old daughter of Monica Sims, who goes on a one-woman revenge mission after her Marine colleague Mike Sullivan is apparently murdered by a Chinese gang known as the Ghost Dragons. When Monica takes Chloe to a convenience store to meet Mike, Chloe instead winds up seeing the two suspects. “Speechless” follows Knight as she bonds with Chloe, while the team unravels what becomes a convoluted gang story. What makes it convoluted is that there isn’t technically a gang.
There’s usually a fourth-act twist in most procedurals, and this episode is no exception. Rather just sticking with a straightforward case of the week, the script throws in the idea of the suspects having just pretended to be Ghost Dragons as a way of extorting money from local businesses. This, naturally, upsets the actual gang and there’s too-briefly the threat of a gang war. It enables there to be a shootout, but NCIS could’ve just connected A to B and it would’ve still been a solid episode. That’s because “Speechless” relies on the dynamic between Knight and Chloe to keep viewers invested, and that rapport is obviously already there between the actors.
This isn’t the first time that NCIS has cast a parent and child together; Sean Murray’s daughter Cay also guest-starred on the show. But “Speechless” feels like it was specifically tailored for Law and Andreen to play off each other, from the general premise of to the character of Chloe having some things in common with Knight. This puts the onus on the actors and there’s exactly the right amount of charm between them. The audience falls in love with Chloe, but things never get too saccharine (even with all of the cheesy popcorn jokes). It’s also good to see a happy ending for both Monica and Chloe, and that Monica has a significant part to play in the plot, rather than the story just being all about Knight as a sort of stand-in mom.
Beyond that, “Speechless” is pretty much just connecting the dots it needs to in order to deliver a self-contained plot. There are a few chuckles when Nick Torres calls upon his police friend Kenny for an assist, but the setup is one of those times when NCIS is a little too obvious with its humor. It’s clear immediately from the line delivery that Kenny is an undercover cop, which makes viewers naturally wonder how no one else has noticed.
The subplot of McGee trying to write a speech for his son Mateo’s sentencing hearing is kind of supposed to be comic relief, based on the jokes about everyone not seeing his emails, but that seems like a strange choice for a lighter subplot given how serious the outcome could be. In fact, the end of it could’ve been something genuinely moving, albeit logistically harder. It would’ve been more meaningful to see and hear McGee’s speech instead of simply having Jimmy Palmer do the “here’s what happened” spiel for the team (and viewers). It’s understandable why NCIS didn’t go that route—it would’ve required another location and a guest appearance by actor Patrick Kelleher—but it’s a missed opportunity nonetheless. Something that affects McGee’s life significantly shouldn’t just be told.
NCIS Season 24, Episode 6 does the job and wins over the audience thanks to its two leads. It’s not a game-changer in show canon, nor does it have any particular rewatch value. But as a standalone experience, it’s a fine way to fill time in the season before the next big whodunit comes around the corner.
NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
