Nancy Travis’ NCIS Debut Puts Parker’s Life at Risk
Nancy Travis made her NCIS debut as Harriet Parker, putting one character’s life at serious risk—with Harriet holding the key to their salvation.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for NCIS season 23, episode 1.
The season 23 premiere, which aired on Tuesday, October 14, offered fans a look into Special Agent in Charge Alden Parker’s (Gary Cole) childhood alongside sister Harriet (Travis) as they both coped with their father Roman’s (Francis X. McCarthy) murder in distinct ways.
Alden, the rebellious teen, frequently challenged his father, while Harriet was the rule-abiding sibling, concerned about how Alden’s legal troubles were impacting their father.
Although Alden had a solid relationship with their dad before his untimely death—depicted in the season 22 finale in May—Harriet seemed unconvinced he had matured.
After avoiding Harriet’s calls and being sidelined by Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) during the investigation into their father’s murder, Harriet showed up at NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C. She was stern, composed, and clearly not pleased with her brother as she collected their father’s belongings from Chief Medical Examiner Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen).
“He must’ve been so proud of both his kids serving their country,” Jimmy said to Harriet while she inquired about her father’s mug decorated with Naval stickers.
Harriet replied, “My brother wouldn’t have been able to wear the uniform even if he wanted to,” indicating that Alden’s juvenile record was more problematic than his NCIS colleagues realized.
“People do change,” Jimmy commented, to which Harriet retorted, “Some do—others just remain stuck in the same cycle.”
As the episode unfolded, Alden focused on capturing Nexus cartel leader Carla Morino (Rebecca De Mornay), who had shot his father at home after abducting Alden during the season 2 finale. Yet, the tension with his sister constantly lingered in his thoughts.
“She followed the rules, made sacrifices, and wore the uniform,” Alden expressed to Special Agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) regarding Harriet.
When Knight observed, “And you wear a badge,” Alden clarified, “It’s not the same. Not for her.”
He added that the loss of their father “makes it easier to assign blame” for his murder—even if it wasn’t anyone’s fault.
In the finale moment of the premiere, Alden found himself hidden aboard a carrier ship being used by Carla to escape the country. While the team worked to devise a plan to safely extract Alden and apprehend Carla without chaos, Harriet and her unit intervened.
“NCIS personnel, follow my team’s instructions and clear the area,” Harriet commanded as the Navy Special Operations took control.
During the climactic scenes, Harriet received orders to obliterate the ship to neutralize Carla and the weapons tied to ongoing threat networks monitored by the Navy for months.
“My orders are clear: disable or destroy before it exits U.S. waters. Carla Morino attempted to detonate a dirty bomb on U.S. soil, and command is not allowing her a chance to do it again,” Harriet stated, even as Alden’s team endeavored to persuade her against carrying out the order.
“Give me another option,” Harriet insisted to Vance, as she scrutinized the command board. “Yankee 1 and 2, you are cleared hot. Fire!”
The episode concluded with a foreboding “To be continued” message.
NCIS airs on CBS Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, followed by NCIS: Origins at 9 p.m. ET and NCIS: Sydney at 10 p.m. ET.
