“NCIS: New Orleans” follows an NCIS team that investigates criminal cases involving military personnel in The Big Easy, a city known for its music, entertainment, and decadence.
The seventh and final season of “NCIS New Orleans” starts off in March 2020 with Special-Agent-In-Charge Dwayne Cassius Pride (Scott Bakula) becoming increasingly aware of the fast-spreading coronavirus across the globe. This series incorporates elements from real life that will long be remembered as the COVID-19 two-year (at least) pandemic. Prudently, the NCIS team employs the recommended precautions regarding masking, testing, and social distancing.
“NCIS: New Orleans” contains all the familiar trappings of military crime dramas that include top secrets, corrupt cops, car bombs, and organized crime syndicates. Infusing the detective puzzles are subplots surrounding the lead characters that weave the squad together nicely.
Pride is reconnecting with his girlfriend Rita Devereaux (Chelsea Field), an ACLU volunteer staying busy and looking for meaningful employment. Medical examiner Loretta Wade (CCH Pounder) seeks to overcome the PTSD that has led her to seek refuge in a few too many glasses of wine after work.
Daryl Mitchell as wheelchair-bound Patton Flame continues to provide his forensic expertise as he has since the show’s inception. Rob Kerkovich as Sebastian Lund contributes his nerdy technical expertise, as well as demonstrating his heart of gold. He assists a homeless singer/songwriter to retrieve her child from protective services by persuading co-workers to help out with a steady job, a place to stay, and legal assistance.
Both Necar Zadegan as Hannah Khoury and Vanessa Ferlito as Tammy Gregorio serve up feisty performances as agents dedicated to solving mysterious crimes, and who have their own compelling backstories as well. Newcomer to the team Quentin Carter (Charles Michael Davis) brings a welcome charisma navigating between his mother’s pending appointment as undersecretary of the Navy and a long-kept secret from his youth that could derail her confirmation.
Most conspicuously missing from season seven is Lucas Black as Christopher LaSalle who was shot and killed partway into season six while investigating the death of his brother. Black reportedly left the show to escape the pressures associated with a rigorous production schedule in order to spend more time with his wife and children.
Though New Orleans’ culture and nightlife features often in the location shooting, somehow it seems that more could have been done with the iconic setting. The Big Easy is a universe unto itself, and yet it’s as if the city is simply treated as a backdrop for another NCIS spinoff.
Executive producers Mark Harmon and Scott Bakula bring to television a relatively formulaic military detective drama over its sixteen episodes – nonetheless, the series hits most of the right notes throughout. Perhaps not quite up the caliber of its forebears, “NCIS: New Orleans” satisfies well enough to please most audiences.
Now available on DVD
