What We Want to See in ‘NCIS’ & ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ Premiere Crossover

Wilmer Valderrama, Sean Murray, Katrina Law, Jason Antoon, Vanessa Lachey in NCIS Hawaii Crossover
Robert Voets/CBS

NCIS ended on a troubling note for the team in May: Boss Alden Parker (Gary Cole) is on the run, framed for murder, and he doesn’t know his ex-wife, Vivian (Teri Polo), who’s tagging along, is somehow involved. Meanwhile, the latest in the franchise, Hawai’i, closed its first season with a much happier moment, a party at Tennant’s (Vanessa Lachey) that saw Lucy (Yasmine Al-Bustami) and Kate (Tori Anderson) getting back together. But both teams will have one thing on their minds when they cross over for their fall 2022 premieres: The Raven.

In the two-hour event, the hunt for the Big Bad introduced in NCIS Season 19 will unveil a complex network and a larger, sinister plan that will lead to the island in a race to thwart the next large-scale attack. The target: RIMPAC (The Rim of the Pacific Exercises), the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise.

Below, we take a look at how we’d like to see the crossover handle significant parts of the event.

The Raven

The Raven was introduced in Season 19 Episode 13, when Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) and forensic scientist Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) were nearly killed by a biotoxin. The Raven left Parker and the team a note: “Nevermore.” The Big Bad wouldn’t pop up again until the finale, framing Parker for the murder of his ex-partner. Vivian tagged along when Parker fled the FBI, but she texted someone “It’s done. I have him,” the same words used by said ex-partner when he “kidnapped” her earlier. It’s unclear if she’s the Raven or just working for the baddie.

Gary Cole, Sean Murray, Vanessa Lachey, Wilmer Valderrama, and Katrina Law in NCIS Hawaii Crossover

Robert Voets/CBS

Now, the logline for the NCIS Season 20 premiere, “A Family Matter,” teases that the teams will be looking into Parker’s past to see who may have a personal vendetta against him, while in the Hawai’i Season 2 premiere, “Prisoners’ Dilemma,” they’ll be tracking the Raven to Oahu and trying to stop his next attack. But even though they’ll (obviously) succeed in doing that, we can’t help but think they shouldn’t completely wrap up the Raven case with the crossover. After all, the Raven is an NCIS villain, so the significant parts should occur on there. And since the crossover will be ending on Hawai’i, that means we hope that there’s at least one (major) lingering thread to address in NCIS Season 20 Episode 2.

Even better would be if the Raven is still out there, but Parker’s name has been officially cleared, and we could possibly get smaller crossovers during the season as the D.C. team focuses on finding the Raven and the Hawai’i agents can pass along leads or aid the investigation in some way.

Romances

Heading into the fall season, both series have romances in their early stages: Palmer and Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) on NCIS and Lucy and Kate on Hawai’i. Palmer and Knight just got together after dancing around the possibility for a few episodes, while Lucy and Kate are starting over after Kate wasn’t honest about her relationship earlier in the season.

Wilmer Valderrama, Vanessa Lachey, Jason Antoon, Brian Dietzen, Katrina Law in NCIS Hawaii Crossover

Robert Voets/CBS

It’s rare for NCIS shows to have the opportunity to have agents from two discuss ongoing relationships; it came up when NCIS‘ Tony (Michael Weatherly) visited Los Angeles and worked with Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) and Kensi (Daniela Ruah) but given how complicated “Tiva” was and the fact they were never really together onscreen, it doesn’t count. This event offers the chance to change that, especially with Knight heading back to the island. (She and Torres are once again crossing over in the Hawai’i episode.) It doesn’t have to be anything big, but a quick exchange would be great and a way to provide updates on both relationships in the middle of the crisis.

Crossover Connections

The first crossover leaned heavily on Torres and Tennant’s shared history, which was understandable, given that the only other link established between the two teams was between Tennant and Gibbs (Mark Harmon, who exited NCIS in Season 19). But seeing Knight and Ernie (Jason Antoon) interact was fun, and we saw how Palmer reacted to the two knowing each other (albeit, this was before the newest NCIS couple got together). What’s it like to see the three of them together?

Let’s see how McGee (Sean Murray) and Tennant work together, especially since he’s only in the first half. Let’s see cyber geniuses McGee and Ernie bond, since the latter’s going to be in D.C. Mix it up as much as possible for meaningful interactions and not just everyone gathered to go over case details. Have fun with it!

NCISNCIS: Hawai’i, 2022 Premiere Crossover, Monday, September 19, 9/8c, CBS