‘NCIS: Case Closed’ Aftershow: Gary Cole Talks Parker’s Fears, Plus Will Clara Return? (VIDEO)
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS Season 21 Episode 8 “Heartless.”]
“Even if all your choices are bad, you have to pick the best bad choice because that’s the only choice you’re going to have to survive,” says Gary Cole, explaining why his character, NCIS Special Agent in Charge Alden Parker, made the split-second decision to pose as a heart surgeon in the latest episode.
The actor told us more about filming the adrenaline-pumping installment in our weekly after show NCIS: Case Closed. (To see the entire interview where he breaks down the episode, watch the video above.) Parker allowed himself to be kidnapped along with a real cardiac specialist, Navy Commander Clara Logan (Christina Kirk), who was being taken to operate on Colombian drug kingpin Carlos Savina (Juan Javier Cardenas).
Suspenseful storyline aside, the hour also gave us the opportunity to learn more about Parker, who almost passed out when the patient’s chest was opened up. “Apparently [Parker has problems] stomaching certain things, which is funny to me because he seems to have no problem walking through an autopsy room looking at carved up bodies. There must be something about an actual beating heart that throws him — or the actual cutting,” says Cole. “I wouldn’t say that I’m squeamish on a level like that. But I don’t have any needle fear.”
Turns out that “needle fear” known as “trypanophia” is also an issue for the team leader. But it’s another one of his “phobias” — commitment — that he might have to deal with going forward. Even in crisis, he and doc Logan delivered on banter. By the episode’s end, their exchanges took on a tender aspect that seemed to surprise Parker himself. “I don’t know that you were left with the feeling that Christine’s character may be returning. That’s the way it looks to me. And since we’re coming back, we’ll find that out,” Cole says, alluding to the procedural’s renewal for a 22nd season.
Will this season, like previous ones of NCIS, end on a cliffhanger? Cole will only drop a subtle hint about the finale: “What I can say that people are in trouble. Big trouble. And it’s going to take everybody — and I’ll lay a little hint — it’s going to take everybody on board. If you take the clue.”
Check out the video above for more from Cole on behind-the-scenes details from the shoot, like trying an inversion table for the first time; auditioning for one of the movies that was name-checked in this episode; and Parker’s friendship with Torres (Wilmer Valderrama). Come back each week for a new episode of NCIS: Case Closed to hear from the people who make the show.
NCIS, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS
