Why You Recognized the New Girl in Ops in the ‘NCIS: LA’ Season 10 Finale
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 10 finale of NCIS: Los Angeles, “False Flag.”]
The JAG reunion wasn’t the only blast from the past in Sunday’s NCIS: LA Season 10 finale.
With Nell (Renee Felice Smith) in San Francisco with her mother, Hetty (Linda Hunt) brought in reinforcements to work with Eric (Barrett Foa) in Ops — NCIS Special Agent Jasmine Garcia (Alyssa Diaz), from the San Diego office. If you thought you recognized her, you were right.
Jasmine first appeared in Season 8, Episode 3, “The Queen’s Gambit.” During a tour in Afghanistan, she stumbled upon a human trafficking ring of ISIS brides, and though she made a couple of missteps in her investigation, she clearly made an impression on Sam (LL Cool J) and Callen (Chris O’Donnell).
“They’re my mentors, convinced me to become an agent,” Jasmine explained to Eric after Sam and Callen greeted her during a video chat.
And clearly that was the right move, because Jasmine was exactly what the team needed in “False Flag,” though it was easier said than done for her and Eric to “play nice” as Hetty requested.
She was ready to get right to work as soon as she walked into Ops, and she was even able to speed up Eric’s attempt to identify the Chechen operatives on board the USS Allegiance communicating with their suspect in Los Angeles. “Wrote a little app on the helo that scans video footage looking for full faces with two eyes pointed at the camera, pulls the face, then dumps them into facial rec and starts matching them with personnel records,” she said.
But Eric was feeling a bit territorial about his “very special Ops” — it probably didn’t help that he was worried about Nell and her mother — and Jasmine knew exactly how to handle that. “We’ve got to find a covert operative on a U.S. aircraft carrier, which is super bad news that really ticks my anger box. You don’t want to see me angry,” she told him. (And he doesn’t, even though, yes, Nell was able to apprehend her when they last crossed paths. See that confrontation in the video below.)
“This really needs to take priority over your little insecurities ’cause that’s what they are,” Jasmine continued. He needed to “squash down” those insecurities, and that meant not being so eager to give the name of the operative that her app found to the rest of the team.
But with Eric and Nell’s future with NCIS a bit of a question mark at the moment, could Jasmine be in Ops again next season?
Diaz is a series regular on The Rookie, which was recently renewed for a second season for the fall, so if she does return as Jasmine in Season 11, it’s likely only going to be to wrap up the finale cliffhanger. That being said, she does bring a fun new dynamic to Ops and has a history with the team. Considering she’s not in a dangerous position at the end of Season 10, this guest spot leaves the door open for future appearances.
Sound off with your thoughts on Diaz’s return as Jasmine in the Season 10 finale below.
NCIS: Los Angeles, Season 11, Fall 2019, CBS