Tonight on CBS NCIS returns with an all-new Monday, December 16, 2024, season 22 episode 9 called, “Humbug,” and we have your weekly NCIS recap below.
In tonight’s NCIS season 22 episode 7 called “Hardboiled,” as per the CBS synopsis, “When a shocking tell-all threatens to ruin Christmas for a decorated Marine, NCIS must uncover the truth and deliver a holiday miracle – before the book hits shelves and turns a hero’s legacy into a holiday disaster.”
So make sure to bookmark this spot and come back between 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET for our NCIS recap. While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our NCIS recaps, spoilers, news & more, right here!
Tonight’s NCIS Recap begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
In tonight’s NCIS fall finale episode, it’s been three days. There was still no heat at the NCIS building. The agents were keeping themselves warm by staying by the printer and taking photos of their hands. Parker kept saying that maintenance will fix the heat, but Director Vance had bigger things to worry about.
He asked both Parker as well as Deputy Director LaRoche to report to his office. He told them that someone was writing a tell all book that basically blamed a marine of gross negligence. The incident happened fourteen years ago. This same negligence allegedly caused the deaths of three marines. And the man that was being accused was a decorated veteran who became something of an advocate for veterans.
Merrit Hastings was injured in fighting back against the Taliban in the early days of the war. He threw one of their grenades back at them. It exploded in mid-air and messed up his arm.
He could have disappeared after that. He instead used his notoriety to appeal for better conditions for veterans. He even has a bill currently being discussed in Congress that could provide veterans better funding once they leave the military. Hastings seemed like a good guy and Parker thought whoever was writing this book was the Grinch.
Who else would go after an injured veteran right before Christmas? It was definitely Grinch-like behavior. There was a media blackout while the allegations were investigated and the Director put LaRoche in charge.
He normally would have given it directly to NCIS only he wanted to follow the rule book on this one. LaRoche was put in charge. NCIS were told to assist him with the investigation. They did their best to pretend like he wasn’t there and he just kept popping up. Jimmy was even brusque with him when he stopped LaRoche from snacking in his lab.
Though to be fair to him, he didn’t take the team’s attitude to heart. He and Parker later spoke to Hastings. He said everything that needed to be said was in his action report. He didn’t think there was anything else to add.
He now was a motorcycle mechanic. He only hires veterans. He makes sure to take of his own and so it was shocking that someone would write a book against him. NCIS tried to figure out the motive. They thought it was a political shakedown. Someone on the hill wanted something and was willing to smear a veteran to get it.
Only they were wrong about that one. The person who wrote the book was Samuel Cross. He was a marine. He was also the brother of Evan Cross. Evan was one of the marines that died during the battle with the Taliban fourteen years ago. His brother believes Evan died because of Hastings. NCIS visited him at his home. They found his place decorated with post-its. Sam was saying Hastings caused the death of those men. He didn’t go to NCIS about it because there was a coverup and he claimed he was finally going to unmask Hastings as his brother’s killer.
The man was coming from a place of hurt. It’s been more than a decade and he still needed someone to blame. He claimed he was getting justice for his brother when really it was his own guilt driving him to write that book. The brothers were serving under the same unit. Sam had been injured a few days before his brother was killed. He was benched and he wasn’t there to save his brother from the attack. He was feeling guilty. Torres recognized it right away. He thought maybe they should Sam some therapy.
LaRoche was more concerned about optics. It doesn’t look good that Sam was throwing around the words “cover up”. He had NCIS look into the past investigation. They found no wrongdoing on Hastings part and so McGee got an early copy of Sam’s book. He used his pen name to pull some strings. They got the book and it turns out Sam did find out something. There was a radio communication to Hastings that told him to pull out. Hastings didn’t get that message. Evan got the message. He was put in charge of the radio. And he missed several warnings.
NCIS went back to Hastings with proof of a radio communication. He tried to take the blame. His people, the ones that survived the assault, all came forward to say that he wasn’t guilty.
Hastings ran a tight ship. They thought he was protecting someone. They just didn’t know why. Evan was new at the radio, but that doesn’t mean he messed up. Evan was a newlywed when he died. His wife has done a lot of work with veterans to help herself heal and now her former brother-in-law was dragging it all back up.
The poor woman was tired of being harassed by the media. She also warned NCIS that Sam was burying his pain anyway he could. He didn’t need justification. Some veterans later visited Sam’s home.
They tried to threaten him. NCIS was called in. The media was also tipped off and now there was a front page photo of McGee getting hit in the face by a veteran marine. LaRoche thought the case was over after that. He was fine with accepting Hastings’s guilt. He didn’t care if the man was lying or not. He just wanted the SECNAV to look good.
It was NCIS that kept digging. Kasie later found evidence that the radio was messed up. It wasn’t Evan’s fault or Hastings’s fault. They never got the warning. The radio was at fault. Sam was the radio operator until he got injured and his brother was promoted to his place when he got benched. What Sam never told anyone was that his knee was injured before his deployment. He tried to push through the pain. He ignored it because that’s what he thought a marine should do and now he’s always going to blame himself for his brother getting killed.
Torres reached out to Sam. He also contacted several other marines. They all came together to help Sam to finally process his grief and Sam wasn’t going ahead with the book. Hastings was willing to take the fall so that the blame wouldn’t land on Evan. And Sam could respect that.
The heating was eventually fixed at headquarters and Torres spent the holiday with a mystery girlfriend.
THE END!
