The following contains spoilers for NCIS: Hawai'i Season 1, Episode 19, "Nurture," which aired Monday, April 18 on CBS.
CBS recently announced that it was renewing all three of its NCIS series for the 2022-23 season. Fans of the franchise were clearly happy with the news because they'll get to see another year of navy-based crime solving. Moving into Season 2, though, NCIS: Hawai'i will need to adapt and reinvent its storytelling to match the other two series. Luckily, "Nurture" showed that it's capable of doing so.
NCIS' writers have been busy replacing Gibbs, but they still had an established set of characters to work with. NCIS: Hawai'i, on the other hand, is in its first season, which means that everything is new. As the series has introduced characters and plot lines, everything has seemed a bit flat and one-dimensional. There's no doubt that each character will grow with more screen time -- but the writers needed to start turning the page on some things ahead of Season 2, and that's what happened in this week's episode.
The episode was about animal smuggling, and things turned nasty after a sailor was mauled by an escaped tiger. The tiger was a problem, but it wasn't the main reason for the smuggling operation. What the smuggler really wanted was a specific deer from Asia -- more specifically, the deer's blood, which was filled with an engineered form of anthrax. Luckily, the team was able to stop him from disseminating the deadly gas, but there were some important characterization points that happened along the way.
Kai Has a New Love Interest
When Kai was introduced as the newest member of Tennant's team, he had an air of mystery. Something was off about his past and his relationship with his father. However, it got to the point where that was his only defining characteristic. A few episodes back, he more or less made good with his dad, but fans have been waiting for his character's next plotline. That happened when the series introduced a love interest in Fish and Wildlife agent Melanie Doss. They worked together on the animal smuggling case, and Kai asked her on a date as "Nurture" ended.
Lucy Might Have Moved on From Whistler
It looked like Whistler and Lucy were going to be the primary couple on NCIS: Hawai'i when the series started. However, Whistler threw a wrench into that plotline when she had a fling with her old girlfriend and Lucy found out about it. Since then, Lucy has been avoiding Whistler at all costs, but it's been difficult for her. Granted, breakups take time, but Lucy's character really needs something to define her besides her now ex-relationship. So despite Whistler's recent apology, it would be better if Lucy just moved onto something else. Ernie tried to help her do that in "Nurture" by getting her to open up a bit and giving her a gift -- more on that later on.
Alex Learns That Plans Change
It was only a few episodes ago that Tennant's son Alex got a baseball scholarship on the East Coast. However, in "Nurture," he ruptured his Achilles tendon -- a major setback for his athletic dreams, and a lesson that the best laid plans can change. He could make a full recovery and still play baseball, but in order to do so, he will have to focus on his upcoming rehabilitation. Alex has a whole new direction for the rest of the season.
Ernie Has a New Dog and Is Stepping up for Lucy
Ernie has been pretty anti-social throughout the season, but that's starting to change. He had his own love interest a few episodes back in a police detective, but he wasn't ready to commit to a relationship. However, he's really taken an interest in helping Lucy move on from Whistler. He also got a dog in "Nurture" -- so maybe he's opening up enough to accept that he's just as good with people (and animals) as he is with computers.
To see how these characters evolve before Season 2, watch NCIS: Hawai’i on CBS. New episodes premiere on Mondays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.