Is Torres leaving ‘NCIS’? Episode 3 threatens his future as his risky undercover past surfaces
'NCIS' Season 24 Episode 3, titled 'Sleeping Dogs', brought Nicholas Torres' (Wilmer Valderrama) past into focus as the team handles a case connected to his undercover days. In the episode, they found a burnt body of a paralegal named Mandy Dubrow in a car. The vehicle was registered under the name "Dante Navarro", which shocked Torres. It was the alias he went by while undercover years ago. Torres went to his former handler, Walt Keller (guest star Mike O’Malley), as he was the only other person who knew about the alias. Clearly, they did not part on good terms.
Further investigation reveals that Dante was found connected to several murders in the last two years. One victim apparently got a message right before their death that Dante was looking for them. Interestingly, the message also asked about someone named Grace. After a hilarious sequence where Walt acts dead, Torres informs him of the situation. Walt is shocked to find that someone is using Dante's identity to murder people, as he personally destroyed the alias years ago.
After seeing the list of the victims, Walt figured out the connection. All of their names have been changed, and they are actually connected to the Cimino family. Turns out Dante's operation put the Cimino family away for life. Each of these victims was connected to the family and gave testimony against them. Torres immediately wants to loop in his informant Ray, as things could get dangerous. Walt is one step ahead and has already put out feelers for Ray.
During the investigation, Walt gets on Torres nerves. He belittles him for becoming a house cat. Torres argues that what he was as Dante was just for his duty. "Nick Torres is the cover," Walt retorts. "Dante's who you really are." During a confrontation, Dante pulls a gun on Walt. "There he is; I knew you were in there somewhere," Walt says to Torres. The team approaches a bookkeeper with connections to the Cimino family. He confesses that he stole the money, but now has none of it. He had to give it all to a Federal Agent named Bob Graves, in exchange for full immunity. Torres immediately recognized is was the undercover alias Walt used in his operations.
The team finds that Walt has been giving monthly transfers to an offshore account belonging to Sasha Norris. Torres recognizes the woman and heads out without informing anyone. Torres enters a bar and finds Walt. Sasha is Ray's daughter, who died long ago at the hands of the Cimino family. She is murdering people under Dante's name to get revenge. Walt has been giving her money so she can move on. As the pair are talking, Sasha arrives and shoots Walt. She turns to Torres, who confesses that he is Dante and apologizes for failing her father. She puts down her rifle, but just then Walt kills her. He says to Torres that Sasha had pulled a side piece and was about to kill him.
Torres debriefs the case before Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly). He backs Walt, saying he killed in self-defence. Tony dismisses them. The audience then watches Torres approach Walt and accept his offer of side jobs with the CIA. So does that mean Torres will leave 'NCIS'? Wilmer Valderrama does not think so. The actor shared that his character will balance both jobs. "So I think the director is going to be in the know. I think that the director is going to also allow it to happen at some point, but we'll see how it all turns out that way, because I think there's a lot to be told about how DiNozzo feels about where Torres is. And at the end of this episode, as you can see, DiNozzo's like, 'Can I use this guy or should I be concerned about this guy?'" the actor explained to TV Insider. 'NCIS' Season 24 airs every Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET on CBS.
