'NCIS: New Orleans' Season 6 Episode 13 sees Pride believe prime suspect’s claims and expose his vulnerability
Season 6 of ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ has seen the squad of federal agents deal with a lot of pain, even the death of a beloved colleague. But no one in the team has been worse-affected than Special Agent Dwayne Pride (Scott Bakula). In episode 13, ‘The Root of All Evil’, we see his ongoing struggle to reconcile his pain.
In the last episode, we saw him seek psychiatric help. But his insomnia and dreams -- the one about the man in the red suit -- is affecting him much more than he could have foreseen. He’s forgetting things, and he’s always distracted. So much so that he even forgot that Sebastian (Rob Kerkovich) was away at training and not with them at present.
But sometimes, his inner demons are not a bad thing. In the last few episodes, we have seen Pride becoming more selfless and compassionate than ever. Even in this episode, he was the same. And even though he is never the rough or ruthless cop, this difference, even if subtle is noticeable. And despite whatever he is going through, his work as a detective has yet to be compromised.
Trauma can affect both personal and professional lives, but it would seem that Agent Pride has learned to compartmentalize his lives. All throughout the episode, he maintained a veneer of calm, even though one knows that inside his head, it is anything but that.
At the same time, one has to wonder if others (even those not on the squad) can sense his vulnerability. In the episode, the daughter of the victim, an unlikely suspect, seems to have earned a soft spot in Pride’s heart. At the end of the episode, Pride receives a call from the police. She had killed her ex-fiance, the prime suspect in the murder. She claimed that it was in self-defense. And one can choose to believe that. But something about the story felt off and possibly to Pride as well, who had a look on his face when all this was going on.
Does Pride realize that his instincts may have become compromised? At this point, it is hard to tell. But self-doubt and Pride have historically been a bad combination. One only hopes that the next episode gets us to the bottom of this mystery as well as the one about the man in the red suit. Because if this continues for long, chances are that Pride will lose himself in this battle of emotions.
‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Season 6 airs Sundays 10 pm PT.