'NCIS: New Orleans' Season 6 Episode 11: Pride’s recurring nightmares of an unknown man proves he isn’t okay
Before its mid-season break, viewers saw the squad in ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Season 6 standing on some very shaky ground. The quest to find justice for the slain special agent Lasalle (Lucas Black) was weighing on the team of federal agents.
The suspected murderer Eddie Barrett (Eddie Cahil) was always one step ahead of them. And even when they finally came face to face, they realized he was a cult leader and things only got messier since then. Special agent Dwayne Pride (Scott Bakula) ultimately killed him but before he could do so, Barrett got inside his head. He revealed he knew where Pride’s daughter was. He could get at her at any time. Pride covered this up. He told the FBI that Barrett went for his gun and that was why he had to shoot him. But that is patently untrue.
Pride was visibly off his game, shaken by how personal the stakes were. His team was supportive of him. But something had definitely changed. While others could have found solace in the death of Barrett, it seemed unlikely that Pride -- a complex and troubled man -- would so easily check this off.
Episode 11 ‘Bad Moon Rising’, the first one after the mid-season break, was only proof that things had not cooled down inside his head. Pride was having nightmares; only in the few hours that he was actually sleeping. He kept dreaming about the same man for weeks, unable to figure out who he was.
It is befitting of Pride’s strong stoic nature that he would bury himself in work. But it was also clear that Pride yearned to be out in the middle of some action because the demons inside him were not letting him rest.
Others in the team could also sense that Pride was struggling to let go, to find peace. When getting checked by Dr. Wade (C. C. H. Pounder) for an eye injury during a conflict, he once again slid into a kind of vision where he saw the same man, this time bloodied. Pride also put himself in harm's way to save the others. While that's something he would normally do as well, it seemed oddly more aggressive this time.
After a point, Pride even started resisting help and concern. Whatever this mystery is, it is only likely that it is somehow related to Lasalle and Barrett. But the real question is: will trying to solve this eat away at Pride’s sanity?
‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Season 6 airs Sundays 10 pm PT.
