NCIS Season 22 Episode 5 Recap: 8 Biggest Moments & Reveals

Spoiler Alert for NCIS season 22, episode 5, “In From the Cold”

NCIS season 22, episode 5 features a case that forces MCRT to deal with a supposed Cold War spy. The NCIS season 22 cast has brought back every prominent cast member from season 21, even though the year started with everyone seemingly busy with their individual endeavors. Jessica Knight was the Chief REACT Training Officer at California’s Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Nick Torres was undercover, and Tim McGee was vying for a promotion. Eventually, all of them made their way back to Navy Yard.

The premiere introduces NCIS season 22’s new villain, Gabriel LaRoche, a new character played by Seamus Dever. LaRoche poses a massive threat to NCIS and national security. Subsequently, Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) and the team deal with the unexpected death of a diplomatic envoy. NCIS season 22, episode 4, follows up the most significant blow to the MCRT yet when Alden Parker and his team find themselves trying to diffuse World War III after an algorithm written by Curtis intercepts communication from Belarus. Episode 5 introduces another threat to national security with a thrilling, heartfelt twist.

8 Nick Torres Has Joined MateQuest At Jimmy’s Recommendation

Nick And Jimmy Are Looking For Love

In the opening of NCIS season 22, episode 5, “In From the Cold,” Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) questions Agent McGee (Sean Murray) about having to hype himself up when applying for the NCIS Deputy Director position, which ultimately went to Gabriel LaRoche. McGee agrees that he had to make himself look and sound suitable for the job application and asks if Nick is also looking for a new position. Nick explains that he isn’t looking to hype himself up for a new job but for a new relationship. Jess eagerly joins the discussion, excited about her teammate.

In NCIS season 22, episode 3, Nick reveals to Jess that he wants to put himself out there again. Initially, Nick was just on MateQuest to play wing-man to Dr. Jimmy Palmer, Jess’ ex, but he reveals that he has his own profile in episode 5. The revelation leads to some pretty humorous discussions about Nick’s profile, including the possibility that Nick took professional pictures with someone else’s dog to seem more likable. Nick initially thinks his profile doesn’t need any words since his appearance sells him well enough.

7 Captain Thomas Butler Has A Hostage At The Navy Hospital (& The Team Searching Him Shuts The Power Off)

There Is More To Captain Thomas Butler Than Meets The Eye

The team is called into the Liberty Naval Hospital after a report comes in that there is an active hostage situation. Despite enjoying Parker’s box of delicious scones, the team rushes to investigate. The team finds Thomas Butler, a retired Navy captain who oddly speaks Finnish, at the hospital, although he claims he does not know another language. The hospital explains that Butler is “time-shifting” into old memories and provides a series of numbers translated from Finnish that Butler spoke while experiencing temporary confusion.

When McGee plugs Butler’s name and the numbers he listed into a database, it shuts down his phone. McGee uses the hospital’s computers to perform the search, which shuts down the hospital’s electricity and takes the power out on the entire city block. Kasie crafts a countermeasure for the trip wire, which stops it from shutting down another system and sends the bug back to the CIA, who comes to NCIS looking for answers.

6 MCRT Alerts The CIA & Learns The Truth About Butler

CIA Officer Conrad Provides MCRT With Classified Information

When NCIS tries to access more information about Butler, their search tips off the CIA, and CIA Officer Conrad arrives at the Navy Yard to control the damage. Conrad demands that NCIS stop their investigation, but when Vance refuses, Conrad begins to cooperate with the agency, or so it seems. Conrad informs Parker and Director Leon Vance that Butler was an intelligence operative for the Soviet Union during the Cold War and that the CIA learned about the operation in the 1970s, allowing him to live out his American disguise and retire under supervision after the fall of his country.

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Conrad’s explanation baffles Parker and Vance, including why the CIA allegedly let a Russian spy work at the Pentagon. However, the CIA agent insists that intelligence requires playing the “long game,” claiming that the CIA was manipulating the leak to control the flow of information. Despite Conrad insisting that Butler wasn’t a threat, Agent Knight calls moments later to inform Parker that Butler killed a hospital attendant and is on the run. The development entangles Conrad in Parker’s investigation, and his story changes to accommodate that they didn’t know Butler was their undercover agent.

5 Torres And McGee Bond Over Their Absent Fathers

Nick And Tim Have A Shared Experience

In investigating the case of Thomas Butler, the team works closely with Thomas’ son Danny, who tells the team about his father’s absence during his childhood due to his time in the Navy. When MCRT gets Butler’s files from his and his son’s house, McGee remarks how it reminds him of his father’s old office, which was full of “Navy stuff” but lacked a single family photo. Torres comments that it sounds like Captain Butler was in a club with both of their dads. Danny’s experience brings up some shared emotions for Nick Torres and Timothy McGee.

Nick’s comment refers to his father, a CIA agent whose career caused him to abandon Nick and his family, and McGee’s father, an Admiral in the United States Navy. Tim tries to comfort Nick, saying that at least their dads worked for the good guys since Danny’s dad was a Russian spy. Nick disagrees, saying he would sometimes prefer his dad was a bad guy so he could feel more straightforward resentment. The case causes Nick to open up, which is unusual for the Special Agent but aligns with his mission to put himself out there.

4 Captain Butler Steals A Classified File From The Navy Archives Called Project Laurel

Butler Uses His Old Access Card To Infiltrate The Navy Archives

The MCRT gets a call that Captain Butler is using his access card to get into the Navy Archives, and Parker and Knight go to investigate. Parker and Knight brief each other. Their conversation explains how Butler uses his card at an unguarded gate to avoid detection, using the building’s machine room to access a secure vault full of classified documents, where he swipes an old file. They think Butler could be at the top of his game, still operating covertly for Russia.

Parker and Vance brief Conrad on the situation, who is devastated when they report that Captain Butler stole a classified file called Project Laurel. Conrad hesitates to discuss the file, but when Vance pushes back that he is supposed to cooperate, Conrad reveals that Project Laurel could get people killed if it gets out and that it’s a matter of national security. Conrad implies that NCIS should kill Butler and take him out by any means necessary, but NCIS remains skeptical.

3 Thomas Butler Thinks It’s The 1970s And Wants To Talk To Sparrow

Butler Is Operating Using His Old Undercover Tactics

While trying to track Thomas Butler, the team is impressed with his vintage tradecraft from his undercover days, which they note that Butler executes with great precision. Butler reaches out to his son, leaving him a cryptic voicemail about getting something special, and it leads NCIS to momentarily believe that Butler’s son Danny is in on his undercover operation. However, Danny convinces them that his dad wants to meet for ice cream, and the team sets up a father/son meeting to detain Butler and bring him back to NCIS.

Back at NCIS, Parker interrogates Butler, and they find out that the former operative thinks it’s the 1970s. Thomas is experiencing time shifting, wherein his brain uses his older memories to fill in for his short-term memory. While it isn’t clear until this point if Thomas is in his right mind or not, his son and medical records suggest that he is experiencing cognitive impairment/dementia. When they get Butler into interrogation, he explains the file is his insurance keeping him alive, and he wants to talk to a former CIA agent named “Sparrow,” whom Conrad explains is dead.

2 McGee Dresses Up As Sparrow For MCRT’s Sting Operation

McGee Puts On A 1970s Disguise

Parker and the team devise a plan with Conrad to get Butler to realize it’s the present day. Kasie informs Agent Parker about how to replace the old reality that Butler is operating in with concrete facts about the present. Kasie explains that she goes through the memory exercise with her aunt Nora. Parker tells Butler that Sparrow is dead and that he went to his funeral. He says the Soviet Union has collapsed, and his government is gone. He shows Butler a cell phone, but the former spy believes Parker is just playing “Future Man,” a spy tactic.

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As he goes on, Parker shows Butler pictures of his son, Danny, to bring his memory back. However, Parker reports to Conrad that Butler didn’t buy it and that they will try something else instead. Since McGee looks similar to Sparrow, he dresses up as the former CIA agent. He arranges to meet Butler for a meeting. Everything is going well until McGee, who is trying to access Project Laurel, doesn’t know where the drop site is. When Butler gets suspicious, and things unravel, he shoots McGee, seemingly realizing he’s not who he claims to be.

1 Conrad Is A Criminal CIA Agent Trying To Take Butler Out

NCIS Catches Conrad In A Sting Operation

When the sting operation in the park goes awry, Conrad chases after Butler and threatens to shoot him. He explains that he doesn’t need the file, he just needs to kill him, since Butler is the last person who can decode the file and read it. As Conrad raises his gun to take Butler out, NCIS is waiting and apprehends Conrad for his crimes. Back at NCIS Headquarters, Parker and Vance discuss how Conrad was a dirty CIA agent and that Project Laurel was a “laundry list of CIA crimes” with Conrad’s name all over it.

Parker reveals that the “costume party” was to try to get Conrad to incriminate himself and that Butler was in on it. The supervisory agent explained that Captain Butler got the memo back at NCIS, and he helped them stage the fake meeting with Sparrow to see if Conrad would incriminate himself. To top it off, Vance reveals that Captain Butler worked for the United States the entire time in NCIS season 22, episode 5, selling the Russians disinformation, and was instrumental during the Cold War. The revelation allows Danny to reconcile with his father, who wasn’t actually a traitor.

NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. Special Agent Alden Parker, a quirky former FBI agent who solves his cases with calm professionalism and sharp, sarcastic charm, leads the NCIS team, which includes NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee, an MIT graduate with a knack for computers who has now graduated to senior field agent; the charismatic, unpredictable and resilient NCIS Special Agent Nicholas “Nick” Torres, who has spent most of his career on solo undercover assignments; and sharp, athletic and tough NCIS Special Agent Jessica Knight, a formidable REACT agent who specializes in hostage negotiations and high-risk operations. The naïve Jimmy Palmer is assisting the team, who graduated from assistant to fully licensed medical examiner and now runs the morgue; and forensic scientist Kasie Hines, Ducky’s former graduate assistant. Overseeing operations is NCIS Director Leon Vance, an intelligent, highly trained agent who can always be counted on to shake up the status quo. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.

Cast

Sean Murray , Wilmer Valderrama , Katrina Law , Brian Dietzen , David McCallum , Mark Harmon , Rocky Carroll , Gary Cole , Joe Spano

Release Date

September 23, 2003

Seasons

22

Writers

Donald P. Bellisario

Showrunner

Donald P. Bellisario

Creator(s)

Donald P. Bellisario , Don McGill

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