NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 9, “Mango Madness” will catch some viewers off-guard, because what’s presented as a standalone hour is actually the first half of a two-part season finale. That means the NCIS spinoff can raise the stakes higher than usual. Couple that with breaking some of its own storytelling tropes, and this episode successfully is a shot in the arm for what’s been an up and down season.
“Mango Madness” takes the team out of Sydney to Darwin, where they’re forced to work in a makeshift headquarters and deal with oppressive temperatures. That becomes a subplot of its own while they look into the murder of a U.S. Marine during a training exercise. Audiences may not be surprised by all the plot twists, but there are enough of them to keep things moving forward until the series can resolve the story in the next episode.
NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 9 Is Actually Half of a Story
The Cliffhanger Ending Might Frustrate Some Viewers
NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 9 keeps its story’s two-part status under wraps, which both helps and hurts it. Audiences who know they’re seeing the start of a two-part event are thus aware that there’s going to be a certain amount of red herrings and a lack of resolution. Those who don’t may be expecting more, especially in the places where scenes are stretched out or the plot detours to topics away from the murder case, such as Michelle Mackey’s personal history. But in a general sense, there’s enough action and enough suspense to keep viewers on the hook until the cliffhanger ending.
The idea of a U.S. soldier being killed in a joint training exercise is unintentionally similar to the premise of FBI: International Season 4, Episode 18, “Lone Wolf,” which just happens to have aired five days before this. That story is much more about global politics, however, whereas NCIS keeps itself relatively local for the most part — revealing that deceased Corporal David Garcia was stealing the weaponry that he was supposed to be decommissioning. There’s an element of the story involving the country of Timor-Leste, but the plot feels much more grounded than the stakes in FBI: International. Audiences are quickly introduced to a few possible suspects, and even though it’s obvious that none of them are the real bad guy, the characters are interesting enough to keep people watching.
It’s the final plot twist that may hit or miss with the audience. Aside from being a cliffhanger, the reveal that the villains are targeting a major event on the military base is similar to the plot of NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 2, “Fire in the Hole,” in which the bad guys were aiming at a Naval vessel that was hosting a mixer full of officials and dignitaries. Obviously the specifics are different, but the problem is a definite case of deja vu.
NCIS: Sydney Breaks Away From Its Usual Character Dynamics
Season 2, Episode 9 Has a Few Different Scenes
Several recent episodes of NCIS: Sydney have followed a clear pattern when it comes to writing character interactions. “Mango Madness” breaks that pattern, albeit briefly. Fans get almost too much information about Michelle Mackey’s past when the team learns that Garcia’s girlfriend Maria Soares works for an organization called Humanicore. Mackey says she knows a guy who works there, who is revealed as Etienne, a Frenchman whom Mackey saved during her flying career. Etienne is happy to give every last detail about how Mackey saved him and his team in the prime example of a scene going on too long to fill some extra airtime — but at least that does provide some meaningful details about Mackey’s past, moreso than jokes about her being a Goth.
JD Dempsey: You want to take a look at the crime scene again?
Michelle Mackey: Sure beats whatever this is.
The best individual scene in the episode, though, is between JD Dempsey and Evie Cooper. When the group finally catches on to Garcia’s supervisor, Gunnery Sergeant Jensen, they realize that Jensen has taken Garcia’s colleague Angus Tipoloura out of their custody. The race is on to rescue Angus — and Evie, with whom he’s flirted unsuccessfully the whole episode, finds Angus dying outside his home. An upset Evie tearfully tells JD that the death is their fault, and JD explains to her why she can’t take that burden on her shoulders. There haven’t been a lot of scenes between Evie and JD in Season 2, so it’s great to see them have a meaningful moment together. It’s also a chance to see more of JD’s serious side, which sometimes gets forgotten about in favor of using him for comic relief.
NCIS: Sydney Gets Back to Season 2’s Big Question – Slightly
There’s Some Movement in the Colonel Rankin Storyline
NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 9 also drops a massive bread crumb regarding the serialized storyline that began in the Season 2 premiere. Since that was itself a continuation of the Season 1 finale, it seemed like the show would make the Colonel Rankin mystery a much bigger part of Season 2 than it has. After the first few episodes, the serialized story largely dropped off the grid, save a small mention here and there — if at all. That incongruous pivot from serialized plotline to “case of the week” show is one of the weaknesses of the season. It’s thus a relief that Blue finally cracks the encryption on Colonel Rankin’s thumb drive, though the writers barely tell the audience what she finds.
The question facing the audience now is whether or not NCIS: Sydney will actually reveal the contents of Colonal Rankin’s drive, or keep dragging the Rankin story into Season 3. Unless the “legalese” Blue was looking at has something to do with the planned attack on the base event, it’s hard to see it playing a factor in the Season 2 finale. But throwing in another form of cliffhanger by revealing some details as a subplot (probably near the end of the episode) would also be frustrating, because the storyline has already gone on long enough. The writers have backed themselves into a corner with the slow pacing of this plotline. Yet at least they finally got back to it.
NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 9 has a lot of unfinished business, by virtue of being part one of a two-part plot. And it certainly has elements that feel familiar. However, the ability to extend its story over two episodes means that this one can throw in a few more twists and more action than usual, and it’s fun to see the series deviate from its own norms. Now all viewers need is a season finale that takes all this and makes the plot even bigger.