NCIS: Sydney Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Snakes in the Grass

NCIS: Sydney Season 1 Episode 2, “Snakes in the Grass,” takes a more grounded approach to casework and team building.

With the premiere’s priority being exposition to grasp audiences, this second outing is a welcome reprieve for the characters as the procedural drama settles into itself a bit more after NCIS: Sydney Season 1 Episode 1, “Gone Fission.”

Written by Michael Miller and Morgan O’Neill, story by Stuart Page, and directed by Shawn Seet, “Snakes in the Grass” has lower stakes that allow character dynamics to slither into place but still leave plenty to discover individually.

Of course, the murder mystery itself is high-stakes for those involved, namely Lee Mitchell and getting justice for his death. Surprisingly, NCIS: Sydney finds moving turns in that story. For instance, the team’s dedication to treating the animals, alive and dead, with respect is impactful.

The sequences of DeShawn finding Evie with the deceased wildlife and bringing those creatures to Doc so they aren’t treated like trash are effective, primarily because of Tuuli Narkle, Sean Sagar, and William McInees’s performances.

Caring for the natural world is a low bar to meet. Nevertheless, it is meaningful.

NCIS: Sydney has more time to address that topic because “Snakes in the Grass” is less action-movie-esque than the series premiere. This episode doesn’t need to hit the ground running in the same sense, even though all NCIS episodes technically do with their inciting incidents.

The broad exposition is out of the way now, resulting in a lower-pressure episode in which the characters can take a breath to get to know each other and the environment around them in Australia.

Consequently, there is less tonal clashing during “Snakes in the Grass” than in “Gone Fission.” While sometimes it is necessary for a character’s sense of humor to starkly contrast the heaviness of a case, it can feel out of place in a series premiere when the characters are still getting to know each other.

NCIS: Sydney opens itself up to a finer tonal balance with this episode.

The procedural drama does so because of the first episode’s intensity. “Snakes in the Grass” calls for more levity; it encourages light-hearted connections. NCIS: Sydney finds that in a gait-tech device and a talkative bird.

The former manifests as a bit of Deux ex machina. Evie coincidentally acquires the technology on the same episode where it is required to solve the case, but that’s nothing new in TV, let alone procedural dramas.

So, the clunkiness of its arrival can be overlooked in favor of the humor it mines from DeShawn and Evie’s dynamic. Though DeShawn’s wishes for a gun are a bit much (Something Evie thankfully points out), NCIS: Sydney breaks the ice between the pair with the gait tech and a friendly game of taser, paper, and rock.

Narkle and Sagar match each other’s snark. It’s fun to watch their fictional counterparts get to know each other throughout “Snakes in the Grass,” including the more challenging moments. The best thing to come from it may be Evie calling DeShawn “a little American Paddington bear,” which will hopefully stick.

One element that would make DeShawn and Evie’s interactions even better is more clarity about Evie. NCIS: Sydney sneaks in exposition about DeShawn when confronting the criminals, but it still feels that there is too little known about AFP Liaison Officer Constable Evie Cooper.

NCIS: Sydney also expands Mackey and Dempsey’s dynamic by showing how their minds work differently, making them a good match in the field. Alternative to Jackson and Cooper, “Snakes in the Grass” demonstrates how Mackey and Dempsey are growing closer outside work, too.

The procedural drama is leading to a more significant breakthrough between the pair. Until then, Todd Lasance and Olivia Swann’s performances complement a script that subtly acknowledges the cracks in Mackey’s exterior.

It’s a reflection of the partnership that Mackey and Dempsey are building that the latter doesn’t push the former after she mentions living out of a suitcase for most of her life, but Lasance’s performance marks that resistance on her behalf.

Dempsey comments that being away from family must be hard, which conveniently folds back into the case when Mackey doesn’t expound. It’s a much more natural connection than Jackson and Cooper’s.

Then again, only two episodes into the series, “Snakes in the Grass” doesn’t need to get to the bottom of these characters just yet.

It’s enough that Dempsey brings Mackey “housey stuff” — his older “housey stuff,” to be exact. It’s enough that Doc takes a second to uplift Blue about her working relationship with Mackey despite the interference of that bird. Jackson and Cooper could have used a similar gesture that aligns with their dynamic. 

Nevertheless, all the minor interactions throughout “Snakes in the Grass” positively reflect the environment the show plans to foster.

So even though this episode is evidence that NCIS: Sydney is still figuring out its place in the NCISverse, each nugget about these characters and the dynamics their forging proves this to be a worthwhile journey worth turning in to see.

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NCIS: Sydney airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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