Tonight on CBS NCIS: Sydney airs with an all-new Tuesday, October 21, 2025, season 23 episode 2 called, “Prodigal Son (Part II)” and we have your weekly NCIS: Sydney recap below.
In tonight’s NCIS season 23 episode 2, “Prodigal Son (Part II)” as per the CBS synopsis, “Parker’s pursuit of vengeance for his father’s murder could have deadly consequences, while his sister, Navy vice admiral Harriet Parker (Nancy Travis), faces an impossible choice, on the part two conclusion of the 23rd season premiere”
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In tonight’s NCIS episode, Vice Admiral Parker was given orders to disable or destroy the Quentin. It didn’t matter that her brother was onboard. She was a loyal servicewoman. She would have followed through on the order, but someone got there first. Someone imploded the ship first.
The Vice Admiral had no clue who. She and Director Vance assumed everyone onboard was killed instantly. They couldn’t find enough parts to identify anyone much less Agent Parker. Vance surprisingly didn’t blame the Vice Admiral for what happened to his friend. He knew that a higher rank comes with tougher decisions. And the two of them were going to sift through the remains until they got a clear answer.
The team didn’t need an answer. They believed their boss was dead. They had written him off as dead and that’s where they were wrong. Kasie found evidence that someone used a smaller boat to escape the larger one before the explosion. The explosion was actually a means to hide the escape.
The smaller boat was called the RHIB. Kasie put out a BOLO without asking anyone. She found out that a RHIB was found outside of Virginia Beach. It also had the numbers “51” written on it. She brought it to the team.
The others later assumed the numbers were a clue. McGee said it was a rule. It was one of Gibbs’s rules. Rule 51: Sometimes you’re wrong. Parker was still alive and he realized that he had been wrong about something. It had to have involved Carla Marino. She killed his father with his gun knowing he’d come after her.
She left behind enough crumbs for him to get onboard the Quentin. It was a setup all along. Carla rigged the boat to explode with him on it. He figured that out. He escaped on the RHIB. He’s now letting everyone believe he’s dead while he finds out where Carla really was.
Carla was never on the boat. She sent a decoy in her place because her plan was to let everyone believed she was killed. She was actually going to escape without anyone looking for her. She wasn’t going alone either. The FBI stopped watching Carla’s granddaughter once they thought Carla was dead.
With her still being alive, her granddaughter was once again in trouble. Carla tried kidnapping Lauren Jacobs once before. Lauren’s mother did her best to hide her. To protect her against Carla. Carla still found out about her anyways and she’s been attaching herself to Lauren for a while now.
Lauren disappeared after the FBI left. NCIS soon searched her dorm room. They found a lockbox. Lauren’s roommate gave them the code to unlock it because she was super nosey. It was Carla’s birthday or as Lauren knows her – Grandma Carla. Carla has been writing Lauren letters for months. She put on a whole pitiful act. She was the single mother who lost her only child. The truth was that Lauren was a fresh face with no record. Carla was going to continue running her empire under Lauren’s name. And no one would have been the wiser because they’d think Carla was dead.
Carla groomed Lauren. Lauren wanted to know her background. Her family tree. She thought Carla was the sweet woman that got in way over her head. She was bound to learn the truth and that’s when Carla was going to show her true colors. It might not have started out as a kidnapping seeing as Lauren went willingly with Carla, but it was bound to turn into a kidnapping when Lauren tries to leave or question Carla’s decision. It eventually happened when they left the country. Carla burned a lot of bridges when she tried to use Nexus to kill the five families.
The five families then turned on Nexus. They gave up the largest Intelligence briefing in US history. Carla was out of money, assets, and was being hunted by the people she once commanded.
She also escaped the country by time NCIS found out she had Lauren with her. Carla took Lauren to Cuba. She gave them everything on Nexus. They in turn granted her asylum. Neither was allowed to leave Cuba. Cuba was still negotiating deals with the US and so Carla as well as her granddaughter were considered low priority.
The US already got what they wanted with Nexus.
It wasn’t what Vice Admiral Parker wanted to hear. The team told Director Vance that Parker and Carla were still alive and he felt it was a priority to tell Vice Admiral. She then arrested her brother to keep him from making any more mistakes. She thought they could get Carla the right way.
She thought the rule of law would work in her favor again. She sadly learned that sometimes the higher power wouldn’t care about her or her family or even justice. Harriet eventually released her brother. Parker then gathered his team and he went after Carla.
Parker didn’t go to kill her. He went there to get Lauren. It’s what Jason would’ve wanted. Carla bought herself time and it wasn’t going to last forever.
Carla gave up Lauren and she wasn’t going to go quietly. She went out knowing she was surrounding with Parker’s gun in hand. Parker didn’t kill her, but his people did. No one was mourning Carla. Lauren was reunited with her mother. And Parker got his badge back.
Both Parker and his sister later attended their father’s funeral. He was given sailor’s goodbye. The Vice Admiral made sure of that. And they sang their father’s favorite song as a final farewell.
THE END!