NCIS: New Orleans - Krewe - Review: “Trust & Lies”

NCIS: New Orleans - Krewe - Review: “Trust & Lies”
3.21 - “Krewe”
Directed by Tony Warmby
Written by Judith McCreary
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount

“Krewe,” opens with masked men stealing crates off a train. As they are loading the crates into their getaway van, the police show up. The bad guys start shooting at the officers and don’t stop until they’ve fallen. As bullets cease and the police officers are on the ground, the bad guys take off.

WAIT! The police officers are okay! What just happened? There were bullets being shot, but they are all okay? Were they blanks? What is going on here? Wow! Talk about a great opening scene! Bravo to the writers, directors, and actors!

We quickly cut over to the Mayor’s office. He has a team sweeping for bugs. He wants to pay for the service off the record. What a slimy sneaky man!

Ha ha! Triple P strikes again! He has a device in the Mayor’s cell phone and they are able to hear all of his calls.

Ah, it appears that they did get a wiretap warrant approved by the government, but they can only record information pertaining to the Javier Garcia case and/or Clearwater. So, even if he admits to fifteen other affairs, they can’t record it. I have a feeling this is going to bite them in the butt. What about you?

Pride sends the rest of the team out on a case, as he needs to stay at HQ with Patton and monitor the Mayor’s phone calls.

Christopher takes the lead on the case and stops by a coffee shop to pick up Percy. Uh oh! LaSalle’s jaw just dropped and so did mine! Percy just kissed a guy as she was leaving the coffee shop! LaSalle is literally speechless. Percy joins LaSalle, who is struggling to act normal.

Over at the crime scene, Percy asks LaSalle if he’s okay. He brushes her off by saying, “Yeah, sure.” More like, yeah right!

Gregorio gives them the heads up on the case. The thieves stole a ton of guns and rubber bullets. That’s why the police officers were okay. The weapons and bullets are non-lethal.

One of the officers did manage to tag a bad guy and there is blood on the pavement. Perhaps they can find out his identity that way?

Turns out the guns belong to a company called Bancroft and Percy is not a fan. She tells the team that those guns did a lot of harm, which she saw firsthand when she was in the ATF.

Percy and LaSalle speak to Justus and Nadine Bancroft. Percy isn’t playing nice. Nadine is being super standoffish; her father is a bit friendlier. He reports that this is the third robbery they’ve experienced.

Back at HQ, Pride and Sebastian are sitting on the wiretap. Sebastian doesn’t have anything on the bad guy’s blood from the crime scene. Gregorio reports that, like Sebastian, she doesn’t have anything on the two previous gun heists. The guns that were stolen have completely disappeared. They haven’t been sold anywhere else nor have they been reported on the black market. Where did they go?

Sebastian has something! He says he made a mistake by only searching for “bad guys” and not “bad girls.” He says, “That’s male bias by the way, I apologize for that.” He found a match for the blood left at the crime scene. The blood belongs to a former Marine named Josephine Bellacroix.

Pride is worried. He wants to get out there with the team and investigate. Gregorio tells him, “We got this!” She gives Sebastian a list of things to do while she heads out to meet Percy and LaSalle.

Meanwhile, Percy wants to know what LaSalle’s problem is and why he’s being mean to her. LaSalle finally breaks and asks her about the guy she was kissing the guy at the coffee shop. Percy asks him if he’s jealous. He denies it, but it’s obvious that he likes her!

After they get out of the truck and have shotguns in hand, they head into Josephine Bellacroix’s house, where they find her dead on the floor. Percy says, “There’s no way that’s just from the heist shooting.”

Back at NCIS HQ, the team is trying to figure out why Bellacroix joined the crew. She has a clean background and no evidence of mental health issues. Sebastian has news. The victim was shot 13 times with real bullets. The team thinks her crew took her out after she was shot. Loretta video conferences in. She says that her death was a “statement killing.” Something isn’t adding up though. She had been stitched up and given antibiotics after the shootout with the police officers. Why would her own crew turn around and kill her afterward?

Sebastian shares that non-lethal ammo is on the rise. He reports that the bullets used by the heist crew were Bancroft designed bullets. So, Bancroft bullets were used in a heist to steal Bancroft guns. What are the odds there?

Gregorio has something! She remembers seeing a woman with a small bag on surveillance by Bellacroix’s house the night of her murder. Gregorio pulls up Emma Miller, a doctor with Bancroft connections who has volunteered for Doctor’s Without Borders. She and Bellacroix were friends and went to college together. LaSalle wants to know how she’s connected to the Bancroft family. Gregorio shares that Miller sits on the Board of the Bancroft Family Foundation of New Orleans.

Luckily for the team, the Bancroft’s are hosting a charity event later in the day. Miller is bound to be there and if Pride plays nice, he might be able to interview a few more people about the case.

Ooh! Sheryl Crow is playing at the event! I love her music!

Pride pulls Mr. Bancroft aside and asks him about Miller. She helped set up for the event. LaSalle buzzes in on the earpiece. Emma Miller has been killed behind a smaller building at the event. She, like Bellacroix, was executed.

The team is back at HQ and they are trying to figure out what’s going on. They found Bancroft bullets at Miller’s house, connecting her to the heist crew.

Patton picks up a conversation from Mr. Bancroft and the Mayor. Bancroft tells the Mayor to get NCIS to back off his stolen guns. He tells the Mayor that he’ll get them back. Pride and the others are in a difficult position. They aren’t supposed to record anything the Mayor says outside of Clearwater and the Javier Garcia case, but two people are already dead. What are they going to do?

Uh oh! Pride and Gregorio head to Mr. Bancroft’s house to arrest him. Gregorio says, “It’s a big risk, Pride. I hope we don’t lose Hamilton over it.” Pride responds, “Me too.”

OH NO! Pride tells Patton to play Bancroft’s phone conversation with the Mayor. I think Pride just made a major mistake. Pride wants to know where the guns are and he wants them back right away! Mr. Bancroft says, “I can’t.”

Eek! AUSA Karen Izzo, the person who helped Pride get the wiretap on the Mayor shows up and demands to speak to Pride. She is pissed! She tells Dwayne that Hamilton is going to find out and that he will retaliate. She says, “I warned you. I warned you about the risks of going after a powerful man like Hamilton… You have no idea what you’ve done.” I’m worried that she’s right…

Pride reports that Bancroft isn’t talking. He thinks that Bancroft is protecting his daughter. Sebastian chimes in, Nadine Bancroft connects to every single point in the case, from the people who were killed to the guns.

Percy thinks it’s ridiculous. She thinks that Nadine is just being a spoiled little rich girl who is rebelling by stealing guns from her father. The team isn’t sure if that’s the case or not, but they are worried that Nadine is the crew’s next target.

Uh oh! Men with guns start shooting at Gregorio, Pride, LaSalle, and Percy. They have Nadine in the back of their SUV. Pride takes out the driver while Nadine makes a break for it! After another shootout, the bad guys are dead and Nadine is safe, barely!

Loretta has identified the two gunmen as Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group based in Nigeria. The men are Krewe, which Loretta identified by their facial modifications. Loretta says that the Krewe are heavily recruited by Boko Haram. The BH tattoos on their legs prove they are part of the terrorist organization.

Loretta says that the Boko Haram have done many terrible things in Africa, some of which she has witnessed firsthand from her time volunteering there.

But why are they trying to kill the heist crew? How do they know about the guns?

Pride thinks there are other members of the Boko Haram hit squad. Loretta thinks they were going to torture Nadine until they got the information they wanted.

Percy and Pride interrogate Nadine back at HQ. She tells them she was visiting a friend in Sudan when the Boko Haram attacked. She and her friends were brought to the embassy, where they were safe, but she watched as women being raped and children were killed on the other sides of the gates. She was devastated. Nadine has been stealing the guns and sending them to the villagers to protect themselves. She says that the Boko Haram must have found out and come after her. Pride tells her that it’s a noble cause, but she’s breaking a lot of laws and not to mention putting herself at risk for the villagers.

Percy has changed her tune. She wants to help the villagers. She’s willing to break the law in order to help Nadine. Pride agrees to let her go, but only so she can lead them to the guns and the team can bring down the other Boko Haram terrorists.

Percy is really torn up. She wants to help Nadine, no matter what the cost!

Nadine shows up to the hanger where the guns were being hidden. The Boko Haram terrorists are already there. Percy gets Nadine out safely, but just barely! Nadine wants Percy to let her go. She says that she’s going to move the villagers and help them from Boko Haram’s retaliation. While Pride, Gregorio, and LaSalle are taking out the bad guys, Percy let’s Nadine get away.

Percy runs back inside the hanger. Pride wants to know where Nadine is. Percy tells him that she got away.

Back at HQ, Pride is grilling Percy. He wants her to tell him why she let Nadine go. Percy won’t tell him, she knows that it will get him in trouble too. He tells her, “This is serious, Sonja.” Pride says that she can’t pick and choose which orders to follow. They are a team and she needs to follow his lead. Percy says, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” Pride ends the conversation with, “That will be all.” YIKES!

Aw, LaSalle waits for Percy. He asks her, “Don’t you trust me?” Percy says, “Were you jealous?” She says she can’t trust him if he doesn’t trust her. LaSalle admits, “Maybe I was a little jealous.” Percy responds, “Maybe I could have let Nadine go.”

Pride delivers some bad news to Percy. AUSA Karen Izzo wants Percy to come down to the Judge Dorsey’s quarters immediately. They have video footage of Percy letting Nadine go. The judge says, “You have one last chance.” He wants to know why she let Nadine go. If she doesn’t tell him, he threatens to arrest her and hold her in contempt.

Percy refuses to talk. Pride breaks the bad news to LaSalle, Percy has been taken to jail.

*******
My Thoughts:

Talk about a fantastic episode! Man, the Mayor is gunning for Pride in a big way! Can you believe Percy refused to talk? How long will she be in jail? Will she give up Nadine?

Leave me a comment below with your thoughts!

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