NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 7 Review: Blue Becomes the Star of an Off-Key Mystery
Michelle Mackey wearing a black NCIS vest and JD Dempsey in a blue shirt from NCIS: Sydney TV showImage created by CBR
The following contains major spoilers from NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 7, “Breathless,” which debuted Friday, April 4 on CBS.
In “Breathless,” Blue is watching her favorite pop star Nova Sykes in concert when the Navy singer Nova is performing with collapses and dies. It’s no surprise that Nova herself was actually the target, and so the team must wade through her high-profile life to find the killer. But viewers are likely to be one step ahead of them throughout — and that’s where this episode comes up short.
NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 7 Is a Predictable Crime Drama Tale
The Case of the Week Plays Out as Expected
NCIS：Sydney – Warm Up Those Pipes (Clip)
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The biggest issue with NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 7 is that it just doesn’t have a good plot. Firstly, there’s nothing about this case of the week that makes it feel like an NCIS: Sydney episode, except for that the pop star is performing with a member of the Navy Choir. Change that one detail and this could be a murder on any other TV crime show. Part of the fun of having a spinoff — especially an international one — is giving its own distinct flavor and style, and this episode is miles away from that.
But even setting that detail aside, “Breathless” is a pretty predictable story. Of course the pop star is going to be the real target. Of course the first suspect is going to be an obsessed fan who’s practically been stalking Nova across several countries. The other two suspects are the head of security and Nova’s seemingly supportive father, and so viewers will easily be able to guess who the real murderer is. It doesn’t help that none of these characters are fleshed out beyond these archetypes. For example, overzealous fan Cassie Hayes is what everybody thinks an obsessed fan is — high-energy, almost childish, going on about how “Nova loves me.” She’s so exaggerated that she’s clearly a red herring (aside from the fact that she’s the first person questioned, which tells viewers she can’t have done it, or the episode would be far too short).
JD Dempsey (of Cassie): She’s like the Lee Harvey Oswald of superfans.
The reveal of Nova’s father Jeff Hayes as the murderer is something viewers will see coming well before the characters do. Even the explanation for the crime — he’s been drugging his daughter so he could become her legal guardian and thus keep her as his cash cow, and Sally wanted to take Nova away from him — isn’t surprising. The most unique part of the episode is the method of murder: both Nova and Petty Officer Sally Poole have a severe peanut allergy, so Jeff had peanut oil put in the on-stage smoke machine. The rest is just a standard story about obsessed fans and stage parents.
ney has done a good job of giving episodes to most of its main characters in Season 2, so “Breathless” is the chance for viewers to see more of forensic scientist Bluebird Gleeson. Mavournee Hazel is in most of the episode from the start, when Blue is seen in the crowd at Nova’s concert. But unlike other side character episodes — for example, FBI: International Season 4, Episode 4, “The Unwinnable War” — the audience doesn’t walk away feeling like they know Blue a lot better than they did before. The episode does reveal a big fact about her, as there is repeated reference to someone who “kept [her] in a cage,” but the details aren’t given and that person is never identified. When dropping a huge piece of information like that, it would have been nice to follow it with an explanation.
And while one certainly can’t fault Hazel’s efforts here, the big, emotional beats Blue is supposed to have don’t land with the impact that they should. Blue immediately suspects Jeff after their first meeting, and she immediately runs back to NCIS and rushes to test his fingerprints that she’s pulled off a stolen coffee cup against those found at the crime scene. While she’s doing this, she launches into an impassioned speech to the rest of the team about how Jeff must be the killer. This is supposed to be a moment full of desperation, where it becomes clear to the viewer that she’s talking about herself just as much as Nova. 
