[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS Season 22 Episode 16 “Ladies’ Night.”]
Kasie (Diona Reasonover) and Knight (Katrina Law) try to take a night off — try being the operative word — on the latest NCIS, but a case, of course, changes their plans.
Knight’s sister Robin (Lilan Bowden) is the one to plan their ladies’ night out, and the last thing she wants to hear about is work; she’s the same way with Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) when they go out. But when Kasie and Knight realize that some things aren’t adding up with their suspect, they can’t let it go — and while Robin is mad at first, she soon joins in on the investigation. Such is the case for McGee (Sean Murray), Torres, and Parker (Gary Cole) as well.
Below, Reasonover talks about filming this fun episode, LL Cool J‘s return, and more.
This is such a fun episode. Was it fun filming it? Because I just love when we see Kasie out of the lab.
Diona Reasonover: It was so fun filming it, and I kept walking into these different sets that weren’t like the lab, some of the places we were, like the pottery studio and the wine bar, and I kept being like, “Guys, this looks so cool.” I kept looking around the sets, looking for things to steal, wanting to go actually hang out as this wine bar in real life. I was like, “This is incredible. Is this what you guys do every week? Oh my gosh.”
Michael Yarish / CBS
I heard you got into pottery after doing some work research?
So when Sydney Mitchell told me, kind of pitched the episode to me, and said that she thought that maybe Kasie would do some pottery, I actually went and I signed up for a pottery class, and I actually brought something. I’ll show you. I made this bowl. [Shows bowl.]
That’s impressive.
Thank you. I was really proud. Now I do some pottery. In the episode, we actually had a great technician that came that did most of the Kasie’s throwing, but there is one take where I did actually make the pot. So I feel good about that.
Will we see or hear about Paige (Charlie Morgan Patton) again or maybe anything in Kasie’s love life going forward? I like that flirtation.
I hope so. That actress was so fun. I honestly hope so. That was my first real little onscreen flirtation. I was so nervous. I was sweating. [Laughs]
What do you think Kasie wants in a relationship right now?
I think Kasie would just like a little fun. Honestly, it is tough when your work is making sure that the United States Navy doesn’t succumb to some kind of crazy hostage situation. So I think maybe just someone to play among us with, does anybody play among us anymore? I don’t know.
And also someone who understands the work and it seemed like Paige did…
It seemed like Paige was down to clown. Paige was printing out papers and I think Paige could maybe get into naval crimes, could be fun.
Rocky Carroll directed this episode. Talk about being directed by him.
You know what? It’s so funny. Rocky has directed now two kind of Kasie-centric episodes. He also did [Season 21’s] “Lifeline.” He’s absolutely one of my favorite directors. I love working with Rocky. He’s an artist as a director, but he’s also a real actor’s director because he’s not afraid to get in there and talk about the emotion and intentions. It’s a lot of fun for me.
Michael Yarish / CBS
The end of the episode hints Torres and Robin’s relationship is coming to an end. Is that the case?
I think it’s donezo. [Laughs] You can put in there that I put a big pause. I love Torres and Robin. I don’t know that that’s going to be the case, but having been in that scene, it’s not looking good for — did they have a name yet? Torobin? Rores? I think we’re at the end of Rores.
I do want to see more girls night outs for Kasie, Knight, and Robin. As we see, they can solve a case together, too.
Yes, and there’s so many cool people we could get in there. We could get Delilah [Margo Harshman] in there. We could get Carol Wilson in there. That’s played by Meredith [Eaton]. Hey, maybe we even get a rare Ziva [Cote de Pablo] appearance. Who knows?
I mean, that spinoff is coming…
It is, exactly!
Speaking of returning characters, LL Cool J is coming back. Talk about filming with him again.
Oh my gosh. Okay. So I have to be honest. I think that’s the one time that I’ve been nervous because he’s so cool. And I am just so not, and every time I feel like I’m just looking at him and playing his songs in my head and he’s talking to me and I’m like, “I’m sorry, what? I’m going, Mama said knock you out, what?” But he’s so nice and he’s so funny and such a good presence on set. It’s really very fun to be working with him.
What can you say about the Sam and Kasie dynamic in that episode?
I just want to start off by saying I messed up because the first time I heard that he was going to be on the show, I jokingly said to the writers, “Make sure that you have a Sam and Kasie scene,” knowing that I absolutely would freak out and fangirl if it happened. And they were like, okay. And then they did it. And now every time he comes on, there’s always a Sam and Kasie scene and so in it, I’m always very calm. I’m always just looking at him. I’m like, “Oh, sorry, I’m being too enthusiastic.” But in real life I’m melting on the inside. I’m like, “I want him to think I’m cool.”
Erik Voake/CBS
Any other returning characters coming up?
You’ll have to watch and see.
What was your favorite scene to film from tonight’s episode?
Definitely the pottery studio. When you are actually throwing pottery, you get messy, you get that slip on you, you get that clay on you, and it ruins your outfit. They kept having to go, no, you can’t sit. So when I finally got a chance to sit at the wheel and shape that beautiful vase that Kasie ends up making, it was a lot of fun for me.
Are we going to see Kasie out of the lab more this season going forward? Or is she mainly back in the lab after this episode?
There’s a lot of navy crimes that come up, so they put Kasie back in the lab, but I’m excited to see what she does now that we know we have Season 23!
With whom does Kasie have the most significant conversation coming up?
I think it’s almost always Palmer [Brian Dietzen]. I think that’s the person that she confides in the most and is just easiest for her to open up to, whether on purpose or by accident.
Yeah, I was going to ask if there any good scenes coming up with those two because I love their friendship.
I love their friendship. And I still remember the day way back when Brian was like, “You and I are friends in real life.” And I was like, “We are?” I was so excited. That’s my buddy for real.
Parker is still digging into his mother’s death. What’s coming up? Is Kasie going to get involved? It’s mainly been Knight, then Palmer’s drawing the sketch and it seems like slowly other people are becoming part of it.
Yeah, Kasie’s always going to be there to support her friends and just being the forensic scientist, she is able to get some information that other people don’t. But the Parker story does really get personal mainly with Knight.
What else is coming up for Kasie?
I hope a vacation somewhere tropical.
What are you hoping to explore in Season 23?
I would like to see some people from Kasie’s past come back. We had her best friend before. We haven’t heard from him. I’d also like to see a little bit of the things that Kasie doesn’t like. Kasie’s very enthusiastic about just about every case and a lot of different elements. But I want to see the couple things that Kasie kind of goes, Nope, I got a boundary around that. Nope, can’t do it.
Like what for example?
I don’t know. She’s been through so much. She was apparently okay with going through pig manure and also used blood draw needles, so I’m not exactly sure. And then one of my first episodes was they had been going through a farm with, I guess pigs had eaten a dead body. There was also the one where she had to strain body parts out of a hot tub that had been cooked. So I’m not really sure where that boundary is, but I’d like to see her not cross one.
Are there any characters you’d like to see her interact with more?
I love when I have McGee scenes. I absolutely love that. I think that Kasie and Tim just ping off each other so well in that sort of technical kind of way. I also just love working with Sean. I love just getting to hit the ball back and forth with him, him and Gary. This is a dream guest.
What have been some of your favorite scenes from the season to film?
I definitely loved all the girls night stuff. I’ve had some really fun squad room interruptions. I always do sort of love Kasie just hearing that last word and being like, “Wait a minute. Hold on. Hold the presses.” Here’s a fun backstory. Gary has learned that I really love old timey slang like “Rats!” when somebody’s upset and they just say “rats.” So anytime he learns new old timey slang, he’ll come and he’ll bring it for me and I just like keel over in laughter. It’s a lot of fun to work with him.
NCIS, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS