‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ Series Finale Ends on Major Cliffhanger for Jane Tennant

Meredith Jacobs May 6, 2024, 11:00 pm

Noah Mills as Jesse Boone and Vanessa Lachey as Jane Tennant in 'NCIS: Hawai'i' Series Finale — Karen Neal / CBS

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the NCIS: Hawai’i series finale, Season 3 Episode 10 “Divided We Conquer.”]

Oh, now this just feels cruel. What’s coming next?!

The NCIS: Hawai’i series finale picks up right where the first part left off, with Sam (LL COOL J) trying to get to his ELITE team as they die after being exposed to Compound X. (The person they thought would help them contain the bioweapon, Cruz, is the one who wants to release it and dosed them.) But one of his team pushes the door to the airlock close when Sam opens it; the only problem is Sam still becomes infected, due to a crack in his respirator face plate. The nearest infectious disease center is too far away, so the team in Belgrade sets up their own for Sam. The good news? They have some of the antidote—Cruz did smash the vials, but there’s enough—for one dose. The bad news? With four canisters of Compound X still out there, Chase (Seana Kofoed) has to use that to manufacture more, in case others are infected. With Sam fading fast, she needs to work quickly. Sam, meanwhile, makes sure to write his final statement, to let his team’s loved ones know how brave they were, what they sacrificed for, and why.

Thanks to Kate (Tori Anderson), they have information on Cruz that can help: the name she had before she legally changed it, which leads to the fact that she was part of the Colonial Liberation Alliance. Other members of the group are out there, too, and they have Compound X. But while Jane (Vanessa Lachey) does track down Cruz, the other CLA members have already left the country—and are in Hawai’i. Jane brings Cruz back to their makeshift clinic, with a gunshot wound in her shoulder, trying to get her to talk. Cruz refuses, arguing that the agents who died weren’t innocent.

But then Jane goes off-book, showing Cruz a video of her sister in their custody. Unless she talks, her sister is hurt. Cruz does give in, telling them the target. What she doesn’t know? The team set her up, using AI technology: Lucy (Yasmine Al-Bustami) was the sister and the one “torturing” her was Kate. But there’s another curveball: Cruz wasn’t being honest, as they soon realize. After all, as Sam points out—before he stops breathing, at which point Chase gives him the antidote she’s finished—she broke too easily.

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After all, the target she gave is a hard one (government officials), whereas the CLA has focused on soft ones before, which is how they realize the target is a concert, where the government officials’ families will be. Lucy, Kai (Alex Tarrant), Kate, and Swift (Henry Ian Cusick) are the ones on the scene and to secure the canisters, with the first two taking care of the hand-to-hand fighting to do so. Back in Belgrade, Cruz breaks free and takes Chase hostage, but even nearly dead and just after getting the antidote, Sam manages to be part of the action and shoots Cruz to save the doctor.

After three weeks in a hospital, Sam’s doing much better, in time to join everyone for a party. He knows that some of them were wary when he first came to the island, and he can’t blame them. “But thanks to your boss, Jane Tennant, that didn’t last long, and I’m truly honored to be thought of as your ohana,” he thanks them before everyone toasts those who didn’t make it.

Then comes the part that really has us wishing a fourth season was coming. Jane arrives home to find her former mentor-turned-fugitive, Maggie (Julie White), waiting. No, Jane’s daughter isn’t there, she says, “and you’re probably going to need a drink for what’s coming next.”

That could mean so many things! It could be related to their past work with the CIA. It could be connected to something involving Jane’s mother, after that tease earlier this season. It could be a new threat. It’s a painful way to end a series (news of the cancellation came just a little over a week ahead of the finale).

What did you think of what ended up being the NCIS: Hawai’i series finale? Let us know in the comments section, below.