‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ Season 1 Episode 3 Recap — The Team Goes Undercover in ‘Recruiter’

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• The ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ team has to go undercover
• Jane Tennant is doing the mom thing while leading her team
• Kai and Jesse have a better relationship after ‘Recruiter’

NCIS: Hawai’i fans are still getting to know Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and her team in these first few episodes. In the latest installment, they got even more character development. While the newest team in the NCIS universe worked the best case of the series so far. Here’s a recap of NCIS: Hawai’i Season 1, Episode 3 “Recruiter.”

The ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ team works the case of a murdered Navy officer

After fans witness this week’s crime, the episode begins inside Jane’s home. Where she is preparing to hand off her two kids — Alex (Kian Talan) and Julie (Mahina Napoleon) — to their dad.

Meanwhile, Petty Officer First Class Miles Hayward — a Navy recruiter on the Hawaiian Islands — is found murdered in the empty parking lot of the abandoned Aloha Stadium. Jesse (Noah Mills) and Kai (Alex Tarrant) start working the case together, despite the fact that these new co-workers don’t really get along.

Only in Hawaii

The investigation leads the Hawaii team to a beach gang known as the Oania Boys. But in order to get close, Jesse and Kai have to go undercover as surfers. The islands have been a huge part of NCIS: Hawai’i from the first minute of the pilot. And that theme continues in episode three.

Jesse and Kai are both experienced surfers, but white US military men aren’t popular with the locals. Hawaii native Kai uses this to his advantage and punches Jesse on the beach to prove to the Oania Boys that he’s just like them, and can be trusted. This gets him closer to the group.

Jane Tennant is ‘doing the mom thing’ on ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’

As the team works their case, Jane puts her single mom powers into action when talking with the mother of a suspect, Andrea Pacheco. She tries to convince the woman to persuade her son to do the right thing, which Jane believes is talking to NCIS and helping with their case.

At home, Jane is “doing the mom thing” when she finds her son Alex is there even though he’s supposed to be at his dad’s. Something’s up, and Jane knows it. But it’s just another day in the life of a mom with a teenage son.

As she get backs to work, Jane discovers that someone has confessed to Officer Hayward’s murder. This takes her to the state penitentiary, where she comes face to face with island crime boss Sunny Oania.

Recruiting at the wrong beach

Sunny confesses to the murder, even though he’s in prison. But he knows details about it that only the killer would know, so it’s obvious he’s covering for someone. As Jane and her team continue their investigation, they discover that Officer Hayward was trying to recruit some of the Oania Boys into the Navy. Including the son of Sunny Oania, Brad Pacheco.

The root cause of the crime is eventually discovered after the NCIS team finds a gun hidden at Hayward’s home. He was holding it for Brad, who was supposed to get rid of it after his half-brother Lee used it during a violent crime. But instead, Brad gave it to Hayward so he could turn it in to the police. To save himself from getting caught, Lee killed Officer Hayward. Or did he?

Jane Tennant shows off her fighting skills on ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’

As Kai talks to Lee in an interrogation room, Jane heads back to Andrea’s house to tell her the results of the investigation. But as she tells her they’ve arrested Lee, Jane gets a message from Kai. He tells her it was Andrea who killed Officer Hayward. As it turns out, she didn’t want her son Brad joining the Navy. She didn’t want anyone taking her son away and leaving her alone.

Andrea realizes that Jane knows the truth, which leads to a physical mom fight. Jane comes out on top and sends the other mom to prison. This leaves Brad free to join the Navy and pursue a better future away from the Oania Boys.

The episode ends with Jane and her son having a talk after she realizes he lied to avoid his dad, dad’s new lady, and the nursery they are putting together for their new baby. Kai and Jesse also have a better relationship after this episode because they finally had the chance to bond.

New episodes of NCIS: Hawai’i air Monday nights on CBS.