NCIS: Episode 23.7: “God Only Knows”

Here's the short version: this is NCIS at its best, and it's rare for a network procedural to spend a whole episode on the problem of evil without flinching or getting preachy. Agent Parker's grief over his father's murder and a suspect's own crisis of faith give the episode real emotional weight, and the Naval chaplain who counsels them both is one of the sharper, more thoughtful Christian characters you'll find on prime-time TV this year.

The cost is small but real: eight mild-to-moderate obscenities, one "OMG," some light violence (a carjacking at gunpoint, a photo of a bullet-riddled body, a glimpse of melanoma splotches), and a plot point involving a possible affair. None of it is graphic, but it adds up to content worth knowing before you sit down with younger kids.

For teens and adults, this one's an easy yes. For families with younger children, watch it yourself first and decide.

Agent Parker, leader of the NCIS team, is still reeling from his Bible-believing father's brutal, senseless murder — and it has shaken his faith. When a suspect in a new case turns out to be wrestling with his own crisis of faith, Parker learns the man went to see a Naval chaplain about it. The chaplain won't say what was discussed, which frustrates Parker, who fears the suspect may be capable of far worse than they've already seen.

Four stars means this episode does exactly what good television is supposed to do: it grips you and it makes you think. The plotting is sharp — a series of small twists builds to a genuine reversal that redirects the whole investigation — and the pacing never sags across the hour.

What sets "God Only Knows" apart, though, is the writing given to the Naval chaplain. He's not a cardboard clergyman; he's given real theological weight, real patience, and lines worth remembering. That character, paired with Parker's own honest doubt, is what elevates a solid procedural into something more than the usual case-of-the-week.

This episode does something network television rarely attempts: it takes God seriously as a subject, not a punchline. It distinguishes, in effect, between natural evil (disease, disaster, accident) and moral evil (murder, deceit, betrayal), and it lets a real chaplain — not a strawman — offer real Christian answers. He tells Parker that God's answers often come "from the people closest to us" rather than from burning bushes, and reminds him, "I answer to a higher power." The episode also quotes James on putting faith into action, a call to live out belief rather than merely hold it.

The episode's moral instincts are sound throughout: it honors family bonds, patriotism, honesty, and doing right by wronged people, and it lets a dying man declare "I am blessed" without irony — a genuinely countercultural note of gratitude in the face of suffering that Christians will recognize as faithful, not naive.

The story never fully resolves the problem of evil — nothing this short could — but it takes the ache seriously rather than shrugging it off. Scripture doesn't shrug either: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28).

This is one of the more thoughtful hours of network television you'll find this season — a crime procedural that lets a chaplain speak real truth and lets grief and gratitude sit side by side without cheapening either. It earns its content cautions honestly rather than gratuitously. Our answer stands: worth watching — teens and up.