NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4 recap: Navy pilot’s death busts a drug cartel

NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4 arrived on March 4, 2024, and presented the new challenge of a murdered Navy pilot.

The killing and the investigation posed many questions that the NCIS team must look for answers to. Agent Tennant and her team nabbed the real face behind the crime. Her team may have found something about Agent Sam’s stay on the island.

NCIS: Hawai’i season 3, the third run of the Hawaiian spinoff of the parent NCIS series has Agent Sam staying in Hawaii and often helping out Tennant’s team in their high-action cases.

The previous two cases of the season, the escaping US Marshall convicts case and the Navy bank heist criminals case, had his involvement. Renewed in February 2023, NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 premiered on February 12, 2024.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers and advises the reader’s discretion.

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Pilot Meredith’s death, resort manager Frank’s affair and more in NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4

In NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4, titled Dead on Arrival, Agent Tennant’s team is entrusted with the investigation of the death of Lieutenant Commander Meredith Brooks.

While the clues raise many questions, the NCIS team considers all angles while examining the case.

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A Navy pilot killed in a military resort raises questions

Lieutenant Commander Meredith Brooks, a Naval pilot, is found dead in a military resort, Kohua Koa.

While she was posted in Hawaii and had access to free lodging, she chose to stay in the paid resort. Moreover, tests revealed physical intimacy before death, leading to assumptions that she stayed close to someone at the resort.

While the security camera footages were altered for the few minutes around her death, DNA tests and semen analysis point at the night manager of the resort.

He's former Staff Sergeant Frank Howell. While he was not cooperating during questioning, the team retrieved his history with NCIS. He was arrested, jailed and dishonourably discharged because of NCIS.

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Lucy and Kate pretend to be guests at the resort

With Frank refusing to cooperate and very little evidence against him, agents plan to stay at the hotel undercover. In NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4, Lucy and Kate pretend to be a honeymoon couple while trying to gather information.

While they got Frank to admit that Meredith was in trouble, Lucy’s behavior as a hotel guest caused problems in the investigation.

She tipped the staff big catching everyone’s eyes leading to the staff rushing to serve them and gossiping about them. However, Lucy and Kate searched Meredith’s room.

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Meredith’s death was recorded in her recording machine

A scene from NCIS: Hawai'i season 3 episode 4 (Image via Instagram)

NCIS finds a recording machine in Meredith’s room raising questions about her intentions for keeping this device.

While Meredith had not recorded her intimate moments on the machine, she recorded her death even though the killer did not talk.

The machine reveals that Meredith did not open the door for the killer, and she was surprised to find them in the room.

Further in NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4, they figure out how the killer could have entered Meredith’s room.

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Following Frank exposes a drug cartel

A scene from the show (Image via Instagram)

Frank has been meeting people since Meredith’s death. Kate follows him to a manufacturing shed.

As the NCIS forensic team goes over the shed, they find drugs in pineapples that are handed out to people at the resort. With NCIS on their heels, the cartels found pineapples the perfect way to transport drugs.

The team realizes that Meredith was onto exposing the cartels but was eliminated before she did. They find another pineapple shed and many bodies, and start making their arrests.

NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4 shows Frank murdered before NCIS can talk to him again.

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NCIS nabs the drug mastermind

Lucy and Kate pretended to be guests at the hotel. (Image via Instagram)

After Frank’s death, Lucy and Kate put the pieces together and realized the hotel’s important inmate, George, was the mastermind.

They arrest George while the team digs out his background. He turns out to be a defecting ex-military who was thrown out due to drug dealings.

NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4 shows George trying to use a knife on the agents during his arrest. However, Kate pulls her gun on him to subdue him.

While George may plan to make a plea deal, he has to disclose more about his work before that.

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What is the expected plot for NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 5?

Agent Sam Hanna in a scene from the show. (Image via Instagram)

NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4 paved the way for the upcoming episode titled Serve and Protect.

With Sam holding secrets Tennant may not want to trust him. However, he will likely ask her for a favour in the next episode.

The NCIS team will be given the job to protect the daughter of a Russian oligarch. With the Russian holding onto a deadly secret, his daughter is likely to be a target for his adversaries. As always, the agents will do their best to protect the girl.

Watch out for the fifth episode to arrive on CBS on March 25, 2024, after a gap of two weeks. Meanwhile stream NCIS: Hawai’i season 3 episode 4 on Paramount Plus, the streaming partner for the show.