The beginning of season 14 was no doubt an extreme challenge after the emotional and dramatic end to season 13. The Esposito character seems a good addition, but the backstory of Torres and the basic plot of this episode seems ill-conceived. As for the former, the idea that an agent that has been several years in deep undercover is going to transition to functioning as a regular field agent on Gibbs team does not strike me as reasonable. They could have brought Torres from a regular agent assignment pursuing an investigation that led to D.C.
Then the threat against a judge favorable to alternative energy sources obviously reflected a leftist narrative that Big Oil is no better than organized crime trying to prevent less dependence on fossil fuels. Actually, it's just the opposite. The Left works hard to keep the U.S. dependent on foreign oil while demanding the government subsidize alternative energy that would not survive without government help. This underlying plot element is really defamatory against petroleum companies. Again, the writers could have created any number of stories to introduce Torres, but this approach was extremely disappointing. I don't blame the actors who all did the best they could in spite of the script.
