Last week’s episode of NCIS: Sydney left us with more questions than answers, but it all made sense in the finale, episode 8 titled "Blonde Ambition."
Dempsey (Todd Lasance) was running late for his son's, Jack (Henry McWilliam), birthday party when suddenly the clown hired as entertainment kidnapped him. Meanwhile, the team questioned the blonde woman, Ana Niemus (Georgina Haig), who faked being a pregnant woman in episode 7.
The clown demands a swap
Dempsey arrived at his ex-wife's home and she filled him in on what little information she had about the clown. Dempsey got a video call from Jack, crying for his dad to come get him. The clown appeared on the video and asked to make a swap, "the boy for the girl."
Dempsey barged into the interrogation room at NCIS, demanding Niemus tell him where his son was. She denied knowing anything, taunting Dempsey, who in his anger threw a chair at the wall in rage. Mackey (Olivia Swann) then got Dempsey out of there. She agreed Niemus' situation and Jack's kidnapping were connected, but didn't know how. All they had to go on were photos of the clown from a mom at the party.
Mackey paid Colonel Richard Rankin (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) a visit. She asked for his help by stalling the FBI coming to take Niemus, which would take away any leverage to get Jack back. Rankin agreed to try to stall them as long as he could.
A clown car explosion
Dempsey met Jackson (Sean Sagar) and Cooper (Tuuli Narkler) under a bridge. The van the clown was driving had been abandoned. Cooper let him know their bot picked up what sounded like a muffled human voice coming from inside the van. Dempsey couldn't bear to wait for the bomb squad, running toward the van. Before he got too close, the van exploded.
Dr. Penrose (William McInnes) arrived on the scene where a burnt dead body was found inside. He had a painted-on clown face and his mouth and hands were taped up, but it wasn't the original clown. Dr. Penrose reassured Dempsey his son wasn't in the van. The thought was a new clown was supposed to take the place of the original clown, but the original clown killed him. One detail they were unsure of was why the clown had painted conifer in his hands.
Back at the headquarters, Gleeson (Mavournee Hazel) ran the original clown's photos through facial recognition and came up empty. However, technology created a picture of what he probably looked like without face makeup on. Gleeson also found the van's explosives were military grade from the US. In fact, they were the same ones that blew up that speedboat at the end of episode 1, which is why we didn't know if Niemus was alive or not.
Mackey took the facial mockup to Niemus and she confirmed he was a colleague. She didn't give Mackey much to go on, but said she hoped they gave the clown whatever he asked for because, "it won't end well if he has to take it."
A religious clown
More dead bodies turned up, all with painted conifer in their hands. Some digging indicated it's an obscure Pagan tradition in the Russian Orthodox church, indicating the clown was religious. The conifer is meant to stop evil spirits from finding you. Gleeson found a part of Sydney with a strong Russian immigrant presence and an Orthodox church.
Mackey and Dempsey spoke with the leader of the church, but he couldn't identify the sketch of the clown. He said this week was their most important holiday after Easter, Pentecost, where many meals and gatherings take place. Going off of that, Mackey and Dempsey stopped in a nearby restaurant to get all of the receipts from the past 48 hours to see if the clown had stopped by after a service. Dempsey's hunch was right, as someone had food delivered to a storage locker — totally out of place from the usual residential addresses.
Mackey and Dempsey arrived at the storage locker, which was unlocked. It had clown gear, a bag from the restaurant and a hot plate meal that was still warm. They also found Jack's blue baseball hat. Unfortunately, they had set off a silent alarm and tipped off the clown when they came down the hall.
Making the swap
Dempsey received a text from the clown. It contained a photo of a bench area with the message, "Be here in 1 hour. UNARMED. Or say goodbye to your son."
Meanwhile, Jackson and Cooper logged evidence from the Niemus case before the FBI swooped in and took over. They discovered the technology used to disrupt the Gaiametric signal was still on. Mackey and Dempsey asked what was supposed to happen in the bunker had it gone her way. Once everyone had run out of oxygen, Niemus would've turned the jammer off, utilized her escape route and left with the Gaiametric technology. The jammer, now in the interrogation room, disrupted the lighting, even when it was turned off. Niemus seemed surprised. It turned out the off function was never connected. So whoever Niemus was working for intended for her to die in the bunker, too. That means the clown wasn't planning to rescue her now, he was planning to kill her. Niemus gave him up and identified him as Yaroslav (Benedict Hardie).
The FBI arrived at NCIS to take custody of Niemus. Mackey tried to stall them, but it didn't work. However, when they entered the interrogation room, Niemus was gone. The FBI was angry, and said her name wasn't even real — Ana Niemus meant “anonymous.”
Dempsey arrived at the location Yaroslav had texted him with Niemus to make the swap. Mackey knew what Dempsey was doing and Rankin figured it out, too. Gleeson tried to track Dempsey's van, but Dempsey had set it up so she couldn't. She was, however, able to track his phone and his location. Jackson and Cooper sped to him, arrived at the bench location, but Dempsey had left his phone so they couldn't follow him any further.
Dempsey took Niemus to the new location. There Yaroslav held a gun to Jack, a bag over his head and hands tied holding painted conifer. Yaroslav told Dempsey to hold painted conifer and get down on his knees. Yaroslav pointed a gun at his head and began to recite a prayer. Dempsey insisted Yaroslav hurry up with the prayer and get on with it, so he turned around and pointed the gun at Jack. Just then, Niemus broke free from her handcuffs, grabbed a gun from her waistband and shot Yaroslav in the head.
Dempsey rushed to his son, but Niemus came up behind Dempsey and held a gun to his head. "We had a deal, too. I gave you the gun, I trusted you," he said. She went into his pocket to get his keys and found a piece to the jammer. It turned out it did have an off switch after all; Dempsey played her so she would help with Yaroslav. She was angry, but just took his keys for the van. She also gave Yaroslav's phone to Dempsey to call his team, saying, "you might be surprised who answers."
When Dempsey went to the contacts, there was just one number. He called it. As the phone rang, so did Rankin’s back at headquarters.
All episodes of NCIS: Sydney are now streaming on Paramount Plus.
