[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS Season 21 Episode 3 “Lifeline.”]
Forensic scientist Kasie Hines (Diona Reasonover) got more than she expected on Walk-A-Mile Day when NCIS employees swapped jobs. Working in emergency dispatch, Kasie fielded a call from a mysterious field agent in crisis, later identified as Eric Webb (Chris McKenna). He turned out to be at the center of a case involving the potential detonation of a dirty bomb in Washington, D.C.
The NCIS agents brought Kaisie in to help get to the bottom of things, which included taking her to the site of a massacre at a CIA safe house. “Usually, we don’t see Kaisie going to the crime scene. Her being on the ground floor of this case shook her in a way that was so exciting for me to get a chance to play,” Reasonover tells us in the newest episode of Case Closed, TV Insider’s NCIS aftershow. “Having her explore this fresh, still-filled-with-bodies crime scene was a new one for me. That was not something I was prepared for, and it was gruesome. I almost had to pop my contacts out – my little actor trick when I don’t want to see the dead bodies.”
Kasie is the only person Webb trusts, and the two get closer each time he calls in. In one intense scene, they make confessions to each other about things for which they blame themselves. For Kasie, that’s being alone after a series of failed relationships. “That may be my favorite scene that I’ve ever done in NCIS history,” Reasonover says. “Chris McKenna was there the whole time. He did all his lines with me live.”
We asked Reasonover who she thought would be good match for her character. “Another brilliant scientist would be so fun. My friend Keiko Agena, who was Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls and also in Prodigal Son, would be such a funny match. Is Idris Elba around? I mean, anybody. Bring in the cast of 90210?” Reasonover says with a laugh.
For more from the very funny Reasonover, and a breakdown of the episode, watch the full video above. The actress talks about how Kasie’s life has been saved by her friendship with Agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law); how proud she is of the new, less fearful Kasie for fighting back when she though Webb had turned against her; and the blooper that happened while shooting that scene. Come back each week for an inside look at the latest episode of NCIS from the people who make the show.
NCIS, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS