‘NCIS’: Leon Vance’s Fate Revealed After Kidnapping Cliffhanger

NCIS wasted no time addressing the giant Leon Vance kidnapping cliffhanger during its season 16 premiere.

During the episodes first moments, Leon is seen trying to escape his situation, but being quickly knocked down by security.

As he is tortured, Masahun says he recognizes Leon as the man who killed his brothers. Before he can hurt him, a woman interrupts the moment and she suggests Leon can help them with their cause. Should he refuse, Masahun can do with him as he pleases.

The premiere then jumps to one month since Leon’s (Rocky Carroll’s) terrifying capture, and finds Gibbs (Mark Harmon) stepping into the role of acting director in his absence.

The team works night and day in an effort to find Masahun (Pej Vahdat) and Leon — as Gibbs dreads his new responsibilities involving mountains of paper work. Also having a hard time? Sloane (Maria Bello) who blamed herself for Leon’s capture, as she was the one who got the team to look into Masahun in the first place.

Feeling rather hopeless over the lack of leads, the team finds new hope when a video of Vance stealing money from a bank surfaces.

Later, Gibbs is visited by Vance’s daughter, who wonders why her dad was on TV working for the enemy.

“I will find your dad,” he tells her.

In a video released to the press, Vance is seen delivering a message from the terrorists warning of a change coming as Gibbs sees a bombing going on just outside his neighborhood.

The team discussed Vance’s video message, which Kasie (Diona Reasonover) deciphers as a hidden message for the team. As that happens, Leon is seen with Masahun and his mother, who think that their attacks will motivate the US to take the troops out of Afghanistan.

They try to blackmail Vance into giving them the NCIS codes to a nuclear plant, but when he refuses they order his daughter’s murder. Back in the States, there is an attempt on Vance’s daughter’s life but she is rescued by the team before the man can get to her.

Later, Vance is approached by a man, who claims to be an undercover CIA agent who promises to help him escape if he can. Later, Vance manages to free himself from his restraints and attempts to run, with the help of the man. He gives him a cellphone and a gun and the two plan to either make a phone call to the team warning them of the upcoming attack or die trying.

In a tragic twist, Vance warning the NCIS was part of Masahun’s plan all along. Luckily, Gibbs and the team figure out that they got fake intel, hey visit the nuclear plant and realize that putting the plant on lockdown was what made the attack possible. At the same time, Sloane is kidnapped and brought to the same place as Vance and they are both at the mercy of Masahun.

Just before the plant blows, the team manages to stop the attack. Angry, Masahun lashes out at Vance and Sloane, though she reveals that she was captured on purpose to get him arrested. Finally, Masahun was captured and Sloane got her closure from her past.

“You’re the monster. We’re the good guys,” Sloane says to him as she promises he will be tried in a court of law for his crimes.

NCIS fans will remember Masahun was discovered in the season finale to be impersonating a man named Nigel Hakim, a humanitarian fundraiser, when Sloane sees him while on a blind date.

Masahun was the terrorist responsible for keeping Sloane captive in Afghanistan many years, and seeing him again triggered her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

As the team worked to figure out the man’s real identity, Masahun was tipped off and attempts to leave the country. But Sloane was already on her way to the airport for a showdown with the terrorist, but he escaped taking Vance with him.

Given that fans have already been through enough shocking cast exits recently, we’re glad to see Vance is back home where he belongs.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.