The mystery of EDNA is solved when tonight’s NCIS wraps up the two-part mystery of the missing file from Forensic Scientist Kasie Hines’ (Diona Reasonover) computer following the upgrade to MTAC that took place last week.
It turns out that EDNA is a computer program that Kasie began developing when she was in college that can use DNA found at a crime scene to help create a suspect profile. And Kasie has a buyer for the program that will pay her big bucks.
“It definitely did come about because she was majoring in criminology,” Reasonover exclusively tells Parade. “She has a line in there where she talks about how a lot of times the DNA at the crime scene doesn’t lead anywhere because it’s not in a database. I think that just always stuck with her, and it was a problem she wanted to solve. Kasie’s a problem solver.”
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But in the “Bad Impressions” episode, the hacker who stole the file uses the program in an unexpected way – one that Kasie never considered – and it frames her for murder in a widening conspiracy that could compromise national security.
“The problem with Kasie is she can’t conceive of the bad side of things sometimes,” Reasonover continues. “She’s so focused and so driven on justice that she doesn’t stop to think about the other side and what the implications could be.”
Photo: Robert Voets/CBS
As her arrest is imminent, Sam Hanna (LL COOL J returns) comes to the rescue and sneaks Kasie out of the NCIS offices and takes her on a road trip to New York City to find a notebook that can help her rebuild her computer program and expose the actual culprit.
“He’s such a mentor,” Reasonover says of working with LL COOL J. “He’s a person that I look up to because he’s such a natural leader and I’ve been watching him for so long. A lot of our castmates, Wilmer [Valderrama], Gary [Cole], and Sean [Murray], are all leaders that I look up to. But I got to have a special connection with him because this was a real Kasie and Sam episode. I actually got to tell him, ‘I’m nervous.’ I don’t tell people that and also, I don’t get nervous. He looked at me and he said, ‘I got you,’ and every fiber of my being relaxed as soon as he said that. I was like, ‘Okay, cool, because this sweater is hot and I’m sweaty.’”
What is really surprising to Kasie’s team – McGee (Murray), Torres (Valderrama), Knight (Katrina Law) and Jimmy (Brian Dietzen) – is that Kasie never let on that she had created a tool for law enforcement that she was about to sell and she says it’s because she didn’t want all the attention it would create. But then Sam reassures her that “she’s enough.”
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“It’s interesting because we haven’t seen a ton of Kasie outside of work on the show considering how long Kasie has been on the show,” Reasonover explains. “I think you can read that actually as a sort of like closed off unwillingness that Kasie previously had to actually talking to and actually being vulnerable to people. The writer of this episode, Marco Schnabel, didn’t only write this, he also wrote ‘Lifeline,’ which is the episode where Kasie does the ‘Walk a Mile’ day and she’s sitting in MTAC and she’s realizing that the reason that all of her relationships have ended is because of her. She’s the common denominator. She’s the one at fault.
“So, in both this episode and in Lifeline, it really took her talking to someone who’s a little less familiar to her to be able to open up. So, I think she’s really afraid of judgment. She’s afraid of alienating the people that she actually cares for.”
During our chat, we also discussed with Reasonover if she felt Kasie might readdress EDNA in the future, and how she would like to see Kasie grow and change in the future.
Because somebody found a way to use EDNA against her, she deletes EDNA. But would she ever consider a workaround? Do you think in the future she could think “I need to re-approach this in a different way?”
I’m trying to approach this from my own logic and not Kasie’s at this point, because part of me is like, I don’t know. It just takes one time being framed for murder for me to take my hands off that particular project and say, maybe I’m not able to consider the implications of this. I would hope that, knowing how important it is for justice to actually be served and for people to not be wrongly held accountable for it, I personally would hope that she would leave it to the hands of someone who could think that way.
If she had sold EDNA, it would have been a lot of money, and I know Kasie isn’t money-driven, but I thought maybe… her parents are gone, but maybe she would want the money to help take care of her brother and sister.
Well, her mom is still there. I think Kasie likes to talk too much. I can’t imagine Kasie not working. She would be back at the lab like sneaking in or something.
Kasie seems to be very insecure. Is she going to change going forward at all, do you think?
I do. I believe that her going out with Briana Venskus’ character (Joanna, a former girlfriend) at the end was a huge step for her making a real change. She changes very slowly. Sometimes characters change a lot quicker, but “Reboot” was like two, three seasons ago and she’s just now getting to the other side of that coin. I’m hopeful for change for her, although I do believe it will be incremental.
We want to see her get past the fact that when people pay attention to her, it’s not a bad thing.
I also want to see her go on a date. I want to see her in a relationship. I want to see her tell Jimmy her Social Security number. I want to see Kasie continue to grow and prosper and treat this team like they’re family and not hold them at arms length.
Speaking of going on dates, we met Joanna, the past relationship. They seem to have a rapprochement at the end. Will we see more of her? Granted, Joanna is in NYC, and Kasie’s in DC.
Yes, they better. I love Briana Venskus. She’s so fun to act with. I am pushing very hard for the writers and being like, “I think Joanna can be…” You know, we took that time and we built such a cool relationship, I want to see it play out.
Especially because it’s not like Joanna didn’t pick up her whole life and move once for the relationship. This time it wouldn’t be cross-country; it would be a lot closer.
Well, and now with NCIS: New York happening, right? Kasie maybe travels up to New York to do a little forensic work, maybe goes up to hang out with Joanna a little bit, comes back home. I think it could all work out perfect.
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Speaking of NCIS New York, you spent a lot of time in scenes with LL COOL J on this. What do you love about working with him? What is it that he brings that maybe your other cast members don’t?
One, he brings his music, which is incredible. He once actually played me a song that he was working on, and I felt like the coolest person in the world. He asked what I thought and I realized I did not know how to give music notes and I was like, “It’s perfect.”
EDNA was going to be her legacy. What is her legacy now?
I think her legacy is getting to represent the people of this country that are fighting the good fight. I think that that’s a huge legacy knowing that you’re saving people’s lives, that you’re helping put the bad guy away and making sure it’s the right person. It’s a pretty great legacy.
I come from a military family and I’m so proud of so many of them. Although Kasie is a civilian and not actually in the military, I would hope that if one of them were in trouble, they would be able to go to someone like Kasie and ask for help.
She’s not serving in the military, but she is serving her country because she could probably go somewhere else in private industry and get a much bigger salary.
I assume she could. Listen, she turned down selling EDNA. So, she’s not driven by money, as you said.
You remember the episode where she and Jimmy were locked in her office, and they were going to die from exposure to a deadly virus, and she hadn’t renewed her contract yet. So, she had been thinking about leaving at one point.
Yeah, all it takes is being kidnapped twice, and she’s like “You know, maybe, just maybe, I should find a nice office job somewhere.” But I think the sacrifice that Kasie makes there, she gets it back in dividends because she’s got this incredible family at work. She’s got people that she really loves, that she cares for, and work that she’s passionate about. You can’t ask for more than that.
You should be able to relate to that because from what I understand, working at NCIS is like that.
It is. Our snacks are better though. Kasie has to pay for snacks at the vending machine, which I’ll never understand. Just make them free. But I get to work with people that I’m happy to consider lifelong friends. I get to laugh every day, and I get to feel like I work on the coolest, best set in the world.
NCIS airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Streams next day on Paramount+.
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