NCIS Fans Are Eager to Know If Kaise's Best Friend Is Guilty after He Becomes a Murder Suspect

The 17th season of “NCIS” premiered on September 24, and each episode has left fans thirsty for more. “Institutionalized,” the sixth one, was no different.

“NCIS” has been one of the most-watched TV shows in the States ever since it was released back in September 2003. For the sixth episode, scriptwriters focused the attention on Kasie Hines, played by Diona Reasonover.

Warning: This article contains spoilers of “Institutionalized.”

Recap of the sixth episode, “Institutionalized”

Kasie’s lifelong best friend Dante Brown, played by Devale Ellis, became the main suspect of the death of a petty officer’s son who was murdered at his welcome-home-from-prison party.

The NCIS team, including Kasie, paid Dante a visit to question him. Once he was escorted away, Gibbs (Mark Harmon) told Kasie that her belief that her friend was not guilty was important for him.

He then ordered her to collect the fur of Dante’s German shepherd, Theo, to check if it marched with the hairs found on the victim’s body.

During the interrogation, Dante assured he didn’t kill the victim, Trey, and also denied brawling with him while both of them were in jail.

Is he innocent?

Kasie’s friend pointed out that he was seen hanging out with Trey once they got out because he wanted to help him with the always difficult transition to post-prison life.

Despite his remarks, Dante was taken into custody for violating his parole by associating with a felon.

Throughout the episode, Kasie and Dante’s past is shown, revealing that his initial sentence was for protecting Kasie’s 15-year-old brother when a rival gang attacked him.

Although everything suggested that Dante was not guilty, especially after a heartfelt conversation between the suspect and Kasie, McGee (Sean Murray) found a video that showed Dante and Trey fighting in prison.

Is he guilty?

A disappointed Kasie visited Dante once again to ask him what else he lied to her about. However, he kept saying that he didn’t kill Trey.

It was eventually discovered that the victim was murdered to protect a scheme that allowed the laundry service in jail to smuggle drugs in. Since Trey was part of it, the people in charge of the operation had him killed to avoid loose ends.

People’s reaction on social media

Shortly before the episode ended, fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the show and how eager they were to know for sure whether Kaise’s best friend was guilty or not.

One of them pointed out that it was hard to believe that a close friend could have been able to do something as bad as killing another person.

A second netizen admitted:

“Can't wait to find out the truth if he is guilty or innocent honestly cant [sic] tell for sure yet but leaning more toward the innocent side for now.”

A Twitter user recognized Kasie’s effort to protect her friend but admitted that all the evidence showed that Dante was guilty.

Ziva’s comeback

While most fans were thrilled with the latest episode, they are waiting for one of the highlights that this new season of “NCIS” will have: Ziva’s comeback.

In 2013, Cote de Pablo (Ziva on the show) confessed that she didn’t like the path that showrunners were forcing her character to follow, so she decided to leave. As a result, Ziva was apparently killed off in a mortar attack.

However, at the end of the previous season, she appeared in Gibbs’ home to warn him about something dangerous. She went on to appear in the first two episodes of season 17, but it was revealed that she would be back for two more chapters.

According to TV Line, Cote’s upcoming appearances will take place on December 17 and January 7, 2020.