NCIS: Hawaii Fans Are Ecstatic Over Lucy's Season 2 Return

Special Agent Lucy Tara (Yasmine Al-Bustami) had been absent from "NCIS: Hawai'i" since Season 2, Episode 7 in the appropriately titled "Vanishing Act," and it's hard not to feel even the temporary loss of a character who has been there since the series pilot. Her absence has been especially felt as her lover Kate Whistler (Tori Anderson) has remained there to pine for her alongside the impatient fans, even as it was Kate who told her partner to take the job as agent afloat in the first place. Lucy is floating, both literally and figuratively, through the "NCIS" Universe, so she popped up for a crossover appearance on the Season 3 episode of "NCIS: Los Angeles," "A Long Time Coming." But, for weeks, she's been missed by fans on her home series of "Hawai'i."

Thankfully, in a brief interview with a fan with TV Line on January 25, series co-creator and executive producer Christopher Silber reassured a fan that Lucy would not only definitely be returning to the show, making sure to use the word "when" and not "if" with emphasis so as not to be mistaken. According to Silber, she would see a lot more action upon her return than she did prior to her extended absence.

Well, in Season 2, Episode 13, titled "Misplaced Target," Lucy finally made her first return to the sunny climate of Hawaii in nearly three full months, and fans are jumping for joy at her return.

Almost everybody on social media who talked about the episode cited Lucy's triumphant return as their favorite part. "Oh how much I have missed Lucy," tweeted @Eloisetalkstv, posting a video from the latest episode. In the video, Lucy encounters an officer who accidentally adds his fingerprints to a piece of evidence from an assault and robbery. Rather than yell at him outright, which she clearly wants to do, the special agent is polite but firm, and maybe just a touch annoyed. In another clip, reposted on Twitter by @mysteriousnytes, Lucy takes her executive officer Marshall Ramirez (Armando Acevedo) out to talk and remind him who's in charge, adding "respectfully" at the end of her speech in a pointed and condescending way. "It's the 'respectfully' and little smile at the end. [Lucy Tara] i've missed you so much" writes the Twitter user.

Reddit users had similar thoughts in a thread in the r/NCIS subreddit. u/Canadasaver suggested hope that Lucy's return to the show would mean her character's return to the team from her current position as agent afloat. Then u/tmstms said that they had heard that Yasmine Al-Bustami is simply unavailable, which doesn't seem to align with anything the star has said in any interviews but does seem to align with how much the star is doing right now. 

Currently, Al-Bustami is also currently showing up about as frequently on the Christian historical drama "The Chosen" from Angel Studios as she is on "NCIS: Hawai'i," so presumably she intends to split her time between both shows.