Nick Torres is pulled back into his undercover past in NCIS’s new episode, Sleeping Dogs, when his retired identity Dante Navarro is reactivated and used in a string of murders. The case does more than reopen an old file. It forces Torres to face the part of himself he has spent years trying to keep buried.
That is why the episode is drawing attention now. The show airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streams next day on Paramount+, and this week’s story puts Torres at the center of a nightmare built from his own old cover. Michael Weatherly’s character has already said he can hold his breath for four minutes, but in this case the more important test is how long he can keep his past from swallowing the present.
Torres has wanted more tactical work than simply investigating and solving crimes, and Sleeping Dogs pushes him right into that lane. His retired undercover identity, Dante Navarro, is reactivated and tied to killings, turning an old alias into a fresh weapon. The episode also brings back Walt Keller, his former handler, now retired, and Keller does not treat Dante as a disguise that can be shrugged off. He tells Torres, “You still don’t get it, do you?” and then lands the blow: “Nick Torres is the cover. Dante’s who you really are.”
That is where the episode finds its friction. Torres tells Alden Parker he did horrible things in his past, and says he justified them by calling them part of the line of duty. What still troubles him is not just what he did, but how much he enjoyed it. He says he does not want to be the darker version of himself; Keller says that version is the real one. The show does not let either man win the argument cleanly, which is exactly why the case works.
The deeper question is not whether Torres once lived as Dante Navarro. It is who is exploiting that identity now, and whether the murders are being carried out by a person hiding inside the cover or by the damage that cover left behind. NCIS keeps the answer close for now, but Sleeping Dogs makes one thing plain: Torres’s past is no longer backstory. It is the case.
