When weapons with a street value
of over one million dollars are stolen on the way to Camp Pendleton
Byron featured in last season’s episode
Kulinda, where Sam was sent undercover to infiltrate the security company. The upshot - Byron is one of the good guys
and as such Sam has trouble believing Byron as turned to the dark side, as
Callen put it. One of Sam’s
characteristics is his ability to see the good in everyone, contrasting with
Callen’s natural suspicion of everyone, prompting the latter to ask a deep and
philosophical question:
‘Just wondering if we ever really know anyone.’
This is not fleshed out further
although is a cue for banter when Callen acknowledges that Sam didn’t even like
him when they first met. Referring back to
their opening scenes (which this week serve as an alternative to the bull pen),
Callen is ‘supervising’ Sam’s boat repairs and voices his desire they buy jet
skis. His annoyance of Sam ensures their
relationship remains normal in the wake of Sam’s life changes and makes it
extremely believable that Sam initially disliked him. Further to last week, Sam continues to question
Callen’s character, wondering if he has bodies buried in the garden after he
references an agent / murderer.
On a side note it would make a great plot line if Callen were to be investigated as a killer or double agent. Point in case for Callen, that first impressions can be wrong particularly when you barely know someone, such as Sam with Byron. As usual though Sam’s radar is working fine, and it would have saved a lot of time if Sam had considered what might persuade an inherently good man to become involved in a weapons heist in the first place. Byron’s family were being held hostage. Sam should realise by now that people would do anything to save their family.
The majority of the episode is
split between Callen and Sam undercover as bodyguards for EAD Mosley, and Kensi
and Deeks running down leads on the weapons and buyers. This works well as it is the first time the
team and audience have seen Mosley at work outside the office environment. She has scored a VIP invite to the charity
sports shooting event held by defence contractors . Livingston-Bradford, which is also the
current location of Byron.
Livingston-Bradford are trying to scupper rumours of supplying weapons
to both sides of the Western Sahara
conflict. They’re also split between running
a small philanthropy arm and fulfilling weapons orders for governments and
private companies. Already alarm bells
are ringing. Mosley networks, as her
role demands and the agents are left to follow Byron.
The first time Kensi and Deeks
are seen this episode is arriving at the address of petty criminal Tony
Young...in a Porsche borrowed from the car pool. This smacks of trouble but Deeks seems
unconcerned with how legitimate his borrowing is and more concerned with how he
looks. Kensi is less than impressed and
worries about the practicalities. Their
scenes are a cue for banter and smart ass remarks between themselves and their
suspect Tony. It would be good to see a
little less of clown Deeks and there is a feeling actor Eric Christian Olsen
has been given some freedom to ad lib.
Sometimes less is more.
Regardless, they find their hapless thief who takes them to the weapons
buyers. After a phone call with Sam, the
pair realise the truck is missing.
Poor Nell and Eric are barely
seen during the episode. Much of the
information they usually disseminate is discussed between the agents and
Mosley, although Eric has a great scene impersonating Scotty from Star Trek to
a less than impressed Sam and Callen.
Hetty is only seen at the prologue ‘previously on NCIS: Los Angeles ’, presumably to explain her
absence to the casual viewer. Her story
is not progressed but her boat is found in Hawaii prompting Callen to question (like
Deeks last week), if she has really retired this time. Sam, with his radar working at one hundred
percent is sure she’ll be back.
This is one of several unforeseen
twists and false leads which nicely counteracts the predictability. Byron is seen several times in the company of
Real IRA member Travis Coogan but there is no terrorist threat. The weapons were a necessity to secure the
branded truck supplying weapons to the Livingston-Bradford shooting event,
meaning the event wasn’t a front for selling weapons in plain sight but a cover
for an assassination on one of the company directors. On the flip side it was unsurprising that
Byron’s family were used as leverage and even less so, that Sasha, the haughty
looking wife of Charles Livingston, was the real mastermind.
A shooting event brings its own
challenges, namely mixing alcohol and loaded guns which again is a thread not
followed. Instead Mosley is given the
chance to demonstrate her expertise in shooting with a double pull using her
expensive hand guns, which Callen states she’d been practicing for days. The teams skills are all on show in the field
with Sam taking out one of the snipers, Callen shooting at a target based off
shadows. Also ably supporting them in
the field is Hidoko who shoots the assassin approaching Callen from behind.
The episode closes with more
banter and more question marks around Deeks.
Last week he was justifying his wanting to stay with NCIS and later
debating the merits of leaving law enforcement for the sake of his future
children. Here he has taken a Porsche from
the car pool without question which of course turns out to be Mosley’s car,
returned to the pool with scratches.
Body language and eye contact from Mosley to Deeks suggests she is
convinced Deeks took it and asks Nell and Eric to scrub through footage to find
the culprit leaving Deeks to frantically delete his incriminating selfies. Just as reckless albeit currently in a
theoretical way, Callen reverts to badgering Sam about jet skis once the case
is closed, coming across as an annoying child to Sam’s father-like insistence
of ‘no’.
All in all this was an enjoyable
stand alone episode with enough plot and action to ensure the entertainment
level remained high. It does mean there
was little character development among the main cast. Mosley only interacted with Sam and Callen
and currently seems to have the upper hand, prompting the odd sarcastic
comment. Is she starting to appreciate
how the team work in their existing partnerships? Or is there still more change to come?
What did you think about ‘Plain
Sight’? Please leave a comment and let
me know what you thought.