After a short break for Christmas
and New Year, NCIS: Los Angeles
The case of the week is triggered
with Hetty sending a seemingly straight forward message (via Nell), for Callen
and Sam to meet her in the boat shed. In typical Hetty fashion, the guys
appear, Hetty is AWOL and instead they find CIA Officer Veronica Stephens, who
was also expecting to meet Ms Lange. Hetty helped out the CIA in Cuba the previous year (yes, 'that' mission) and
in return, asked the CIA to help agricultural scientist Dr Joseph Olonga
leave Nigeria Los Angeles
There is little empathy built for
the cause of the 'good doctor', as he is constantly referred (is that not the
name of another show on a rival network)? His character is not fleshed out and
neither is the potential threat his prototypes and patents pose. Instead
the focus is on character interactions, particularly with Callen and Sam, and
Callen and Veronica. Kensi and Deeks still had roles in the episode, and their
banter was on par with expectations, however it was unusual and noticeable
that they were absence for the first 15 minutes. Banter was rife
between all sets of partners, and even those that do not often share too much
screen time. Sam and Callen had some interesting conversations whilst
driving, especially when Sam finally verbalised what most have known for a
while, that Callen is drawn to women who are 'deceitful, deadly, beautiful'.
There have been occasional references by Callen, of women trying to
kill him, or not being who he thinks they are, although it is quite concerning
that he doesn't believe he is duped by certain types of women! Enter CIA Officer Veronica Stephens. The
chemistry between her and Callen (evident in her first appearance 'Heist')
develops further as the episode progresses with them both playing the flirting game as part of the case. There is no serious intent on either side but it is fun
to watch.
During the early part of the episode, much is made of Hetty's no-show
and the games she plays. Sam and Callen
understand it is just her way, even though they are not happy with the
situation, causing Sam to state they wouldn't be having the conversation if
Callen was in charge. The same question has been asked in four consecutive
episodes, strongly suggesting this will happen in some form this season. More pertinent is Nell's public acknowledgement that she has
lost Hetty's confidence and resorts to tracking Hetty, discovering she left the
US for Greece
Prominent throughout is the
intense lack of trust between NCIS and the CIA. This is ingrained
since the mole arc from seasons 6-8. Veronica's last appearance
exposed the presence of a mole within the CIA and despite her presence in the
boatshed and the attempt on her life, she continues to play games. Sam and
Callen have to work hard to obtain any information, resulting in the latter
becoming somewhat angry with her in the airport hangar. Veronica
is an interesting character. She is charismatic, secretive, smarmy, selfish
sexy and cold. She betrays no emotion when the team reveal they found the
severed body of a CIA colleague who escorted Olonga to LA.
There is a lot of dialogue (in
cars, in Ops, on the street, in the boat shed) but two scenes in particular
stand out as quite brutal, so much so that Kensi struggles with them. Firstly
she witnesses a suspect leap from a trailer to the cab, lose his
grip and get run over - it is not left to the imagination but seen. Secondly
she finds the severed head in a car trunk. Kensi does not usually have such an
adverse reaction to violence. Could her sensitiveness be connected to her
desire to have children, or was it just a bad day? There are no
intimate talks between the married couple but their banter, like that of Sam
and Callen, is on par, especially with Deeks stating he's the 'dude' and
Kensi is the 'man'. Deeks had some fun one on one scenes with Eric,
sharing quick repartee to persuade Eric he could successfully retrieve cell phone data. Eric's success is demonstrated with a grand
entrance in to Ops, with dramatic 'Frankenstein-type' music and him projecting
the words 'it's alive'...only for him to (temporarily) fail! Deeks
also had fun during the episodes climax when he suggests smoking out the enemy.
It eventually triggers his comment about not being able to see because of the
smoke and almost leads to Callen's demise. Deeks can see the bad guy taking aim
on an unsuspecting Callen but Deeks can't see well enough to aim. His shot
distracts the bad guy, allowing Callen to kill him. Of course during the
closing bar scene, Deeks milks the moment and Callen refuses to acknowledge it
as a save. It falls to Sam to have the funniest line; when answering
Veronica's question about how she would go to the restroom after Callen
handcuffed her to the table in the interrogation room, he answers with
'There's a trapdoor in the floor, try not to fall in.'
Overall Groundwork is an
enjoyable episode. The case of the missing doctor was most definitely secondary
to the characters and their interplay. Despite the gruesome deaths
along the way, it never feels like the team are frantically searching for him
or his prototypes. The huge bonus of the episode was how all characters were on
form, with continuing references to what can now be seen as the season 11
story arcs (namely Callen taking Hetty's position and Callen searching for
Anna). As arcs go, it could be a touch painful to prolong this. Hetty has been
missing for most of the last three seasons and Anna comes and goes a few
times a season (appearance-wise). Callen has been overlooked a touch
recently (covered by several Callen-centric episodes last season), and more
character development outside of his past/parent issues is welcomed. If/when Hetty leaves, the dynamic of the team will change and most likely see the introduction of a new field agent. As always, the best arcs involve the entire team and there are still many
episodes left for as yet unseen storylines.