In ‘Commitment
Issues’, the team investigates the murder of a former Naval warfare officer,
now working for a start-up tech company in LA. The company is building an
internet search engine for China ,
full of censorship and funded by the same shell company that backed the tech
firm Eric Beale was working for in San
Francisco
Eric has been
the Technical Operator since the backdoor pilot. He was a great character, intelligent
with a slightly whacky sense of humour, however as the seasons progressed, he
has developed into a neurotic and over the top caricature. His immaturity is set up at the start with his
awkward and babbling encounter with Nell and Callen. As soon as he learns the case is connected to
the same Chinese faction who tried to kill him in San Francisco
Thankfully,
there is no exaggeratedly ridiculous guest character although once again,
Katherine features in the case. She was
first introduced by Lewis Jaffe earlier this season in Provenance and this is
now her fourth appearance with more to come.
She is omnipresent and has her fingers in many pies: modern art insurance,
high-end sports cars insurance and auctions, fashion show and is now on the board
of directors for the start-up company. She is deliberately obstructive, causing all
to be suspicious of her secret-keeping. At
one point the latter is arrested and interrogated and still withholds information from the team. No reason or explanation is given, which
strongly suggests she has a superiority complex and withholding knowledge is
the power she can and does exert over NCIS. Katherine is seen to have redeemed herself
when Miguel (manager of start-up) reveals it was her idea to build defective
code so from Chinese government IP addresses, internet searches would be
censored, but not for the Chinese public.
There is no thought to the repercussions once the Chinese would discover
the deception, and no empathy or emotion from Katherine that her involvement
helped cause a man to be murdered. The
so-called redemption of Katherine allows Sam (who throughout the episode had been
in conflict with her), the opportunity to move forward with their relationship.
Another
recurring guest is NCIS Special Agent Nicole DeChamps who takes an instant dislike
to Katherine. Her presence has previously seen her paired up with Sam and there
had been hints of a chemistry between the two.
The close bond is still present, yet there is no jealousy when she
realises Sam’s interest in Katherine. DeChamps
effectively gives Sam the green light to press ahead, and Katherine again uses
words as a powerful tool to get Sam what he wants - a dinner date with her. It is a big step forward for Sam, although
his rebound from his wife’s death (she was a loyal, moral, honest, genuine and brave
woman) is extreme! Sam is an honourable
man whose ability to empathise is key to his success as an agent. Katherine needs to soften so she can be seen
as a worthy and believable love interest for Sam.
DeChamps has
always been portrayed as serious and by-the-books, yet here she shows a looser
side to her character. She banters well with the boys and is unusually jovial. The ‘pinky-promise’
with Nell in Ops though was a step too far outside of her established
personality. She is also used to prompt Callen
into revealing his challenge with commitment issues (albeit Sam verbalises this
for him). There are humorous moments when Callen states there’s nothing layered
about him or Sam. Is he merely presenting himself as ‘normal’ to DeChamps to
avoid further questions or is he just fooling himself? This is somewhat reminiscent of his
conversation in the season opener with former JAG character Captain Harmon Rabb,
where Callen claimed to be completely emotionally available at all times. As always, such statements are open to
interpretation and discussion.
Arguable the
best bits of the episode focused around Kensi and Deeks. Firstly their encounter with the owner of the
book store where the murder took place was so much fun. Carla is a middle aged
woman who is ‘super-salty’ as described by Deeks. She speaks her mind, has firm
and misguided views about hippies and the youth who took to the stage for a
poetry event. Deeks coaxed her to detail
her reading habits, revealing the link between the number of books she reads
and her moods/life situations. And as
mentioned earlier, Kensi verbally whipping Eric into returning to his
workstation, and Deeks’ reaction to Kensi’s assertiveness was another
highlight.
Overall this
will not go down as one of the best episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles