The first part of season 11 was
rather hit and miss, with a episodes that were excruciatingly painful, in
particular Provenance and Concours d’Elegance which introduced Sam’s new love
interest Katherine Casillas. Both were
written by Jordana Lewis Jaffe, who’s episodes are easily recognisable due to
unrealistic plots, outlandish and unfunny humour and over-the-top guest
characters. Jaffe also penned Knock
Down, which not only features the aforementioned trademarks but also has the
misfortune of presenting some of the main cast as out-of-character. Remember that NCIS: Los Angeles
Special Agent Sam Hanna is the
victim of Jaffe’s pen on this occasion.
Since the series started, Sam has always been worried about Callen; his
(lack of) love life, his mental well-being, his sense of self and identity,
lone-wolf tendencies and his inability to open up and talk about his
feelings. Sam actually managed to get Callen
to tackle all of these subjects in the Christmas episode Answers (brilliantly
written by Kyle Harimoto). Now all of
that has been undone with no explanation as to why Sam has gone from caring
about his partner and his well-being, to refusing to enter into a conversation
initiated by Callen, who wants to talk about his enlightening holiday with Anna
Kolcheck.
Much as Callen can be aloof and
distant, he is also playful and mischievous with a love of winding up Sam. The bullpen is long established as a setting
where the team gently banter with each other and so Callen teasing his partner
about wanting to know all the details, and Sam refusing to take the bait was at
first amusing. The feeling quickly
changed when it became apparent that Sam was really not interested. Why? Who
knows - their interaction was disrupted with a case. Other opportunities were later presented,
particularly when in Sam’s car where again Sam shuts Callen down. He does not want to know what Anna said to Callen
that has enlightened him and does not appear happy that Callen is genuinely
happy with his life. Maybe Sam is thinking that Callen has been here before. Once
he was happy with Joelle, telling Sam about going to certain restaurants and
trying different foods. Maybe Sam now
thinks the other shoe will drop? This is
highly unlikely, taking into account the lengths Sam went to make Callen realise
how much he feels for Anna. The same
occurs in the Squid and Dagger where the team gather after the case. Sam still scorns Callen’s need to tell
someone about his holiday (has he ever even
had a holiday before?), rolling his eyes and saying he’s bailing, as Callen
begins to tell Kensi. What has changed?
Nothing - explicitly at least. Sam
bailed to visit his Katherine which is fair enough (he did not share this with
the team, but Callen is aware they’re dating).
Even trying to read between the lines, this is no reason why Sam should behave
as he did towards Callen.
Kensi is another character who
had a very unusual line which stood out. When exercising in the gym with
Fatima, she comments that they [Deeks] never change it up and she likes working out
with Fatima . Initially this comment related to
their exercises which in itself is odd as over the years Kensi and Deeks have
engaged in a wide variety of workouts.
She then continues to say that away from the action of their day job,
they are CPAs (certified public accountants) by night, meaning boring. It is
really not clear if this is a complaint or merely a passing comment? The couple seem as happy as ever even if Kensi
did leave a box in the hallway which caused Deeks to break his toe!
This of course meant that Deeks
was not in the field and instead had the run of the mission, spending most of
his time harassing Eric. Again, this was
amusing at first, trying to get Eric to open up about missing Nell who has
taken a leave of absence. The problem
was that Eric was coping very well and focused on his job. Deeks was relentless
in his task, disrupting Eric and being a little too much in his face. It was a
welcomed respite when Eric put Deeks in his place by asking about his broken
toe. When they eventually had an honest talk, Deeks was surprised to hear Eric
was actually envious that Nell may be leaving and revealed his own job offers. Deeks
has been voicing his thoughts on leaving NCIS and law enforcement on and off for
years now, does he really think no one else has similar thoughts, albeit for
different reasons? Once again the episode is reinforcing the potential for
change but there is nothing new. Eric has said these things before, Nell has only
temporarily left. Maybe this is purely to tie up loose ends in case the show is
not renewed for a twelfth season (note with steady viewing stats, it is
considered a safe bet for renewal).
The plot of Knock Down is a
non-starter. The DOJ asked the DOD to
ask NCIS to investigate after an FBI safe house is set on fire whilst hosting a
Venezuelan political activist seeking asylum in the US Hollywood thing? Rush
has clearly rushed back to work too soon and is not coping, unless she is
really inept. Adapting to motherhood would have been a great sub plot for Kensi
to latch on to; instead Rush is portrayed as ridiculous and incompetent. At
least the female fire chief demonstrated that a woman can actually be normal
and achieve a career (whether she has a family or not is unknown). She is strong, sarcastic and has Sam’s
number, much to Callen’s amusement. She
is also portrayed as extremely proficient.
Returning to character
curiosities and continuing with plot concerns, FBI Agent Rush’s boss breezes in
and assumes authority, spiriting the political activist away from under the
noses of Kensi and Fatima in the boatshed (they were distracted by a call). Would
an experienced agent really have allowed that to happen? At one point a subplot
about an FBI mole was touted by various characters, even considering the FBI
boss. This was conveniently forgotten
shortly after his exit. Likewise the arson angle, which Sam and Callen were pursuing
was brushed under the carpet as the fires had been set by a fire fighter from
the department sent to extinguish them. The plot was incohesive and overall there were
too many frustrations with the characters and plot for this to be considered a
good episode. If it is setting the seeds
for a rift in the partnership between Sam and Callen then whilst it may have
done that, it currently seems like Sam has received a bump on the head causing
a personality change. Hopefully, normal service will be resumed in the next
episode.