In the season 11 finale ‘Code of
Conduct’ the team investigated Petty Chief Officer Argento, whose fellow SEALs accused him of murdering an
injured and unconscious prisoner in Afghanistan. Kensi and Deeks persuaded the SEALs to sign
official statements, while Sam, Callen and Devin Rountree travelled to Afghanistan to locate
and arrest Argento. The episode was intense and dramatic with
constant reminders he has highly powerful connections that could be career
threatening for those who have taken him down. In other words, there would be
hefty repercussions for the NCIS team in LA.
‘War Crimes, is the conclusion to ‘Code of
Conduct’ and focuses on Argento’s court case.
Again the global pandemic is set aside with a peculiar mixture of social
distancing and close proximity. Sam
greets prosecution lawyer Marine Lieutenant Colonel Catro with a handshake, yet
later scenes between her and Callen observe the two metre rule. The main characters continue to be split with
Sam, Callen and Rountree in San Diego
in support of the court hearing. Fatima and Nell remain in mission, sharing a
few scenes together physically in Ops, and later with Fatima
in Ops and Nell on the big screen (she’s based herself in Hetty’s office). Kensi and Deeks are mostly in the field in LA
and sadly there is no scene where the entire team meet up.
The events which follow the team’s
missions are rarely followed through and ‘War Crimes’ offers the chance to view
this side of the their work. Initially there is no promise of action or drama as
Lt. Colonel Catro reports the SEALs are primed to give solid statements. Catro is an understated character; calm and
unflustered. The defence lawyer is
introduced as a powerful high flyer, an almost over the top stereotype. She is
dressed in red, boasts she has just flown in from New York and treats the case as a game she
intends to win. So far, she is the only potentially powerful person connected
to Argento. The groundwork is laid for
the court hearing to go smoothly, and of course it’s thrown up in the air when
the first witness, Special Warfare Operator First Class Kendricks, amid
flashbacks to the incident, testifies his sworn statement is a lie and that he committed
the atrocities. The second witness, Navy Petty Officer William Moffet, fails to
appear. From this point, the team both in LA and San Diego have a race against the judge’s deadline
of 14:00 to investigate why Kendricks changed his statement and to locate
Moffet. The rest is really just run of
the mill. The team locate Moffet and discover the reason why he disappeared and
why Kendricks changed his story - witness intimidation. There is nothing groundbreaking
in the way this unravels and it is done in a very pedestrian manner and with a lack
of urgency. For example Nell and Fatima talk generally about the case in Ops,
but there is no frantic panic when the deadline is looming fast. Kensi and
Deeks investigate a courier company, visiting them three times in order to
extract the required information.
Frank Military’s penned ‘Code of
Conduct’ was dark, intense and dramatic. This episode, written by Jordanna
Lewis Jaffe is light, slow and unremarkable. She has not built on the previous
tension and the repercussions threatened - the careers of the NCIS offers and
the existence of the LA team, due to Argento’s powerful allies - is ignored. His
lawyer is supposedly powerful but undermines herself with smart-ass comments in
front of the judge. Highly decorated retired Navy SEAL Parker Cole is the only
person of rank and is arrested, having arranged for couriers to pass messages
to Argento. This is most confusing as he is a new character barely introduced, who
speaks maybe one line. He is also the father of Navy Petty Officer Michael Cole,
who gave evidence against Argento and helped the team find Moffet, but was also
instrumental in threatening Moffet’s family.
No explanation or motivation is given as to why Parker senior was
involved, nor for the conflicting actions of Parker junior. Daddy-issues are mentioned but makes little
sense as none of the characters are fleshed out. The SEALs also have lost the toughness they
displayed in Afghanistan,
which could be attributed to their return to civilian life rather than living
in a war zone. Or it could be due to poor character development.
Episode writer Jaffe has a
penchant for creating oddball and ridiculously over- the-top-characters. She may have restrained herself somewhat
here, with the exception of the young man running the courier office who was
only slightly amusing and otherwise embarrassing. There were other, curious
scenes such as Fatima practicing yoga and meditation
in Ops, surrounded by candles. There was some comedic value in the scene, when Fatima comments she didn’t realise the candles were
scented and she now had a headache! More
concerning is how a new NCS Special Agent considers the use of multiple candles
with real flames set among the expensive and powerful electronic equipment, is acceptable.
Countering this are some good partner scenes, with Sam and Callen’s bromance
bracketed with Sam outside Callen’s home to pick him up/drop him off, and the
Kensi and Deeks scenes in the armoury.
Deeks has the line of the episode “without comedy there is only pain”. It is just unfortunate that comedy is very
subjective and personally, this mostly falls very flat.
The very nature of court dramas is
an emphasis on morals and characters, the search for truth. This marries up
with the values of NCIS: Los Angeles,
but the premise of the show is fast-paced cases, action and adventure. This was evident in last season’s finale, but
War Crimes fails to capitalise on this, making it a rather dull and extremely
unsatisfying conclusion. It is always
good to shake up the storytelling methods and mix in different genres and filmmaking
styles, however this attempt just failed.
A Virtual Scrawl
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