NCIS: Los Angeles S13E05 Review

 

Divided We Fall tells the rare story of the team failing catastrophically in their mission. Failure is not an outcome associated with the NCIS Office of Special Projects which makes this episode all the more interesting. There are plenty of occasions where missions go sideways - it's that unpredictability and intensity which often keeps the interest, however the outcome is usually positive. After all they rescued Mosley's son, even though all bar Kensi nearly lost their lives in the process. The team is not perfect and not infallible so to actually see them fail and the after effects of that failure, is a novelty. 

The episode begins with Callen and Sam approaching a woman (Laura Song) and urgently requesting she accompanies them to a safe house as she may be compromised. Meanwhile Kensi and Deeks pick up Laura's teenager daughter Lily and bring her to the boatshed, while Fatima and Rountree set up in the safe house to undertake surveillance. When Callen states that Kilbride will arrive in an hour, Laura's replies that until then, her life is in their hands.

"One hour later" and Kilbride walks in to a disaster zone. Laura is dead and Callen and Sam are sitting against the wall looking battered.  

The remainder of the episode takes place after another time jump. The team have been separated for 36 hours and are interviewed by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) Inspector General Akhil Ali. This allows the team to fill in the events of that crucial hour from their own perspective, with each member overlapping with the former to provide a full narrative.  These interviews/flashbacks allow Laura to be developed as a rounded character and for empathy to be built as she engages with Sam and Callen on a personal level. She’s a mother who believes her daughter is better off without her, she was drawn into the world of espionage by Kilbride at the age of 17 and knows Hetty. She is strong, confident and defiant, adamant that even though she acknowledges every spy has their expiry date, she repeatedly ask for a gun, refuses to die while locked away in the panic room and selflessly sacrifices herself to save Fatima.  Her actions and words indicate that she'd rather fight for her freedom that be locked in and trapped, even if a few of her actions are odd with this - until Kilbride tells his tale... He concocted the story that Laura's cover was blown so he could (via the team)  secure her for interview to see if she had been turned by the Chinese and was now a double agent.  He found his answer when he saw her walking into the lobby with the ‘bad guys’, chastising them for failing to take out four agents. Kilbride confronts and kills her. 

This knowledge allows the episode to be seen in a different light upon a second viewing. Deeks states that Kilbride has many layers like an onion (and each one will make you cry), which is an apt reflection of Divided We Fall (although maybe not the crying element). This is an intricately constructed and multilayered case.  The one on one conversations Laura had with Callen and Sam now take on a different meaning. She knows Hetty and it can be implied she knows of her orphans and by extension, about Callen. By asking how long he’s known Hetty and relating that to her own story of being dragged into the game so young, she has aligned herself with him.  With Sam she speaks about her teenage daughter and the pair talk about parenting. She struggles with the mother/daughter relationship, believing Lily is better off without her and asks about Sam's daughter’s relationship with her mother. Did she know in advance that Sam’s wife was killed? 

Kilbride admitted to ONI Ali that Laura is the best operative he’s ever known and he kept the real reason away from the team for fear she would see through their charade. Laura Song now becomes a highly manipulative double agent, playing two experienced agents who had little chance of seeing through her facade, thanks to Kilbride.  The other takeaway here is Kilbride’s lack of trust - he clearly has no faith in the team. He acknowledges they are good but not the best (although he tells Lily they are the best, with Deeks naively believing him until Kensi bursts his bubble).  It almost picking up where Hetty left off in terms of manipulation and secret keeping, even picking Laura for a life of spy craft during her teenage years. Perhaps this explains his comments to Callen in the season opener (Subject 17), and in last season’s finale. 

The interviews reveal how events unfolded but also show how the agents perform their jobs. Sam and Callen are the epitome of professional, dedicated to protecting Laura. They repeatedly refuse her request for a gun, providing the ONI Inspector Ali with legitimate reasons for their decisions. When Ali challenges the only discrepancy in Sam and Callen’s story (whether Laura was drinking scotch or bourbon), Sam quite rightly questions if it really matters? It’s the newer and younger agents who’s behaviour during their surveillance is surprising. These scenes typically make personal conversations easy whilst maintaining observations, yet Rountree and Fatima spent most of their time NOT looking at the monitors. Instead they were on their cells and playing a magnet game. Thankfully these actions had no impact on events and they acted as expected when they temporarily rescued Laura.  With Fatima shot in the leg, Laura insists the agent reaches safety first, then closes the elevator hatch. This seemingly selfless act kept the agents safe and gives the appearance of her capture and death (a gunshot is heard shortly after). If  Sam or Callen had been injured and in the elevator, they would have insisted Laura was hauled through the hatch. Certainly Callen left Sam to fight off the attack while he moved Laura to safety,  although Sam did question why Callen abandoned him...(which was out of character).

Kensi and Deeks’ situation was much less intense, taking Lily to the boatshed to keep her safe, thus allowing for a touch of lightness and humour at times.  Again there is a personal element which builds empathy between Lily and the agents. She reveals her dad died when she was 11, something to which Kensi can relate. It is Deeks and his knack of understanding deep human emotions who suspects something is hinky. He tried to call Sam to say that Laura continued to be an operative after her dad died in a car crash.  Laura lost it when husband died but when she returned to work (to her cover job as an art dealer, in actuality as a spy),she became better. The scene cuts to Deeks’ interview and his heartfelt speech where he opened up on his thoughts of dying in line of duty and how people deal with trauma differently. If Kensi died, he didn’t think he could remain operational and raise an 11 year old. It made him question why Laura chose to do just that, enough to make him try and call Sam. 

Kilbride is indirectly responsible. It was his idea to withhold information from the agents and to lie about securing her in a safe house as her cover may be blown.  His plot inadvertently put the agents in danger, although he had no foresight that Laura’s allies would breach and rescue her. The Chinese extraction team were tipped off as they found sustained breach of the ONI safe house security systems and knew as soon as Laura walked through the door. Kilbride may not trust the team or have faith in their abilities but at least he tells ONI Inspector Ali that the report he writes will exonerate the team. The agents accept and admit responsibility for their failure and Laura’s death, and Kilbride witnesses their utter dejection when he calls them to ops for another case and they trudge up the stairs. When he pauses by the door to his office, observing them, he contemplates but still does not take the opportunity to reveal the truth.  The closing scene shows the final piece of the puzzle, which Kilbride withheld from Ali.  In Laura’s dying moments, she reveals that she’s the one who actually manipulated him since she was 17. She chose him as the perfect mark, a broken family man looking for a second chance. His killing her has some parallels to Hetty killing Akhos, as to a certain extent, both were parent figures, and Kilbride clearly thought of her with affection, having her photo in his portfolio case. This image of Kilbride as broken contrasts with the jovial comments Deeks and Kensi make at the start, about Kilbride having a son and what he would be like as a father, and recalls earlier episodes where he share with Sam that he has an estranged son.

The in-depth characterisation of the episode’s guests serve to engage the viewer and to build empathy, mostly though the connections and parallels made between Laura and the agents. The ONI inspector flirts with Fatima and clearly has a crush on her from her acting days, and deeply respecting her religious devotion.  He is given a trait of touching his tie when he’s nervous, an action he repeats numerous times throughout the various interviews. The familiarity between Fatima and Rountree now sees Fatima calling him ‘Tree’ and it is details such as these which help make this episode special.  It is dramatic and intense through the interweaving of the interrogation and action, mixing past and present. The understated acting and direction lends a seriousness and severity to the operation which only emphasises the feeling of helplessness and dejection the team feel afterwards.  Overall, the different style of storytelling adopted by writer Andrew Bartels and visualised by director Terence Nightingall, elevates this to not only the best so far in season 13, but one of the best episodes in the series to date.

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NCIS: Los Angeles S13E03 Review [Indentured]

 

There is always something more engaging about an episode which opens in the middle of a case, particularly if the team are involved. "Indentured" sees a group of ATF agents embroiled in a heavy gunfight they are losing, their lead agent calling over the airwaves for help from any law enforcement officers who may be nearby. Sam and Callen hear and their response is all the more serious as they clearly know each other. Unfortunately, the bad guys overwhelm the ATF, and without mercy, the lead agent is shot dead. Sam and Callen arrive at the warehouse too late. Their involvement in the case was to support ATF in taking down a white supremacist arms dealer, but the inside man was made before this could occur, and so the case is taken over by NCIS. The killer, Lukas Meyer is known and the investigation is to find Meyer and stop the weapons sale.  This opening is reminiscent of S09E23, “A Line in the Sand” where the NCIS team were under heavy fire and coincidentally, both episodes are written by Frank Military.

 

As is mostly the case with episodes penned by Military, there is intense drama, a focus on character and a darkness which creeps around the edges.  Military was also responsible creating and playing last season’s villain Kessler (S12E05, “Raising the Dead” and so this episode is the perfect place for the threat of Kessler to resurface.  Kessler’s girlfriend’s decomposed body has been identified after washing up on the Florida shoreline back in July, The exchange between Kensi and Deeks in the bullpen clearly shows the latter moving into attack mode. He will not allow Kessler to get near to Kensi and that is by any method necessary. Kensi realises this and her facial expression is full of concern. She knows Deeks killed his former partner at LAPD for abusing a teenage prostitute, Tiffany. Deeks also tortured a cleric in S05E19 “Spoils of War” after Kensi disappears and is held captive in Afghanistan (also written by Military). Deeks has a dark side when it comes to women being threatened and abused by men...

 

There is much going on in this episode which takes the team in several directions simultaneously, maintaining interest and creating layers within the narrative. Kilbride takes Sam as a partner, dropping Callen out of the picture as he’s not former military, as Kilbride wants the trust of Ret. US Army General Collins, who was due to buy hundreds of AK47s from Meyer and has connections with a right wing militia group. He also wants to ensure that if Collins is innocent, that he can continue to run for senator without a blemish to his character, thus protecting the integrity of the election process. Callen teams up with Rountree whilst Kensi and Fatima go undercover at a rehab centre, to gain the trust of Meyer’s girlfriend Mia. Deeks tails Collins although how he can remain inconspicuous when driving a bright red truck is a mystery.  Maybe the bad guys are colour blind? There is also the revelation that Kilbride has a personal connection with Collins, leading to the team mistrusting Kilbride, and causing confrontations between Sam and Kilbride.  The theme of trust is part of the overarching framework of the show (usually with Callen), and it makes a pleasant change that Sam is at the forefront this time, and for someone other than Callen to butt heads with someone in a position of higher authority.  

 

The issue of trust runs both ways and in a twist it turns out that Kilbride is another one who does not trust easily. When the team arrive to storm the warehouse, ATF are already in position, and Kilbride walks out with Collins in handcuffs.  Trust has to be earned and it is in short supply between Kilbride and the agents. In a scene more familiar between Callen, Sam and Hetty, Kilbride engages with the partners by offering them a single malt to discuss that very topic. In answer to Callen’s questions, he hasn’t heard from Hetty and doesn’t know if she’s safe. He also reveals that he is now running the Office of Special Projects. It is unknown if this is temporary or permanent, or what role Hetty will have if she ever returns.

 

It has been a very long time since the Office of Special Projects, a team which (used) to specialise in undercover operations, actually went undercover. It’s an element which has been sorely missed and makes an impressive comeback. Deeks has fun with Kensi, creating a shared back story although there is a missing (cut) scene as Fatima’s involvement comes out of the blue. Fatima’s role undercover is to set up Kensi to gain Mia’s trust and the two women enjoy a fight scene, after Kensi finds Fatima bullying Mia.  It is also a reminder of how the team can fake such scenes, with the blood pouring from Fatima’s head coming from a red sponge squeezed against her forehead. It can also be implied that she surreptitiously spat back the liquor she swigged from the bottle swiped from Mia. The visual manipulation of Mia is matched by the psychological. Mia opens up to Kensi about how abusive and controlling Lukas Meyer is and Kensi offers to solve her problems by killing Meyer. A little later Kensi’s alias tears up, explaining how she killed the boyfriend who raped her. Unfortunately, Mia develops a strong liking for Kensi’s alias and feeds her a false address for Meyer, who later turns up dead from an oxycodone overdose, Mia’s drug of choice.

The story then moves on to one of moral ambiguity, covered by Deeks and Kensi at work and later at home in bed. Deeks is the voice of conscience, asking Kensi if she thinks she gave Mia the idea and the courage to kill Meyer. At this point he sounds a little accusatory which is ironic given his past actions. Mia later sends a video message to Kensi’s undercover cell phone which the couple watch in bed. Again Deeks offers Kensi the chance to pursue Mia, however she decides to wait until morning before calling in the lead.  Kensi is at peace with her decision which means Deeks is too, and the episode closes with saying ‘sweet dreams, my little velociraptor’. The screen turns black and there is a gentle baby dinosaur growl.

 

Daniela Ruah (Kensi) absolutely owns this episode with her undercover performance.  She was extremely convincing and manipulating - for the greater good. Undercover operations have been in short supply for the last three or four seasons, with characters maybe assuming a role for a minute or so. Hopefully this is the start of a return to how the team used to work missions. The use of slow motion captures the horror of the gunfight, and is utilised towards the end when Kilbride walks with Collins in cuffs, emphasising which side Kilbride is on. It has sometimes been used ineffectively, for too long a gun battle sequence, but the direction here is spot on. Overall this was a thoroughly enjoyable episode and season 13 is definitely off to a solid start.

NCIS: Los Angeles S08E24 Review

Last week’s ‘Uncaged’ was a beast of an episode.  It brutally demonstrated the dark side of NCIS and how far the super-villains or a character’s nemesis will go to exact revenge.  Sam watched his wife suffocate and cradled her dead body in his arms.  It is somewhat of a relief that the blackness of ‘Uncaged’ is not repeated in the closing part of the season finale.  Morning has dawned at the crime scene and the tone has also altered.  The frantic search for Michelle is over and ‘Unleashed’ follows the aftermath with Sam single-minded in his desire for revenge and arch-nemesis Tahir Khaled is ready to unleash the second phase of his horror. 

The change of tone is reflective not only of the new day and a new focus for Sam, but also that previous episode writer Frank Military has handed the reigns to showrunner Scott Gemmill.  His pedigree for this episode stems from writing the likes of Dom’s death in season one and Callen’s ultimate rogue escapade ‘Active Measures’ in season seven.  He can write the dark and intense episodes but also has a lighter touch and even here manages to inject a little humour and romance that in no way detracts from the seriousness of the narrative.

It is not surprising and very predictable that Sam goes rogue in order to find and kill Khaled and certainly understandable.  It is the only reason for Sam to act in that way as opposed to Callen, who goes rogue as soon as he gets a lead or loses a lead on his mysterious past.  When examined in more detail, Sam ditched Callen and then called on CIA agent Sabatino to become his temporary and expendable partner.  Sam is still protecting those he loves by his desire to eliminate the threat to his family and thereby take his revenge but he is also ensuring they are kept at a distance.  He will only comfort his children once Khaled is dead and even though Callen is willing to sacrifice his own career to help Sam, it is an offer he refuses.  The real Sam Hanna is still there - he may have gone off the books but he has not gone lone wolf.  Even in the midst of his anger he is still a team player for the most part.  He also ditches second partner Sabatino and that was again to protect him.  Sam leaves him handcuffed to a bin and when he walks away he says that only he [Sam] is expendable.  This doesn’t sit comfortably with Sam’s character, even in the height of grief and anger.  If Sam dies in his pursuit of revenge, he will leave his children orphaned.  Sensible Sam does return when the team convince him to accept their offer of help, his conversation with Callen, surrounded by Kensi, Deeks and Nell nailing home the point that they are all family.

                Sam:      Tell me where he is.

                Callen:  Not unless you promise to do this with me.

                Sam:      It's not about you.

                Callen:  If it's about you, it's about me and everyone else on this team.

The episode is about Sam, but it is also about everyone else, how they are affected.  Callen is trying to control his anger and emotions to stay strong for Sam.  He is uncharacteristically forceful with Kensi and Deeks after their raid of an office building when they disobeying his orders to wait for back up; in the same scene raising his voice and ordering them to remove evidence that was meant for Sam to see.  Kensi has become overly cautious in a vain attempt to protect Deeks.  Deeks has raised his game now the stakes are high and is very serious and decisive, trying to think how Sam would behave.  Nell seems lost, not knowing how she should be reacting emotionally and is almost projecting on to Kensi that she really needs a hug.  Early on she asks Kensi when they are allowed to cry.  Eric struggles to find clues amongst his technologically advanced toys in Ops.

The role reversal of stalwart Sam turning rogue is not lost on Callen, who calls him on it in a voicemail.

                    Callen:       I do realize the irony of me telling you to drop the lone wolf crap.

Sam may be unleashed yet for the most part he remains in control of his emotions. He has a plan to use Sabatino and CIA intelligence.  The moves he makes are calm and he remains focused.  Again, a rogue / lone wolf Sam is very different to a rogue / lone wolf Callen, which is underlined by Hetty and Nell’s conversation in her office. Hetty is resigned to the fact Sam behaving as she would expect, and does not order the team to stop him, just to find him.

Khaled is playing a dangerous game with Sam, taunting him by stealing his wife’s body and placing photos of her in an office for him to find.  He is depraved and obsessed to an extent that none of the team can predict.  As before in season six, he is goading Sam in to losing his self control and luckily it doesn’t work.  Khaled believes Sam is in hiding when he is really hunting.  The rest of the team find the photos and Callen is shot after ordering Kensi and Deeks to remove them.  This scene and the following one in the ambulance seem a little odd.  Why was Callen shot when he was not the one taking down the pictures and Kensi and Deeks were also in the room prior to his arrival.  Was that because Khaled and his crew know Callen and his connection to Sam?  Although he is shot in his Kevlar vest and is in pain, he is conscious yet the next scene he is in an ambulance with Nell and wearing an oxygen mask, almost as though they were faking the seriousness of the gunshot.  This was not the case and the pair joke with straight faces, that Callen’s been shot for real - five times.

There are a few other humorous moments; in the same scene Nell advises the paramedic that she’s ‘dewormed’ Callen (presumably by digging the slug out of his vest).  Sam tells Callen not to change the radio station in the Challenger just before he ditches him.  Kensi comments that men are stupid that way, when Deeks questions why Sam would go off on his own.  With Deeks dressed in a Jesus robe, he is the passenger when Nell yells out ‘Jesus is my co-pilot’ whilst driving.  And in two unconnected scenes, both Deeks and Sam correct Khaled, informing him that Sam Hanna is two words, not Samhanna as he likes to say.  The smattering of humour lightens the episode and shows there is hope out of the darkness of Michelle’s murder.

Even at the episode’s end the characters are still trying to process their emotions.  Nell once again approaches Kensi in the same manner as at the start.  Her words about not imagining losing someone that close two you is the immediate trigger that Kensi will propose to Deeks.  Since her recovery, Deeks has been waiting for the perfect time to propose and he still hasn’t found the right moment or setting.  Despite his protests that the guy should propose, Deeks responds to Kensi’s serious speech with a joke.  The natural reaction from Kensi begs the question as to whether his line was improvised but regardless, Kensi has continued to be bold in their relationship.  In the heartfelt and impetuous moment that is typical Kensi, she uses the ring of a flash bang amid the debris of the exploded tour bus.  Life is too short and they don’t know how much time they will have together. Michelle’s death has led to a positive life affirming action.

It is quite right that the final scene switches back to Sam and Callen in the morgue.  To underline that this is all about Sam regardless of Callen’s emotions, Sam is at the forefront with his wife as Callen remains in the background.  He will take time off to spend with his kids and asks Callen to take care of Hetty and the team.  The song that played in the background of the proposal ‘Forever Starts Today’, takes on a different meaning as it’s played again.  Sam’s life will never be the same. Let’s just hope it doesn’t change him too much.

The season nine finale has been one roller coaster of emotions, with the concluding part naturally took on a different feel.  There was less desperation and more action, less darkness and a glimmer of hope.  The acting from all was superb (although in a few places Nell’s restrained grief seemed to be a little over-acted).  There are still loose ends which may or may not be tied up at some point in the future, regarding the mole and how Khaled obtained his information.  Sam clearly trusts Sabatino to a certain extent and Sabatino’s actions do seem to suggest he was not fully briefed in the CIA’s operation that targeted NCISLA team.  Season eight concludes with the end of the Khaled storyline.  Season nine has no cliff-hanger with which to open and a fresh plots can be introduced and developed.

What did you think of the concluding episode of the season finale? 

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NCIS: Los Angeles S08E23 Review

An episode written by Frank Military is characterised by dark, in-depth character stories that are worth numerous rewatches. In S2 Little Angels, a girl was buried alive, causing Sam to relive the time he was buried alive during a SEAL mission. In S3 The Job, he blew up Kensi and introduced Callen's nemesis Janvier in Crimeleon. He tortured both Sam and Deeks in the Sidorov / nuclear arms deal arc and in S5, had Deeks visit his dark side when he waterboarded an Afghan cleric to find Kensi.  In S6 he sent Callen undercover with white supremacists and touched on Callen's self destructive youth, and in S7 almost had Kensi sexually assaulted and blew up a child suicide bomber. Frank Military penned episodes take the audience to places where they feel uncomfortable; the lighthearted core of the show is called in to question and so his reality hits hard; life as an agent is not all sunshine and laughter.  It is not only the bad guys who die. 

NICSLA has not killed a noteworthy recurring character for a while; they do not do so wantonly.  Dom, Renko and Hunter have all been lost to the greater good of the narrative and the decision to kill Michelle Hanna, Sam’s wife and coping mechanism, would not have been taken lightly.  It would be very foolish of the show to kill one of the main cast when they have such chemistry and so they have turned to the periphery cast.  There are only a few such characters that would have any impact; Arkady (already done, sort of), Anna (which would really only affect Callen), and Michelle. 

Sam has been prominent all season yet has only had the odd episode taking centre stage.  He has continued to be Callen’s anchor in the face of his huge family revelations (although whether his errant partner always listens..?).  He supported Deeks during Kensi’s turbulent recovery, imparted words of wisdom to Eric and given Anna Kolchek advice on her father and Callen.  He is the wise and sensible older brother of the team, grounded with a secure upbringing and a loving family of his own.  He is a constantly stable presence for the team and has been since the very first episode.  And that is what makes Uncaged even more heartbreaking.  It rips the heart and soul out of not only Sam, but the entire team.

The episode is set up with a demonstration of how in love Sam and Michelle are.  They exercise together, joke with each other and talk about their future.  A normal family portrait is painted with the two of them and daughter Kamran in the kitchen, the first day mother and daughter have returned home from the safe house (after the mole’s threats).  At one point Michelle tells Callen to take care of Sam, to which he replies he always does; a line which is repeated later in a very different context.  The focus on the normality of family life and their relationship makes the coming events even more brutal. 

Rather than a random kidnapping and death, Military has cleverly pulled on threads from earlier episodes and seasons, yet not fully tying them together. Michelle is called to a federal prison as Zirov (cohort of S4 Russian arms dealer Sidorov) has information to pass on, that he will divulge to her alone.  Tahir Kaled returns, having been transferred to the same prison as Zirov.  In an effort to prove he had nothing to do with targeting the NCIS LA team in the mole debacle, FBI Agent Sabatino makes an appearance to help Sam find his wife,. Crucially though, all of this happens on the very day Michelle finally leaves the safe house.  Is there another mole?  Is Sabatino still playing the team?  Is Joelle aka Beth connected to these events?  And how is Kaled obtaining his classified intel?

Michelle is taken early in the episode and is on screen throughout via a video feed.  Kaled’s crew has permitted Michelle to communicate with Sam and the team; he has allowed them to watch her suffocate to death.  It also means Michelle unwittingly feeds false information about how long the van drove for, throwing the investigation off kilter before it really starts.  But more importantly the open communication channels allow her and Sam to have those goodbye conversations no couple ever wishes to have.

During these conversations the rest of the team are desperately for any lead possible.  The tension is built at a frantic rate as Kensi and Deeks search for nearby cameras.  Hetty negotiates Kaled’s release in exchange for Michelle, with Sec Nav’s caveat that he’s kept under surveillance, which Callen runs. Hetty and Nell later risk their jobs, advising support agents that Sec Nav authorised them to let Kaled go, when he’s lost to an unforeseen ploy.  The team have no leads and realise at the eleventh hour the van never left Sam’s neighbourhood.  The intensity of Kensi and Deeks’ return search of a former pharmaceutical storage building is gut-wrenching.  They were so sure they were in the right place, and as they leave the camera transitions through a false wall to a large room with a single refrigeration unit at its centre. 

The real tear jerker comes when Sam realises his wife is not unconscious, but has stopped breathing.  Kensi and Deeks are embroiled in a gun fight and only by chance find the storage fridge.  The camera cuts to Sam and Callen driving to their location.  The desperation with Kensi and Deeks’ rush towards Michelle is countered by a lack of urgency to Sam’s driving; he knows.  When they arrive at the scene, surrounded by ambulances, Sam does not frantically run to find his wife.  He walks past the paramedics and everyone parts to allow him through.  Very few words are spoken and the rawness of emotion is felt from the extras through to Sam’s fellow agents and the use of the soundtrack.

The hype surrounding this episode meant there was a high level of fan realisation that Michelle would die.  Yet the manner of her death, the surrounding storyline and the acting, particularly from LL Cool J could not have been predicted.  It really was a tear jerker, and not just the odd tear trickling down the cheek.  This was full on.  The only questionable antics were initial confusions over Zirov (pronounced by the characters as ‘Sharov’, who was last seen as a dead body, having been killed in Hetty’s bomb blast during the mole hunt), and the slightly predictable ploy that the van was always close by...

The season finale next week is entitled Unleashed, clearly a reference to Sam who will go rogue to exact his revenge on Kaled.  But what after that?  Showrunner Scott Gemmill has said season nine will be something of a reset, so how will this change Sam in the future? By taking away a core element of Sam’s being, he will become destabilised and have to work his way through to find a new equilibrium.  During that journey he might become more reckless which would mean a change in the dynamics of his partnership with Callen. He may also stop feeling, bury his emotions and remain numb in an altogether different way to how Callen builds his internal defences.  Kensi and Deeks could question their shared profession and future.  More likely it will make them realise they need to live for the day, and Deeks may realise that a proposal of marriage need not wait for the perfect sunset over a southern Californian beach. 

The best episodes are those which affect the characters personally and Frank Military has demonstrated time and time again this is the case.  The episodes he writes and directs tend to be the darkest, affecting both characters and the audience, and pulling the best performances out of the actors.  This is by far the best performance from LL Cool J, and by far the best episode of the show to date.

What did you think of this episode?  Did you feel the tension and share this horrendously emotional journey with Sam?  Do you think Frank Military should write more than two episodes a season (maybe turning his hand to black comedy, to lighten up the darkness)?  Please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts on this traumatic episode.

NCIS Los Angeles Review S07E17

Several episodes in season seven have set the foundations for the return of Tahir Khaled, warlord brother of Jada, whom Sam romantically befriended in season three.  Sam tricked her into leaving her home land, and destroyed her dreams when he abandoned her upon arrival to the US; Jada had to testify against Tahir or return home, where her brother would kill her.  In ‘The Long Goodbye’, Jada managed to escape witness protection and returned home, leaving the storyline open for her brother to finally seek revenge upon Sam, hence the title ‘Revenge Deferred’.

Sam and Callen are flown into a destroyed renegade army camp in Eritrea, Africa, where only Sam is initially privy to a tent full of surveillance photos of his family; it seems there is a new mole at NCIS.  The photos are less than a year old and none of the Agencies are willing to share information with the Office of Special Projects.  Of course Sam involves the team, and his family are immediately placed in a safe house - so safe that even Hetty doesn’t know the location.  The army camp had belonged to elusive resistance army leader Thomas Karume, and back in LA, with the help of War Crimes Tribunal investigator Alex Elmslie, the team connect Karume to Tahir Khaled.  Meanwhile, back in Eritrean, Sam and Callen disobey Hetty’s orders and search for Tahir, and then Jada.

Protection of Sam’s family is crucial and as always, the team steadfastly stand together when one of their own is in danger.  Hetty even gives voice to this by stating to Sam that his family are the NCIS team’s family too.  The subject of family is absorbed in to the larger topic of boundaries.  Within the remit of field work is the unspoken question of how far Sam took his undercover mission with Jada.  Tahir even attempts to antagonise Sam by stating he does not love his wife as much as he does Jada.  Sam is an honourable man, and although he clearly has strong feelings for Jada, it was implied in season three that he never acted on them.  Boundaries of authority are pushed when he (and Callen) disobey Hetty to search for Jada after Granger (disobeying Hetty’s wishes) sends Sam a recent photo containing GPS coordinates.  But Sam does seem to struggle with his feelings when Jada reveals she was rescued from her brother by her now fiancé, and they share a tender moment to say farewell.  This version of Jada is a far cry from the tired, angry and defiant woman who fled the US to return to her brother - and Jada now says she was returning to her fiancé all along.  Unfortunately this seems to contradict The Long Goodbye, eight episodes ago.

Torture was also high on the agenda, with Sam intent on securing the information on who at NCIS leaked the information on his family to Tahir.  Sam has always been portrayed as a moral and honest character, so it was interesting to see where the writers would take him and how his partner would react.  Sam asks Callen to leave him alone with Tahir and Callen acquiesces, even going so far to say that whatever Sam does, will stay between them.  Bearing in mind Callen’s dispensation to premeditated violence (in season two’s Lange. H, he coldly told the team his plan was to “kill them all”, it is not surprising that he is sanctioning torture.

Any scenes which refer to torture are compared to the benchmark set by Deeks in season five’s Spoils of War, whose actions were impulsive and emotionally driven.  Sam too is emotionally driven but his torture is planned.  He deliberately ties Tahir to a chair in the same basement where Tahir had once interrogated him.  Throughout the torture scenes, Tahir taunts Sam that he is American and conditioned not to carry out his threats.  The power struggle continues and even when Sam has Tahir tiptoeing on a chair with a noose around his neck, he still says he is not afraid.  Sam’s calm behaviour and admission that he has self control and is a trained SEAL, is a psychological game which Callen interrupts; but on the face of it, Sam has lost the power battle with Tahir.

The team in LA are extremely focused on the case, with Nell and Eric safely finding and analysing information from Ops.  Kensi and Deeks investigate intelligently, liaising with Elmslie and the CIA, and playing hard ball with an asset/suspect  - they were back to being partners rather than lovers.  There was one reality check for the couple when Kensi responded to Deeks’ comment that the job does not allow the white picket fence lifestyle, that at least they have each other to come home to.  This is an important affirmation of how far both characters have progressed in their commitment to each other and their ability to communicate.

The mole story arc has suddenly returned with a vengeance, having been mentioned in odd episodes during the season.  It is now common knowledge that there’s a leak within the NCIS Office of Special Projects.  No agencies will release information to them and even the African Army Colonel in Eritrean is aware of the issue.  This suggests the thread will be picked up within the next few episodes and it would be refreshing to see a known character as the traitor, rather than a random member of staff, never seen before, as in last season’s Traitor.

There is an interesting dynamic this week between Hetty and Granger.  Their scenes are always intriguing, often with the overtone of a power struggle.  There is more than a hint of a rich back story that has not yet been told, with Hetty’s line that they have never stopped lying to each other, adds fuel to that fire.  Both characters are now seeking to protect the team albeit in differing ways.  Hetty wants to bring Sam home to remove him from the temptation of interrogating Tahir and possibly his feelings for Jada.  Granger stated that Hetty underestimates Sam’s obligations to Jada, unspoken obligations caused by guilt and confusion over his feelings.  Granger deliberately sent Sam the photo so he would find Jada and not have regrets, sounding like a lesson he has learned the hard way.

Although this is a powerful and thoughtful episode, it does have the misfortune of following last week’s Matryoshka Part 2, where Chris O’Donnell gave an emotionally charged performance.  This makes it more noticeable that LL Cool J does not have the same range and his scenes with Jada do not have the desired emotional impact; his strengths lie in the action and buddy scenes.  On the plus side, it was great to see the roles of Sam and Callen reversed.  On countless occasions Sam backed his errant partner, usually without voicing the concerns he clearly harbours.  This time it is Callen’s turn to support Sam unconditionally.

The investigation from LA was fairly complex with duplicitous charities and money trails and at times was difficult to follow.  By comparison the capture of Tahir Khaled in Africa was extremely easy.  In the final scenes, Sam and Callen return to Tahir’s farm to find it attacked and Tahir missing and before that , Jada warned Sam that her brother’s obsessed with Sam.  Tahir has deferred his revenge for four seasons, and will again be taking a breather before returning and attempting to finish the job (maybe in the season finale)?

What did you think of the episode?

A Virtual Scrawl