Three masked men invade the home of a drug dealer, kill two people, and steal a large sum of money. Reviewing the security cam footage, Sam identifies one of them as Holgate, a former SEAL he knows personally. Looking further into Holgate’s team, Sam and Callen discover one of the members—Ramirez—was recently killed by drug dealers, and another—Jackson—went missing on the same day.
This episode did a decent job of playing on my assumptions about the initial home invasion, gradually adding details that forced me to rethink. For instance, Sam and Callen bring in one of the SEALs for questioning, telling him that one of men killed in the invasion was an undercover cop. The SEAL says he and Holgate only invaded the house to back up Jackson, who after Ramirez’s murder, declared a personal war on drugs. The SEAL also says he wasn’t responsible for the undercover cop’s death, that the cop’s own partner shot him.
These nuances weren’t predictable, but I did feel Callen and his OSP teammates had access to too many gadgets with which they gathered intelligence and camera footage, making the resolution of the case less fun.
More team chemistry was revealed this episode with wide-eyed newbie Vale (Adam Jamal Craig) being hazed by Sam, intimidated by Kensi’s peeing in the car on a stakeout, and counseled by Hetty. Hetty also counseled Sam, who was personally offended and hurt by the SEALs’ behavior. She is believable, but so far seems like an odd mix of Ducky and Gibbs. I wonder what I’d think of her, and the rest of the team, if I had never seen the original NCIS. All characters deserve to be judged independently, but sometimes that’s impossible. Callen, meanwhile, pokes fun at his partnership with Sam with homoerotic humor typical of buddy cops. This, at least, is a dynamic not seen on NCIS.
This episode featured more office banter (which still feels forced this early in the season) and an interrogation room scene. While Callen/O’Donnell doesn’t have the frosty presence of Gibbs/Harmon, Sam Hanna is physically more intimidating than anyone on either show. Their partnership should make a good mix for the future.
In closing, NCIS: Los Angeles is still working out the kinks like any new show. I wonder if the premiere’s great ratings will hold up this week.
Well overall I am still less than impressed with this new spin off version of NCIS. While it does come off as as a decent cop drama / crime show,I still struggle to find the NCIS jurisdiction attachment.
For me as a former military veteran I’ll admit bias, and chuckle at certain misque’s or mistakes a decent military advisor could correct; however, even my girlfriend has made comments asking about plot devices, and accuracies.
Let’s look at tonight’s episode as result. And for the sake of arguement, we’ll not even dive into where, and what assets the Navy has in Los Angeles, but I guess NCIS: San Diego wouldn’t give us the beach scenes, or eye candy in bathing suits in the background….
OK back on topic: Holgate a former SEAL, now attached to the Fed’s in LA. Former as in non current, how is this a Naval issue? So gun men raid a known drug dealers house yet the LAPD, LA Sherrifs, FBI, DEA, ATF, umm.. any other organizations can’t find a jurisdictional reason to step up? Guess we haven’t cast the FBI Agent Fornell for LA yet : )
Major plot point: ( OK maybe a little ticky tack, but if this is your major plot attachment point. Then maybe put a second to ask if this plot point is correct. ) Sam ( LL ) Is able to ID Holgate from surveilance tapes because his military hand signals are unique…
Really??.. The SEALS will allow different hand signals, or different commanders will insitiute specific version of these hand signals to communicate to their team?
Come on, we all know the Military works due to it’s standarization. Having, or even implying the Military can use different ways to communicate said signals, and worse yet how they issue said commands are unique to a commander is silly.
The dead cop simply escalates the jurisdictional question, why does the LAPD simply not get involved in this investigation, and where is the District Attorney? Granted we have yet to get the director involved too much, still the entire investigation ( what there is ) is resolved by the active agents.
OK I know this is long winded, let me sum up, there is no investigation we fans of the original enjoyed, there is yet a deep character depth to get into, the accuracy is questionable, the realism is questionable, but it does deliver on action, and the occasional eye candy background fluff.