NCIS: Los Angeles – “Full Throttle” – review

Navy Yeoman James Rush is killed when his car explodes during an illegal street race, and a high-tech battery is pulled from the wreckage. The OSP team discovers Rush was working on a car battery that improved efficiency and never needed recharging but was unstable. Rush had decided to test the battery on his own. NCIS stays on the case when a second battery is confirmed missing.

Not being a car guy, I wasn’t much into this episode’s racing theme. I didn’t really care which of the suspects caused Rush’s death or stole the second battery–be it one of his racing rivals or a family member. That said, this was one of the best episodes yet in terms of cast chemistry and plot structure. Ironically, while the team worked a racing case, Callen had to complete two days of traffic school, having been caught on camera running a red light. This allowed Kensi, a car afficionado, to work the bulk of the case with Sam.

Callen’s scenes at the Fun For All comedy traffic school slowed the episode’s pace a bit, but they also allowed Chris O’Donnell’s comedic acting to come through in his facial expressions. Speaking of good acting, Dichen Lachman, who turned in one of the best performances on FOX’s Dollhouse as Sierra, here played Yeoman Rush’s lover, who posed as an insurance agent and as his main racing rival.

Also, though I wasn’t fully invested in the racing plot, I was surprised that Rush’s death was caused by his younger sister Angela (Scout Taylor-Compton), who only wanted him to stop racing and tragically did something to his car that reacted badly with the classified Naval battery. I found Compton’s breakdown and confession scene effective.

I’m encouraged to find many likable aspects in an episode where the main theme didn’t particularly interest me. This is a hopeful sign that soon, like the classic NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles will be more about watching the characters than the plots.