Parked overlooking a cliff, a couple’s car is rammed. The man goes out to check on the ramming driver and finds him bleeding badly from two gunshot wounds. Before the bleeding man can be saved, his car rolls off the cliff. The dead driver is identified as Navy Lt. Brian Roth, and the car is registered to missing socialite Aubrey Darva. With help from LAPD liaison Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen), the OSP team searches for Aubrey and for clues to Roth’s murder.
Going undercover to an exclusive nightclub, the team found Aubrey (Cherilyn Wilson) and rescued her from a break-in crew targeting homes of the rich. Aubrey told the team that she took Lt. Roth back to her house, and they had sex. He got up in the middle of the night, but she had no idea he’d been shot or had taken her car.
Roth’s murder turned out to be tied to someone he saw at the house, independent of the break-in crew. I like that the episodes have gotten more complex as we approach the end of the season. I did find Aubrey a bit too good to be true–a recovering drug addict, misunderstood but good-hearted. Maybe all partying socialites are this good at heart, but I think it’s more likely Aubrey was written to be a sympathetic character. I admit I ended up rooting for her.
Meanwhile, most of the team worked well with Deeks on his second case. Sam gave him a harder time than the others, still holding out hope of finding Agent Dominic Vail (Adam Jamal Craig). We also learned that Deeks didn’t have as much pull with the LAPD as the team was led to believe. In fact, most regular cops disliked the undercover Deeks. Hetty’s interest in him was more as a potential NCIS agent than as an LAPD liaison.
I would have liked to see Deeks continue to gel with the team, but thanks to TV listings, I knew next week’s episode would feature the return of Agent Vail. I wasn’t wholly surprised, then, when “Fame” ended with Deeks taking an extended undercover LAPD assignment.
Looking forward to next week, I hope Agent Vail’s ordeal gives him more of an edge. I’d like to see the show commit to either Vail or Deeks. Next week’s episode could either wrap up Vail’s storyline or let it hang over into the show’s future. I’m betting on the former, but we’ll have to watch to find out.
