Picking up from “Burned”, Callen, Kensi, and Sam enter Keelson’s secret warehouse. Callen spots a file box labeled “Callen, G.” just before Keelson’s computers are wiped and his warehouse is blown up. The last file Keelson was working on concerned someone named Amy Taylor. Looking into Taylor’s background, the team discovers her maiden name was Amy Callen.
Hetty pulled Callen off the case and sent Sam and Kensi to Amy’s apartment. Callen, of course, disobeyed Hetty and looked into how the warehouse explosion was triggered and who triggered it. This led Callen to a man named Browning, who worked with Keelson, but Browning had been tortured to death, and the CIA was on the scene.
With some prodding from Hetty, CIA agent Trent Kort (David Dayan Fisher) told the team he had followed the trail of Karim Akbari (Eli Danker) to Browning. Akbari was a former member of the Iranian secret police, looking for a stash of money missing since 1979, when the Iranian shah was killed. For much of the episode, it was unclear why Akbari was after Amy Taylor specifically.
As I mentioned in my review of “Burned”, I’m not interested in Callen’s shrouded past, which was the driving force behind this season’s finale. Still, I can objectively say, without spoilers, Amy Taylor’s whereabouts were well hidden and the secrets she revealed were well timed for dramatic effect.
After Callen had been sent home for the day, Nate revealed to Hetty that he believed one person had kept track of all of Callen’s foster homes over the years. That same person was still watching Callen today. So I suppose Callen’s family history will be one of the show’s running themes. In its first season, I think NCIS: Los Angeles, like the Callen character, found some of its identity. However, I’m still not sure I would watch it without the original NCIS as its lead-in.
