NCIS: Los Angeles – “Familia” – review

Callen and the team search for Hetty, who abruptly resigned and went on a personal mission in the first half of the two-part season finale.

As was previewed, Hetty’s mission had something to do with Callen, but Vance and new operations manager Lauren Hunter (Claire Forlani) gave him the runaround for half this episode. They did finally level with Callen, telling him the Romanian crime family Comescu wanted him dead, believing he was the last member of a rival family. This revelation would have been much more powerful if it hadn’t been shown in previews.

Vance and Hunter refused to let Callen go on the official mission to find Hetty, so Callen resigned and went anyway. Sam and Kensi resigned to go with Callen, and Deeks said he would resign, too, if he could. I appreciated the moment as a show of solidarity with Callen, but the mass resignation also hinted that everyone would be welcomed back next season, including Hetty.

Hetty’s mission was to make the Comescu family believe Callen was dead so they would stop hunting him. To do this, she brought along a death certificate and showed the head of the Comescu family a tattoo identifying Hetty as one of the Comescus.

Meanwhile, as Callen and the team closed in on Hetty, Callen began to have flashbacks of his childhood. I’m not sure about the full meaning of these flashbacks yet. I’ve never been a fan of Callen’s secret past. The sooner it is revealed, the sooner the show can move on.