NCIS: LOS ANGELES Looks Into a Cyber Threat

Software CEO Dennis Calder (Jordan Belfi) is kidnapped after a fundraising event. NCIS investigates as Calder had been under surveillance by the NSA and was days away from being questioned over a recent cyber attack on the Department of Defense.

“Cyber Threat” took place three months after the events of last week’s premiere. NCIS: Los Angeles hasn’t made the best use of time trickery, such as framing last week’s episode in real time but including plenty of exposition to slow things down. In this week’s episode, most of the team had come to accept Lauren Hunter (Claire Forlani)’s authority, but Callen still believed she was withholding information about his past. Meanwhile, Hetty did not appear for most of the episode, but had survived last week’s gunshot, and was recuperating at home.

The Calder case was reminiscent of previous plots against national security. NCIS’s investigation brought up several good possibilities behind the kidnapping. A couple of old college friends were threatening to sue Calder for stealing their ideas. Calder had married his wife when she got pregnant, but he practically lived a separate life, providing for his wife and son only monetarily. It was also possible, then, that Calder faked his own kidnapping to get away from his family.

As the team got to know Calder’s wife and son, they detected someone logging on to the Calders’ home network using Dennis Calder’s password. They eventually traced this logon to a city college computer used by a Chinese national. As the Chinese spy tried to escape from Callen and Sam’s pursuit, he was hit by a car.

Finally, an offhand comment by Calder’s wife led Kensi to check Calder’s son Shawn’s computer. With Eric’s help, Kensi determined that the first cyber attack originated from Shawn (Nathan Gamble)’s computer. Of all the possibilities raised, a son hacking into government servers in a bid for his father’s attention was one of the most cliched. Shawn claimed to be “just hacking around.” He had looked at several foreign government sites, including the Chinese, but he “hadn’t planted viruses or anything like that.”

Callen and the others spent some time explaining that when the Chinese discovered Shawn’s hack, they probably assumed it was his father’s doing. They would want to know how Dennis hacked in, so they could do the same to their enemies. It was then Shawn realized, “They kidnapped my dad because of me?”

It’s possible real hackers are clueless about the ramifications of their intrusions, but straight ignorance doesn’t play well on a crime drama. Dennis Calder’s character wasn’t developed much either, kept offscreen for most of the episode. When NCIS rescued Dennis from the Chinese, Sam said, “You have another chance to spend time with your boy. Don’t blow it.” Wholesome message received.

Overall, “Cyber Threat” played better than episodes from earlier seasons, but only because NCIS: Los Angeles now has two seasons of character history and dynamics to draw from.