Operation gone wrong… not good !!
Deeks and his walking workstation
Callen & Sam playing with “Madeleine”
“Secretary Albright lose one of your brooches again?“
“…could be closer to home.” not good again !!
“Look, her name is Elise. She’s harmless and I’m dealing with the situation.“
“The CIA and the FBI have been hacked.“
EBOT doing his magic…
What the Tootsie Pops are for Callen & Sam
is the cargument for Kensi & Deeks during those stake-outs…
BOOM… now how cliché is this schoolgirl ?? 😉
Kensi on the wrong way…
Callen did good as a highschool teacher… not that we’ve doubted that, right ??
Never pictured Eric as one to workout to focus on thinking…
“We got a runner.” Of course – they always run !!
Aww… big wise papa bear Sam… Wanna hug ??
“You have to figure out a way to use them [your skills] for good…” Well said, EBOT !!
“What a drama queen !!“
What do you think about NCIS Los Angeles episode “Big Brother” ?? Leave your thoughts in the comments…
Favourite moments: E-bot … and those striking blue eyes! 😉
I love Eric! My favorite is always going to be Deeks… I want the writers to pair Deeks and Eric up more.
To be honest I expected a bit more from this episode. I expected more feedback on Kensi’s high school backround, I expected more Callen as a teacher….I just wanted more!
I wasn’t THAT upset that the team returned to their usual banter. It seemed like an effort to go back to normal. I certainly don’t think they consciously intend to hurt Deeks. He just throws them the bone and they easily go after it.
I have a feeling though that this constant change of behavior is an outcome of PTSD. The fact that is not obvious yet doesn’t mean it is not “eating” Deeks inside out. Poor guy, lately he can’t seem to keep his toys. Not fair Hetty stop bulling him!
For the first time I enjoyed Callen’s story more than Densi’s. The whole mysterious neighbor/ stalker blogger was hilarious. I really hope they bring it up again. I was really disappointed the school scene only lasted a few minutes. I was dying to see him interact with the 15 years old.
I expected Deeks to push Kensi to open up about the whole high school thing. We could really dig some gold out of that.
Overall, not a great episode. I expect more of this season.
I wasn’t really impressed with this episode. Callen as a teacher of highschoolers had so much potential but he was only in there for what … two minutes? Major let down. Kensi terrified of highschool and Deeks just lets it slide? Another major let down.
I’m also becoming concerned over Deeks’ change … his “cop” skills are slipping big time … turned his back on a suspect and was shocked when she field-goaled him? Didn’t see that the stairs led to nowhere? And then there were the other episodes … staying too long in front of the van … hesitating on taking a shot.
I fear that these are just a prelude to something bigger and possibly much worse.
I have tremendous expectations for this season but I’m getting worried that I may be dissappointed. There is such potential with this show and the awesome characters for tons of drama, angst, action, and, yes, even some romance too.
Come on guys, make this the best season yet!
Semper Fi
Thanks for the recap, it marks the highlights, indeed.
I was kind of disappointed by this episode, felt more like a filler. It also felt like the journey of the characters over the previous episodes was kind of forgotten. It was more like let’s go back to what it used to be, although we are not the same, but…that’s all we can do.
This was just a bad episode. There’s no getting around it. The attempted humor was sophomoric and at times mean-spirited. There was no warmth or respect between the characters. I totally agree with Lumy_Mee that it’s as if our team’s recent journey was totally brushed aside. Not that I ever wanted to see the characters interacting like this, even in previous seasons.
Oh well. Every season is entitled to one clunker. I re-watched some favorite scenes from Ascension before going to bed last night, just to get the bad taste out of my mouth. And I watched Impact and Omni this morning to remind me that this is normally a very good show. I may have to re-watch Unwritten Rule and spend some quality time with my DVDs to tide me over til my next fix of NCIS:LA, cuz whatever last night’s episode was, it sure wasn’t the show that I love.
After “Unwritten Rule” this episode was a let down. Not liking how the show does something like the 100th episode and then just ignores the impact it had on the characters, ie: Callen having some real hope in finding his father. Same with “the kiss” between Deeks and Kensi. Not one word about it. I love Deeks’ funny scenes but not so many in one episode – it was Deeks overkill in this episode.
What I did like was Sam talking to the girl at the end; the introduction of the walking work space; Kensi taking a detour from going into the school; everything Callen; Nell’s hair; EBOT comment and the look on Hetty’s face as she touched her broach after Deeks asked if someone had taken one of them.
On a first watch, I felt the episode was more about trying to get more attention on Eric, like last time it was for Nell. But then in last episode too, Deeks shared Nell’s limelight, just like he shared it with Eric in this episode with his treadmill drama. Eric was out of the Tech Room, in the gym and thinking hard. Callen indirectly acknowledged Eric as the smart guy who rarely gets as much credit as he deserves. Nell followed him to gym like last time Eric followed her onto the field. So for that couple, it may have been a continuation along with entertainment through Deeks Drama and resulting comments. Hetty declared him to be the Drama Queen. The Bromance betweem Sam and Callen was the usual with a little slip up from Callen. Sam’s commentary on Callen was good leg-pulling. However, to promote Eric, the script made the other 4 usually bright agents+detective as looking a bit dull when they were asking Eric questions as if they were totally dumb and that Eric speaks something that they never understand. In my opinion the homour used was too distant between Eric and others, not the usual types. It was put off scene when they surround him and ask him questions in the Bullpen.
Unlike last episode, this episode was more about the case rather than Bullpen&Ops room interpersonal relationships. The bonding between characters was more prominent with guest actors, like Sam and Eric bonding with Cindy, Callen’s chameleon ability to pass of as teacher Valerie without any intention to teach. Even those 2 minutes were enough. I was impressed how Callen without going to subject, was able to hold the class into silence. The students were observing as to what antics he has his sleeve. Even Deeks as the blondie did bond with Cindy at some level.
What was starkly noticeable was absence of any kind of flirtatious banter between Deeks and Kensi. It also showed an indifference from Deeks towards Kensi’s emotions relating to her reluctance or developing cold-feet for assuming the teacher role for 15 year old high school kids. Usually we are shown Deeks observing Kensi closely at these times and tries to get to bottom of her emotions at opportune time. But we could see that Deeks was determined to be aloof from Kensi just like he was on the stake-out scene, where he expresses himself as bored with the stake-out and hence drinking coffee. Looking at those two, makes me feel for the first time that if Deeks was not interested in Kensi ever, it would have looked like this…a partnership exactly as Kensi had with Dom. Deeks was participating in banter only to the extent it looks a working partnership and there was no usual “their thing dynamics”.
While it does explain why Deeks was trying to be indifferent with Kensi (he doesn’t want to talk about his emotions for her until she is ready or wouldn’t want her to be overly concerned for him over his PTSD or whatever), the episode was unable to show what KENSI was feeling throughout. The episode was a damper on Kensi. It downplayed her character to the extent that her indifference to Deeks’s indifference to her or her observation of the entire thing was made non-existent, which is nigh impossible in current circumstances. Does it mean that Kensi is actually happy for Deeks not noticing her or him just being the willing partner to be controlled ? Has she gone into her shell for some reason ? I could not stop wondering about it.
As for Deeks Drama, it was applied entertainment as usual for the Bullpen residents. They all loved his Bike Drama like we loved in last episode and was DULY NOTED in Hetty’s words. In yesterday’s episode, they all felt a little disturbed or exhausted of the treadmill induced diversion, so much that they chose not to talk to him and instead declared him a DRAMA QUEEN and dismissed him (again through Hetty). This was good too. Showing not all days Deeks is going to shine especially when he himself does not feel inspired about his idea. We could see how he was texting supporting himself against the table and was back into his treadmill game when others walked in. Probably his idea was just to tease them all with his antics. And he succeeded atleast for a day !
I had a thought – this episode had a different writer to the usual team we have had so far in the seasons; I reckon that made a big difference to the whole feel of the episode, too!
She had some really good moments, but like others have pointed out, didn’t quite capture the continuing stories of each team member … Hopefully, we can be back to “normal” next week 😉
Oh, and do you reckon Deeks is going to show up in a week or two, clean-shaven, after finding out that Kensi doesn’t like facial hair?! Heh heh
Ok, I watched a couple of scenes again and paid close attention to the Densi scene in the car. I think the key word there is “bored”! Deeks uses the word a couple of times to justify his recent action.
Maybe this boredome is yet another sign of PTSD. He tries to find excitment in all sorts of things which at some point, might turn reckless and dangerous.
Evi- I think your interpretation might be exactly right about Deeks’ boredom. I had a slightly different possible take… If he’s still having trouble sleeping, he might have been having trouble staying awake during the stake-out, and to try to compensate, he was drinking all that coffee.
I don’t know but I am a bit disappointed with this season so far. Maybe because of the lack of action or that the writers don’t continue with any of the characters story or because the directors/producers/writers tease so much and the expectations rise at highsuch a level, but the results are a below average episodes.
I guess they want to fill the episodes with too much of each character, action, banter, humor… and the result is that everybody (the fans) is not really satisfied.
Like this episode.
Deeks talks far to much (mostly nonsense), no action scenes (one chase does not count in my opinion)…. So I take it that this was just a filler episode, like the last one (which was filmed end of the last season).
But I guess (or hope) that this will change with the next 4 episodes because of the sweeps.
I am not the only one who is sad due to the turn this series
has taken. Just check the ratings. These are lower than ever for the first 6 episodes.
Ok, looking on the bright side, it can’t get worse, can it?
These are just the thoughts of a real fan.
Did anyone else notice how they seem to have dumbed Kensi down from the earlier seasons? I only notice cause I recently rewatched seasons 1 and 2. In season 1, you have Kensi helping with the computer work in several of the episodes and now all of a sudden she doesn’t know what malware is?
While I liked the episode, I agree with the others that I expected more from Callen’s role as a teacher and a deeper look into Kensi’s problems with high school. And yes, there goes Hetty stealing another of Deeks’ toys. She keeps that up and he’s going to be looking for boredom relief in the wrong places, dangerous places. Not much from Sam in this episode, other than his usual banter with Callen. I hope they bring up his neighbor again, that sounded interesting.
Did anyone else find the whole Eric in the gym scene weird? That seemed kind of forced, not where I would picture him being. But hey, Nell got her admirers last week, so they had to give him one of his own here, even if she is way too young for him. And speaking of young admirers, did anyone else notice on of those 15 year olds looked like she had a crush on Callen? Those blue eyes will get them every time.
So while not the greatest episode, it did have it’s moments. Hopefully things will get better as we get further into the season.
Wasn’t a fan of this episode. It wasn’t funny or action packed. Didn’t care about the case either. There was no suspense and the characters/actors seemed off. Maybe they have better episodes planned for November Sweeps.
I’ve already tweeted that this episode did not live up to the expectations that were set high in the trailer. Callen going undercover at a prestigious high school…It promised so much and delivered all of two minutes of potential that was not fulfilled. Admittedly they were a funny and clever two minutes, but come on…we got a whole lot more of Callen at driving school in Full Throttle!
Again, with the sneak peek about Callen’s neighbour’s blog, I expected that to be raised again but nothing. I thought it would turn out to be a “pick on Callen” episode.
I’m not too fussed that Deeks’ PTSD wasn’t mentioned as I’m sure it won’t always manifest itself obviously (but there were moments if you look closely). Personally I’m more concerned about the fact that Callen finally knows his parents – two episodes ago – and this is being ignored. Not one single comment from any character about this, and no mention of Granger.
Loved the comedy moments and the plot itself, but it could have been so much more…This one was written by Jordana Lewis Jaffe who also wrote Dead Body Politic in Season 4.
It wasn’t a very good episode but, sor far, appart for the 100th, I really like all the episodes, we had the end of descent, and Omni, … !
Of course I prefer with a lot of Densi and serious and emotionals moments but we know how they are. I don’t think Kensi is indifferent, for me she waits for a sign from deeks. She don’t want to push him, to add the pression of a relationship because Deeks doesn’t seem to be really ok. Maybe Jack had had the same phases, and we know how it ended …
Deeks doesn’t want to talk about emotions/feelings/how he really feels, so he doesn’t push kensi. And Kensi never talks about her without being pushed or obliged. It doesn’t feel like indifference for me, just two humans.
I think we will know more about Kensi’s childhood later
As a Densi shipper, I feel bad for the loss of banter or emotion between the two from Deeks end. We see this since Episode 2 Impact. He is willing only to maintain the work-partnership and avoid all kinds of personal talk with Kensi. Over each episode since Omni, Deeks is not talking to Kensi by himself. Omni-its Kensi. Rezhnikov, it was serious enough and Deeks did not distract anyone with his jokes and that means less pressure for him to consciously stay away from Kensi. Unwritten Rule, he wants to replace his kensi time with Bike rides, idea goes down the drain and instead it becomes a CONCERN for Deeks Topic for Kensi. Big Brother, he wants to distract everyone and have fun /seek attention…through treadmill, but doesn’t talk at all in the stakeout. Usually he is known for his High Coffee intake (Sam calls him DeCaf once) so coffee intake and his desire to pee doesn’t surprise me, but what surprised me that he endured all that silence and boredom sitting with Kensi, when he can hardly resist talking for that long with anyone and especially not with her. Infact he was quick on chatting with Sam and Callen through his ear-wigs as soon as he spotted them. That scene really speaks something.
Eric-Nell relationship – if they are going to develop this season, I welcome it. Was happy to see slightly different Nell and Eric in last and yesterday’s episode.
Hetty – This season is actually seeming more ominous than usual.
Jordana Lewis Jaffe has written for Honor, Patriot Acts, Dead Body Politic, Paper Soldiers and now for Big Brother. Her stories are usually with emphasis on Nationalistic flavor towards its Citizens, by those who are supposed to lead this country by being exemplary citizens to the one who need their support. Though in this episode, I wonder who is the Big brother ? Sam or Eric ?! May be this time it is Eric as most of the time is. You can see that in all her stories, Jordana makes NCIS team help the protagonist in some way as they personally share the same feelings as the protagonist.
Jordana also co-shared the writing honors for Unwritten Rule, the last episode and that is why there we have that Navy Engineer Officer adding an inbuilt virus into the Drone technology. We can see her stories as the suspect/victim will always be a patriot at heart in one or the other way and we as fellow patriots should help them. However in Unwritten Rule, we have Joseph C Wilson also writing and so it becomes an interesting interpersonal story between all the characters. Joseph has written stories that are strongly grounded in the NCIS Staff’s personal stories or emotions.
I liked this episode very much. FINALLY, we had some banter between Sam and Callen. OK,it wasn’t much but it’s a start. I wished they had mentioned the blogging issue again but I guess there’s still time for that in the upcoming episodes.
The idea that someone is writing a blog about Callen is funny and concerning at the same time. I think that gal Elise is crazy because let’s face it,what can she possibly know about G? Maybe she knows when he leaves the house in the morning and when he comes back.**it’s not like she knows him for 4 (5) years like we do ;)** I get that she’s into him but I don’t appreciate it when women play it that obvious. Plus Callen said “She was supposed to take that down” which means she didn’t respect his request. So dear writters, if you want me to like Elise you’ll have to introduce her (personally) in a very appealing way.
However, I don’t want it to stop.If the blogging leads to more banter between my guys I’ll be more than happy!
I didn’t like the fact that they didn’t even mention Granger…not only because I like the character. I think that he’s part of the cast and he has been shot so a few lines about him wouldn’t have hurt.
All in all, it was a very good episode.Congrats, Jordana!
While I enjoy all of the episodes this was not one of the best. It felt like they jumped from one thing to another too quickly, Callen has a neighbor that blogs about him? Oh please tell us more, that should be developed. Callen as a teacher? But only for a couple of minutes? What a missed opportunity that was, something really great at showing how he adapts to different characters could have been shown. In the short time he was in the classroom he owned those kids, not an easy thing to do.
No one calling Kensi out on her High School Phobia, please like that would not have been discussed to death by all the guys, much less Hetty not talking to her about it afterward.
Then there was Eric, he was a little grating to me. Working out to gain focus, well that’s never happened before. It felt phony and contrived to me.
It all just felt a little rushed.