PREVIOUSLY ON NCIS LOS ANGELES… oh yeah, scruffy Callen from 6×02…
I bet COD was happy when this scene was in the can… 😉
Callen’s mind wandering to his teen years when he was abused in prison… *gulp*
Great work here making us believe those guys were up to no good when they only wanted to welcome back their “Brother”…
Welcome back “FBI Senior Special Agent Lisa Rand”.
Possible dirty bomb in the hands of White Supremacists… #NotGood
Charlie having mummy issues… good to know…
Trivia Quiz: In which episode/case did they use a similar tactic to get Callen onto the bad guys ‘good side’ ??
Kensi worrying about Sam…
!["For all of our kids." [insert little Densi-squee here]](http://www.ncislamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/620_10.jpg)
“For all of our kids.” [insert little Densi-squee here]
“Partner? Be safe.” “Of course.”
My body-/hair-/clothes-/bike-envy ME doesn’t know what to comment here…
… AAAAND Callen-envy… hihi
Trivia Quiz: In which former episodes did another character named “Dallas” appear ??
“Why run when you can kill hostages?” *gulp*
Nice hint-dropping, G !!
So Charlie’s not into killing people like the others… good…
Anyone else noticed that Sam let Deeks drive ??
Sam telling Dallas he was Italian… *grins*
“He told me, only way I was gonna leave him was in a body bag.”
Callen talking sense into Charlie – hopefully…
Ehm… WHAAAAT ???
And where exactly did he get another magazine from ??
“Why do you keep trying to help me?”
They are cornering Callen and I can ‘feel it’ through the screen… great job !!
Jimmy’s alive…
Crouching next to her, making herself ‘smaller’… great psychology, Kens !!
“Look at me. Who else would want me?” *tearing up*
NOOOO !!
At least the radioactive material is secured… and now get Callen out of there !!
MU-AH-HA-HA !! Go Eric ! Go Granger ! *throws confetti*
Yeah, yeah, I think he hears ya, Sam…
Wow, Sam… I’m SURE I wouldn’t have been able to keep that calm…
He’s onto Callen… uh-oh…
Sam let her drive… 0_0
“You ready for a black man to take you out of this world?”
Oh no, no, no, Charlie !! Listen to Callen !!
…
This might be my new background for ‘everything’…
Callen reminiscing… That whole scene ?? JUST WOW !!
“Come on… Korean Barbecue. Kensi & Deeks are meeting us.” Sweet Densi acknowledgement.
Young Callen – great casting !!
“You have great potential and I have a plan for you, Mr. Callen.”
OK, wow !! I can’t quite put it to words what I’m feeling about this episode… so, you go ahead… let me know your thoughts !!
Please remember to keep it clean and respect other’s opinions !!
Great episode, but the younger Hetty make-up job kind of ruined it for me – I couldn’t stop laughing!
I agree! I was totally freaked out with Hetty at the end. Thank you for the recap. I loved this episode! Callen was amazing and starting the ep with COD doing push ups was great. I was really hoping that the guy Callen was trying to help would still be alive. I did notice that Sam let Deeks drive which was cool. The scene at the end with sam znd callen was very well done. All in all it was a great ep.
I haven’t seen the episode yet but the recap looks great! It’ll be all the more fun to watch it with your comments in mind, sindee.
The first “Dallas” I can remember was in Season 1 x11 “Breach”, the strip club owner. He had another quite funny encounter with Sam in another episode… can’t remember which one at the moment… That might require some research (not that I would mind 🙂
That’s where I have seen “Dallas”! I really loved this episode. Frank Military never seems to disappoint. I think my favorite part was at the end, when Callen was thinking back. (and it wasn’t just him leaning against the car with that jacket 😉 ) Yes, I agree Hetty with all that makeup was different. I wonder now how long did Callen stay with her? What did she teach him?
And next week another Callen episode! This Callen girl can hardly contain herself!
Thanks again for another great recap Sindee!
Fantastic episode and thanks for the recap, sindee. Love your comments. Dallas appeared twice, one as ChrisDaisy mentioned from “Breach,” the other was when Sam held a gun to his head while he was having a massage in “Found.”
The last time Callen played a bad guy was to infiltrate a white supremist terrorist group was when Callen pretended to shoot Callen. He escaped with his target, got in, but Sam had to go into save him. Again, Callen tried to help a boy and successfully that time. The episode was Ambush, also from S1.
What a powerful episode, it’s great to see the writers bring back Callen’s Wolinski alias into play again, seeing he and Sam were pulled out suddenly early on in S6.
Kensi did a great job trying to get through to the Dallas’ girlfriend, but it was so sad to see Charlie die. You could see it tearing Callen apart. This was a well written episode and shows just why Callen is so close to Hetty.
I loved this episode. Callen saw himself in Charlie and it made it that much more heartbreaking when Charlie died. I was hoping Charlie would make it. The scene at the end with Callen and Sam was awesome. I’ll admit I thought they could have done a better job with the Hetty makeup at the end, but the scene was still effective for me. Everyone needs someone to believe in them and Hetty was that person for Callen. In my opinion this was one of the best episodes of the season.
Finally this season has the highlight episode. We have waited long enough for it.
This episode had everything what I love about NCIS LA. The action, drama, character background on a certain character, suspense etc.
Frank Military is known for the darker episodes and this one was a great one. He probably knows why he wants to direct the ones he wrote. No mistakes during the filming and he knows exactly how he wants it on camera.
However the revelation on Callens and Hettys past doesn’t seem to fit to previous ones but maybe we got these wrong or put too much into it. I don’t know (I mean the ones from S1E1/ S1E20 / S3E4 7 S4/22).
It will be a challenge for the last four episodes to beat this quality.
Oh I almost forgot to say thank you sindee for the great and funny recap, love your humor.
OK, wow!! indeed. I’m with you sindee – feelings / words not happening just yet – I need to watch this again (and again). I was blown away.
The intensity, in scene after scene, was incredible.
The themes – impeccably presented for contemplation:
Brotherhood – the best of it and the worst.
Loyalty – well placed and misplaced.
Commitment – worthy and unworthy.
To all those who bring us this extraordinary show–and especially this amazing episode –
Well done and thank you!
(I guess I found my words)
Elizabeth
I wasn’t a fan of the episode. I was bored. Only person I cared about was the abused girlfriend. I agree with those about the flashback. I found it a little creepy.
Thanks for the recap sindee.
It was above average, I liked it, but I think it wasn’t the best episode by far. I thought as usual, the not-so-bad bad guy will be saved, so I was actually surprised, he died. That’s not something we see too often. I think I’m going to rewatch it, to make a proper decision, but it was a good episode.
Not my favorite episode. So much better than the last one though!
I generally like Frank Military episodes. I was surprised that I was kinda bored with this one.
Also, the Callen, Hetty reveal does not fit with previous episodes…..”Fame” for one…… glaring errors like this one are really annoying to me. Doesn’t anyone keep track of this stuff?
Sorry – this is very long! I absolutely loved this episode. It was full of drama, tension and was very intense, much like Spoils of War (although that was much darker). The Frank Military writing & directing combo is a winner for me so far. The insights of Callen as a teenager were everything I wanted it to be (which is how I imagined him) and the acting was top notch from Chris O’Donnell. The 15 y/o Callen was awesome casting in CJ Valleroy – those blue eyes!
The plot was pretty straight forward, no unseen twists or turns and the only humour came from the doctoring of the white supremacist’s photo. I know the humour helps make the show what it is, but I do enjoy the serious episodes, of which there are too few. There was police brutality against a child – despite a young Callen basically inviting them to beat him – horrendously racist gang members, a frightened/abused girlfriend, and a young man torn between doing the right thing and following his surrogate family. I think FBI Agent Rand shot Charlie when he was saying to Dallas that he couldn’t do it (as in kill Callen), so not a happy ending for him.
No time for Deeks to be jealous, surprised they showed Callen/Kensi in bed with little attire – certainly on their top half, but it helped to cement their undercover story – and glad to see they remembered Callen’s bullet scars. And on a side note, no mention of Joelle (how would Callen explain his physical and psychological beating to her – or would he just avoid her for a few weeks)?
BUT what I seriously have a problem with is the “Callen meets Hetty” scene as the explanation presented in Rage does not fit in with the canon of Callen’s past. In Fame (S1), Callen asks Hetty when he first became a blip on her radar and then reeled off cities where he’s been operational. In Burned/Callen.G its revealed he was in 37 foster homes from 5-18. The “Rage” flashback shows Callen aged 15, with a cop wanting Callen to be tried as an adult.
In S3E4 when Hetty reveals to Callen what she deliberately withheld from him about his mum and that she found him in the US when he was about 7, she admits she was determined to find him a family and that Callen was a challenging child. Callen questions to confirm that she was the one who got him out of the orphanage and into every foster home.
In S3E24 when Hunter dies, Callen asks Hetty how long she’d know Hunter & she replies with nearly as long as she’s known him. There was not that great an age difference between them so if “Rage” is to be believed, they would have at least been aware of each other. Hetty also says she got Hunter out of an orphanage & Callen asks if there are any other orphanage kids he should know about (sounding a little jealous).
In S4 Raven & Swans, Callen challenges Hetty to the fact that she collects orphans and ‘trains them or mentors them or whatever the hell it is she does’. If he had been one of them, he would a) not have uttered those words or b) he would know what Hetty did as she did it to him –made him a professional liar, thief and killer.
Anyway that is my rant over. Despite the severe angst caused by the final Hetty/Callen scene, this is now one of my all time favourites and I will be watching it over and over and over again :). Better than Reznikov.N, Shane Brennan!!! Can Frank Military write at least half of season 7 (provided he reviews the canon of characters first)?
PS – awesome recaps & one liners Sindee, as usual
I think I was most disapointed that they promised us a tattooed Kensi, but never delivered! “While Kensi transforms herself into a tattooed biker to play the part of Callen’s girlfriend” 🙂
Loved this episode. I do enjoy the whole Densi thing, but I loved seeing Callen and Kensi together. Really like the trust and comfort level they have with each other, as well as the latent chemistry.
Like many others pointed out, they do have a credibility issue with the timeline for the Hetty/Callen relationship. They spend a lot of money producing this show. They need to employ a ‘detail’ person and keep their stories straight. They also needed to do some follow through with the trust Kensi built with Dallas’ girlfriend, and educate the public on where women like that can go for help.
When I rewatched Raven and the Swans today, I actually read the scene between Hetty/Callen differently from some others on here. I think he got so upset because he recognized that he was in fact one of her trained orphans, thereby fitting with what we saw last night. I’ll have to rewatch some of the other episodes mentioned above. I guess what I would say to everyone is that anytime you have a long running show you will inevitably have continuity errors. Its the nature of the beast. Particularly where season 1 was concerned, the show was finding itself and the character development still in process, so I’ll cut the writers some slack there. I am simply enjoying the ride and thoroughly enjoyed last night’s episode.
Yes it’s true, continuity in any long living series is tricky. But as I’m frequently reminded this is basically Callens show. SB said smth along those lines himself, right? And when he’s that important they should really stick to canon as close as possible.
I’m right there with you Linda. The writers are intertwining plots with development of the characters’ backgrounds. I don’t think they are oblivious to the inconsistencies – I think maybe they just have to occasionally run over a speed bump to keep the stories in their heads alive. I notice the discrepancies, but like Linda, I just enjoy the ride the show creator and writers have chosen to take us on. What I do find interesting is how we, the loyal fans, have the timelines and so many details filed away in our NCISLA brains. That dedication to the show, and the variety of perspectives makes this an AMAZING group of fans IMO.
That being said, I absolutely loved the episode. I think it might be my favorite this season. (I’d have to “research” it to make certain.) Being such a fan of Season 1, it brought some of the excitement back that I’d missed for a little while.
Thank you for the re-cap, sindee!!! As always, it was great to relive the episode in such a fun way!
I think that there is an explanation for Hetty and Callen knowing each other so early but still maintaining the storyline. She invited him to stay “for as long as you like”. But we all know he never stays in one place for a long time, being a lone wolf and all. And he worked for the CIA and various other places before he joined NCIS. In that light, Callens question earlier about becoming a blip on her radar for NCIS is still valid, she only asked him to join many years later.
So to me, all of the Callen/Hetty snippets still stand.
That’s an interesting thought!
Good choice of words, sindee – WOW…
I needed some time to get my thoughts on this episode together…
I really had high expectations with all the teasers and previews and promos and I was not disappointed. Frank Military did a fantastic job (again!).
In general, the banter and humour in the show are one of the reasons for me to watch it but it’s often the darker and more intense episodes that „stay with me a little longer“ and that was definitely one of them – because of the topics and the way they were presented (thanks, Elizabeth for summing this up so greatly) and of course because of what we learned about G Callen.
Callen’s flashbacks shed a light on his troubled youth and were exactly what I was expecting (and waiting for) to see. Plus, he looked exactly like I imagined him to look (great casting of young Callen, hopefully we get to see some more flashbacks in future episodes).
He was as stubborn and dismissive against authorities as we have seen him occasionally later on as well – despite the consequences he knew were to follow.
Yet he showed his potential and what he is capable of – escaping from juvie, stealing a car and crashing two police cruisers? Not many could’ve pulled this off at such a young age.
I, too, was not happy with the inconsistencies in the Callen/Hetty storyline but I have to admit that for me, this entire last scene in Rage made up for it completely. Callen reminiscing with Sam about his first meeting with Hetty and how this/she changed his life and made him the (intriguing 🙂 character he is today – this is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire six seasons so far.
This episode / storyline would have done even better with more time than the usual 40+ minutes, in my opinion. For example Callen relating to this young guy Charlie who he obviously cared about – I would have loved to see a little more of it. Or the bank robbery, the escape and Dallas getting suspicious as well as Kensi and her relation to Dallas’ girlfriend, this all seemed a little rushed at times, especially towards the end. Anyway…
All in all an outstanding episode which I will definitely watch again (and again… and again… ☺ )
ChrisDaisy – thanks for the shout out!
The sheer depth and thoughtfulness of the comments this episode has engendered serves to confirm the quality and excellence the production staff, the crew and the cast bring to this show.
And to the community of awesome and committed fans, thank you! I love taking this journey with you all. Even those who did not particularly like the episode – you have brought something to the table for us all to consider.
So onward to the last episodes of Season 6 . . . and to Season 7 and beyond!!
Elizabeth
Oh, and HUGE thank you to sindee and NCISLA Magazine for providing this forum and giving us the opportunity to share our thoughts and opinions.
Elizabeth
I agree 100% Elizabeth, well said!
Having watched the episode a second time I felt the need to comment again (sorry, guys… 🙂 )
I confess that the first time I watched, my focus lay almost entirely on Callen (big surprise for those who know me 🙂 ). The second time I paid more attention to the other characters and the storyline as a whole.
I particularly found Sam’s part in this episode really interesting – this case was very personal for him, not only due to Callen being in danger but also, of course, because they were dealing with a racist group. And yet Sam remained calm (most of the time) – but you could feel his disgust in every comment he made, in every look.
The meaning of „brotherhood“ for the white supremacy group in contrast to the brotherly bond between Sam and Callen – that was very well written and very well played.
Dallas was a quite noteable villain – not Janvier (who is my favorite bad guy) – but one that definitely left an impression. Cunning, utterly ruthless and somewhat charismatic in a very negative way, a leader. He propagated his twisted beliefs in a rather convincing way – a scary character that added a lot of angst to the intense story.
And as has been mentioned in the comments already, there was more than just the racism storyline – the episode confronted us with domestic violence (at least verbal) and physical abuse in the juvenile correctional facility – strong stuff well staged!
I highly enjoyed this intense, character-driven story and I am not sure if – for my part – this episode can be topped for the remainder of the season.
Thanks Sindee for the recap!
I enjoyed this episode, a thought provoking and intense episode. Lots of small moment Deeks & Sam working together, Granger involved in Callen’s escape, Densi togetherness clear and in the forefront and the overall team unity. Sam’s character set against those they were fighting against and his concern for his “brother.”
Callen’s guidance for Charlie, is just the character of Callen. He always cares for those who lost.
Even though Hetty told him to stay at her house, Callen was 16, per flashback. We were told he did not get out of foster care until 18. I don’t believe Hetty was a foster home. Plus Callen said in “Identity” he had known Hetty for three years. The flashback while a nice concept, was too blaring in the inconsistentcy.
I think in Identity Callen was talking about how long he had worked for Hetty, not necessarily how long they had known each other overall.
“Indentity” establishes Hetty as the OSP Manager, so until that moment —Callen comes back from medicial leave — he didn’t work for her. With her yes. I do believe it implies they had known each other for 3 years and not before that.
If Hetty knew him before that, both of them had known why Hetty never called him G. And no reason for Callen to ask that question, since he had known how she felt.
“For all of our kids.” : I’m curious: is mrs. Ruah pregnant? I have noticed that she has put on weight and his features, as well as the shoulders, are softer and often leads blouses broad front.
If what I think is true, the authors are preparing this surprise: baby Densi.
Oh no! I’m not Densi and I hope that this “relationship” will end soon. I do not like together and not make me feel any emotion; I find them rather embarrassed.
I would like to Martin a different woman.
Sorry for my english.
Hi from rome (14.15).
Monty
In retrospect I can view Raven & Swans from an alternative perspective – in that Callen was surprised, jealous and angry to discover that Hetty collected orphans and effectively groomed them (rather than just him as a one off/special case). I can also overlook the similar situation in San Voir part 2. And it also neatly explains why Hetty is the only one who can (mostly) control Callen.
Maybe the 37 foster homes from 5-18 was an agreed lie between them (one that Reinhardt was not privy when he was keeping tabs on Callen)?
Questions: why did Hetty not intervene in Callen’s life earlier as he was obviously in a very bad place, after all how low do you have to be to encourage police to beat you up further? If she placed him in ever foster home, why was the last one so bad he had to run away? Were they deliberate choices? Why did she leave him in juvie for 3 weeks? And did she have her orphans in various homes, oblivious to each other (just imagine the chaos & fights with similar minded youths in the same place)!
I doubt we’ll ever find the answers…if we do, it may just be the end of the Hetty/Callen relationship.
Well, well….finally a great episode!!
I simply loved it!
-the undercover
-the flashbacks
-finally some new details about Callen’s past
– great casting….young Callen was impressive.
….and yes I do believe that the version of “younger Hetty” wasn’t that good. I think it would have been perfectly fine if they had taken a different actress for those scenes,maybe put some dark sunglasses on her.
More comments will follow as soon as I re-watch.
Love you,Sindee. Thank you for the recap.
Thanks Sindee for the great picture review. I loved this episode. It was Callen centric and he was at his best. @chrisodonnell was amazing as he usually is in those episodes when we look back to his past. It was a real treat to go back and to see his beginning with Hetty. This was handled so well with the flashbacks. Callen and Kensi made a great undercover couple. The “kiss” had passion as did the scenes between the two later. I , for one, envied Kensi. The other two scenes that got to me as well were the one with Ginny and with Sam. Rebecca Field made me cry when she explained why she stayed with Dallas. It made me think how we value people and how we made her devalue herself. Kensi handled the scene perfectly. I hope she would get help for a better life. The other scene was with Sam and Jimmy. Sam handled himself so well and with great dignity. I felt like punching them all out for some of the disgusting things that they said. I loved it when Sam said that Callen was his “partner” and his”brother”. The tension was high through out this episode and I was on the edge of my seat. May all the rest of the episodes be this good!