UH-OH !!
Sam’s back !!
(Not that he was actually “gone” for an ep… )
“Apparently I’m the only one who’s SMART.” HA haha, GO Kens !!
“I got a beach body.” “That’s debatable.”
(pretty sure Eric actually has a beach body…)
“I’m standing right here.”
“Burpees.” WHAT ?? LOL
Granger’s NOT-joking-face…. *snort*
Ehm, why install cameras when there’s no footage you can use ??
“Play nice.”
“Hetty’s List” lol
Teaching moment… 😉
Cheers !!
“You don’t know cars/music/clothes…” I wasn’t aware that Sam only sees his choices as “the truth”…
Nell enjoying the awkwardness…
“She just hung up on me.” Bet that lady is now on “Hetty’s List” as well…
Nell explaining the possible connection…
“24 years old. No girlfriend. Which isn’t unusual in Afghanistan.” Really ?? But outside of A every 24yr-old single is “unusual” ??
Desperately looking for similarities…
Chic chic !! (and I would DEFINITELY look into that blue trunk !!)
“I like you…”
Nice shot, G !!
More focus on Eric, Nell and their work in this ep – I like !!
Partner Swap !!
… and G regretting it already. *snort*
“Whatchu gaaaht?”
Eric, Nell AND Granger… BUSTED !!
Sam “touché-ing” Kensi…
“We’re good.” G’s look… haha…
“I didn’t tell them.” “I know.”
Hetty knows everything.
Sweet little Netty scene there at the end…
Some sweet team scenes, some LOL moments and likeable guest stars… all in all an OK episode me thinks… And you ?? What did you like ?? Or not ?? (Please express your opinion politely…)
This episode was just okay for me, but anything would have been hard to top after Expiration Date! I think the best scenes this week were actually the Eric and Nell scenes…..Also when Deeks was playing dress up with the hat and glasses. One question I had though, did anyone catch what Sam said at the end of the Touche’ coversation? I couldn’t quite make it out. I will have to go back tonight and try to interprete it!
It was a really good episode if you only look at the banter & character interactions. I loved the surprise partner swap (anticipating the next episode – and now i’m thinking ‘poor Callen’). Loved the boys comparing how many times they’ve been shot (there’s only one winner – Callen), and how wise Kensi was when she said she’s the only one of them that is smart for wearing a vest! Granger was great with his poe face!
There were plenty loose ends (e.g. the drunk agent in the bar). The press release was misleading too – there was no talk about Sam coming back to work too soon (except Granger). Only watched it once early this morning so probably forgot some of the other frustrations I found with the plot.
“There were plenty loose ends (e.g. the drunk agent in the bar). The press release was misleading too – there was no talk about Sam coming back to work too soon (except Granger). ”
I fully agree with you.
Drunk agent in the bar, was just wasting of time.
Instead that, we don’t know, how was involved consulate general, why security guy lock the gate, why he called to kidnappers?
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Few awkward moments, like Deeks speak with him self, and after he try cover it with nonsense story…. terrible.
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Today episode was for me only 2*
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Kensi is lucky with been not shoot yet, because she is smart?
Well,…. just wait until season finale, and cliffhanger. 😉
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Sendee, thanks for recap.
Is nice when you try enlighted it, because with this quality of episode, I will be not even bothered try.
Callen looked especially good in this episode with that shirt and those jeans 🙂 Looks aside, COD’s acting was above his normal goodness in this episode. Loved his lines when he was drinking his coffee.
Could Deeks/ECO be any cooler? Don’t think so! He’s amazing and even though some of his lines are “out there” he delivers them so eloquently–brilliant acting. He stole the show again, this time with is monologue in the boat shed.
Kensi/Sam partnership was great. But the Deeks/Callen partnership was a let down. They didn’t do anything as partners just stupid/boring banter.
Granger wanting to “burpees” (whatever those are, pushups perhaps) with Sam and Sam’s response–priceless.
The alcoholic Agent storyline was refreshing in that we don’t often see the personal struggles of Agent’s lives brought to light so bluntly. It would have been nice to see more of that Agent and not just sitting on a bar stool.
Hanging up Hetty was a great scene. Wasn’t she talking to The SecNav? I’m thinking there are VERY few people who would do that, and she/he would be one of those select few.
Nell and Eric? They are just filler now IMO and I tune out most of what they say.
Overall an okay episode, with an interesting case BUT … what happened to Callen & Sam’s “discovery” that they basically don’t have anything in common? That was a fairly relevant comment Sam made but it was left dangling and unresolved between them. I honestly thought there would be a moment between them at the end bringing closure to it. But nope, instead we get a Nell/Hetty moment that for me came out of no where and was irrelevant compared what could have been done/said with a Callen/Sam scene at the end. That could have been a MAJOR character development for BOTH characters and now it has me shaking my head at why it wasn’t followed through on by the writer(s) of the episode.
BEST LINE OF THE EPISODE– Can’t remember exactly what he said but I was LOL when Deeks said “bullet proof” to Sam referring to his recovery from the shot he took to the chest and of course the fact that Sam wasn’t wearing his bullet proof vest 😉
it was Eric who named him “bullet proof” when he saw he was back… 😉
I really liked this episode. I think Granger and Deeks were my favorites in this episode. I loved how Deeks was talking to the lady in the store, that was probably my favorite. I also liked how they did focus more on what Nell and Eric do in their jobs. There wasn’t a lot of heart pounding thrills, but more detective work.
I’m guessing the partner switching is leading up to the next episode, which should be good.
I agree there were a lot of loose ends. I wanted to find out about the drunk agent in the bar, and there wasn’t anything said about Sam being back to soon.
This one was kinda really …. weird.
I actually only voted “ok” in the poll, the first time I think.
It was very veeeery slow in pace and also awfully quiet all the time, regarding both the music and the action, which was almost not there at all.
There were a few nice or funny moments, but even those weren’t that good that they stood out particularly.
And then I agree with what I Feel Possessed and Fenix both said, that there were a lot of loose ends. Some scenes or shots just didn’t make sense.
I’m very disappointed.
This one’s not going on my favorite list, but I actually liked it a lot. There were some very funny lines by several of the characters. (I must have needed laughter more than angst last night.) I loved the various cringes and groans from Deeks, particularly the ones directed at Granger. ECO and Barrett do comedy so well, IMO.
About the “burpies,” I know my son did these in the Marines. I think it is a very difficult variation of a push-up where you jump up to a standing position between each push-up. I know our Sam is tough as nails, but can’t imagine that he would be able to endure this after being shot (can’t imagine Granger being able to do even one. lol)
It did seem like there were a few holes in the story, but at least I didn’t feel like we were rushing through emotions and relationship development. It was refreshing for me.
Thank you for the recap! I look forward to it every Tuesday after a new episode. I’ll be honest. I didn’t really care for this episode. To me, there were too many unanswered storylines. I think most of them have already been discussed so I’ll just say: the storyline with Sam / Callen about nothing in common and the drunk DEA agent.
I did like the banter at the beginning when everyone was comparing the number of times they were shot and Kensi was saying she was the only one of them. When they swapped partners, I was looking forward to that but was disappointed with the Callen/Deeks pairing. I thought that could have been explored but instead we just got Callen shutting Deeks out and Deeks rambling on his own.
I did enjoy seeing Hetty get hung up on. That was a fun scene! All in all, it was okay but not as great as some of the other episodes this season. Hopefully the next new one will be better!
I would put this one as an average episode, not great but not bad either. I also thought the press release was misleading. I was expecting more concern from the team regarding whether Sam was ready to come back to work. I also felt like the whole “do Sam/Callen have anything in common plotline just kind of dangled out there with no resolution. It seems like every season we get 1 or 2 episodes that are basically just fillers that don’t really add anything to the characters or overall story. This episode had that feel to it. While I didn’t dislike the episode, this isn’t one I would go out of my way to rewatch.
Thank you for the recap sindee.
Filler. Disappointment. 6/10. Definitely in the bottom 3 episodes of this season.
Pretty much everything has been written down above, so I won’t go into details. Lot of loose ends. The partner swap was a huge disappointment. Some funny moments, but nothing more.
Hopefully the next one will be much better.
Have to agree with all comments; not my favorite. Also, I kind of felt bad for Callen. Given his background and how people probably treated him growing up, I couldn’t help wondering if Sam pointing out they have nothing in common, had to hurt. Callen kept searching for common enjoyable things and Sam kept shooting him down. I don’t know, if it were my best friend doing that to me, I think it would bother me a bit. I dunno. Maybe this needs to be examined in a little fanfic tag…. Hmmmmm
Thank you sindee, for a great recap.
I’m not one to pick a plot of an episode to pieces, to write on a show such as NCISLA would be a dream. However, I agree with many comments mentioned already with regards to the drunk DEA agent, this really didn’t need to be added into the episode, it took the time away to something more that could have really added to the Sam/Callen having nothing in common factor. It’s a shame the episode didn’t end with them finding something that they had in common, the basis of their friendship. Being different doesn’t mean you can’t be friends. Its what makes unique that be all bring into relationships that make them be what they are and this would have been great if they had ended the episode on that.
Deeks was hilarious in parts, and being caught out by not only Eric and Nell, but Granger as well was comical.
It would have been nice to have Sam and Callen to find out more about the guard at the embassy, but I suppose seeing the guy was on Embassy land, it was foreign soil and nothing could be done about it. Although it would have been great to have Hetty call the SecNav and tell her that the Afghan government needed to sort out their security at the embassy to deal with this guard who’d obviously phoned it in to place the Afghan soldier in harm’s way.
I did like Granger showing his concerns with Sam, disguising his time to talk to him behind talking trading on the stock market, that was well played. You could see Callen just couldn’t believe that was all that they were talking about and that gut of Callen’s is always right.
There is two things no one has said yet that I need to ask.
1. Why did the SecNav hang up on Hetty, who was obviously angry with her, when this operation was a DOD and DEA screw up?
Hetty’s team had been called in to help all the letter agencies and LAPD to solve the Afghan’s murder and what happened to the other two soldiers and from what I saw, they were the only one to care to use their people to search for the DEA Agent wallowing in her own misery and for Eric and Nell who found out what had happened to the other two soldiers. The SecNav’s behaviour towards Hetty doesn’t make sense.
2. Anyone else think it was weird with the lack of a joint task force with the other agencies?
Surely we should have seen people from the other agencies and LAPD liaising with Deeks on this one?
I did enjoy the episode, but it’s not my favourite.
Thanks again for a very funny picture review. Well, I have to say that I liked the episode “Savoir Faire”. However, for me the plot took a back seat to the characters. We again saw team work. There was more of Eric and Nell this time. The partners got changed up and provided the source for some great humour. Especially when Callen realized that he was going to have to work with Deeks. And then of course there was Deek’s monologue when he thought no one was listening. Eric and Nell and even Granger were quite amusing as well. I really did like the banter between Callen and Sam when they were trying to find similarities #pancakes vs # waffles etc? there was some great action scenes as well with some great shooting. The show has had some great guest actors this season. I hope we get to have them back again. All in all, the show had everything it needed.
Thanks Sindee for the pic recap!
This was a nice episode, focusing on the partnerships/friendships.
I did feel bad for Callen in trying to find common ground, needing reassurance of his and Sam’s bond.
The Deeks moment were insightful and funny. Granger’s concern for Sam, ahh he is softening.
The Neric and Sam & Kensi moments a little odd. Same with the Netty talk, it made Nell look like her only concern was being wrong instead of letting Hetty/Team down.
Very good points BW. Threads were dangled that I’m sure will not be picked up again. I found this was the case with the Season 5 ‘filler’ Big Brother, also written by the same lady, that promised so much (e.g. Callen’s blogger neighbour and Callen as teacher – he never revealed his experience of high school although we know now that he rarely attended)!
I’m now concerned the same writer has penned the first in a 3 parter (ref JPK latest tweet).