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typingtess · 5 months ago

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NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Rewatch: “Best Seller”

The basics: A crime cartel goes after Sam’s friend Tom Olsen.

Written by: Kyle Harimoto wrote "Omni", "Merry Evasion", "Chernoff, K", "Command and Control" as episode 150, "Granger, O.", "Ghost Gun", "Kulinda", "767", "Se Murio El Payaso", "Assets"/"Liabilities", "Venganza", "Superhuman", "One of Us", "Let Fate Decide" (season 11 premiere), "Decoy", "Answers" , "Watch Over Me", "Cash Flow", "Fukushu", "Bonafides”, “Come Together” (season 13 finale) and “Of Value”. He co-wrote "Three Hearts", "Leipei", "Humbug", both ends of the "Matryoshka" two-parter, "Smokescreen" part two, "Searching", "A Fait Acompli" and "A Tale of Two Igors" (season 12 finale).

Directed by: James Hanlon who directed "War Cries", "The Grey Man", "Kolcheck, A", "Driving Miss Diaz", "Command and Control" (number 150), "Angels and Daemons", "Where There’s Smoke", "Black Market", "Tidings We Bring", "Can I Get a Witness?", "Cac Tu Nhan", "A Diamond in the Rough", "Into the Breach", "Human Resources”, “Commitment Issues”, "The Nobel Maidens" and “Murmuration”.

Guest stars of note: Erik Palladino as Special Deputy U.S. Marshal Vostanik Sabatino was back from season 13’s “Hard for the Money”; Bill Goldberg as DOJ Agent Lance Hamilton is back from season 13’s “Bonafides”; David Paul Olsen as Tom Olsen is back from season 11’s “Human Resources” where people were trying to kill him there too; Lesley Boone as Nina Barnes in back from the prior episode, “A Long Time Coming” crossover episode; Natalia Del Riego as Rosa Reyes is back from “Survival of the Fittest”; Duncan Campbell as NCIS Special Agent Castor is back from “Blood Bank”; Gianni DeCenzo as Luke Austin; Eddie Kaulukukui as Army Col. Tuivasa; Daya Vaidya as Marina and Katrina Begin as Lauren Olsen.

Our heroes: Save Sam’s buddy.

What important things did we learn about: Callen: On loan to a joint taskforce out of town for an undercover sting operation. Sam: See Callen. Kensi: Missing out on a girls only weekend with Rosa. Deeks: See Sam. Fatima: No Daddy Issues. Rountree: Keeps full outfits in work desk drawers. Kilbride: Unknown to those in the “Twitter-Tok universe”.

What not so important things did we learn about: Callen: Absent. Sam: Absent. Kensi: A fan of Tom Olsen’s novels. Deeks: Absent. Fatima: Introducing Rountree to a veterinarian not a vegetarian. Rountree: Shorts for brunch is an interesting fashion choice. Kilbride: Surprised a SEAL would do publicity for a book.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange? Not a mention.

Who's down with OTP: Happy in life Kensi was looking for the same for Lance. Lance, not looking.

Who's down with BrOTP: At the very end, Sabatino passes Fatima a beer and without making a big deal of it, Rountree quietly passes her a mineral water. Nice taking care of your partner.

Fashion review: Kensi wore a long-sleeve blue sweatshirt with a white vertical stripe running down the sleeves. In the field, she had on a grey long-sleeve henley. Fatima jogs into the episode in black running gear. She wears a long-sleeve, dark blue sweater for the rest of the episode. Rountree starts the episode in brunch gear that honestly looks like men’s medium blue summer pajamas. They’re shorts. At the office, he changes into a long sleeve, dark red tee-shirt and jeans. Kilbride wore his Kilbride uniform – dark blue suit, pale blue dress shirt

Music: No music today.

Any notable cut scene: Not today.

Quote: Nina: "All right, get out here." Sabatino leaves the food truck: “I mean, man, those, those are great in there, huh?” Nina: “Oh, thanks. I was wondering why people were lining up and giving me money for them. Mystery solved!”

They needed to find Nina a few seasons ago.

Anything else: Sam’s buddy Tom Olsen is bow and arrow hunting in the mountains. There are animals around. He takes a shot and gets his deer. As he tries to retrieve the animal in a valley, a coyote makes an odd noise and moves away. Suddenly from the top of a hill, a man opens fire on Olsen. Olsen uses his trusty bow and arrow to stop that but a second gunman starts to fire. Taking a bullet to the shoulder, Olsen pulls out his own gun and makes quick work of the second gunman. Leaving his backpack behind, Olsen takes his bow, arrows and gun as he moved deeper into the valley. Four more gunmen come from the top of a hill and start to track Olsen.

Fatima is jogging back home when Rountree gets out of an Uber. She’s dressed to work out, he’s dressed for brunch. Fatima, Rountree and a veterinarian pal of Fatima’s have brunch plans but that’s tomorrow, not today. And that’s a good thing since they hear from Kilbride.

Walking into the boat shed, Kensi is apologizing to Rosa. With Deeks out of town, it was supposed to be a weekend of food, movies and fun for the two but now Kensi has to work. Rosa is fine with Kensi working – it isn’t Kensi’s fault. Kensi asks if Rosa is okay going to the beach with her friends before realizing how silly that question was. Kensi gives Rosa an EDC bag that includes a knife, first aid kit and a lot of things a teenage girl probably doesn’t need for the beach. As she’s leaving for the beach, Rosa asks Kensi if they could get a raincheck for the day. Kensi is so happy Rosa asked.

Fatima and shorts-wearing Rountree arrive at the office. He pulls out clothes from his desk drawer – he keeps a change of clothing everywhere after “the Speedo incident”. As he changes, Rountree asks about the veterinarian, who is a comedy club fan but isn’t really funny. Asking about hobbies, Rountree is told the veterinarian loves magic. Wondering why Fatima thought they’d be a pair, Rountree is shown a video of the veterinarian. Suddenly, he’s a magic fan.

Lance Hamilton joins Kensi in the boat shed. She explains that Callen, Sam and Deeks are on loan to a joint task force for an undercover sting operation. It is Kensi and Lance today – which the last time the two were paired up, he had to go to the hospital. He just remembers the sushi.

On the plasma screen, the Admiral welcomes Lance to the team for the day. Rountree starts the case review. A park ranger found two men dead with assault rifles in their hands in South Valley, Utah. It is privately owned land. Worried about the owner, the park ranger went to Weber Yamada’s cabin and found Yamada dead. In the cabin, there were personal items belonging to Tom Olsen. The shooters were looking for Olsen but he took out the shooters.

Lance explains DOJ put him on the case because they want to know why two men are shooting a former SEAL. The dead men are not on any DOJ databases. Kensi mentions Olsen’s writing career taking off and while he has a large social media presence, there haven’t been any threats according to his publisher. Fatima heard from other park rangers – there are multiple boot prints following Olsen. He is not safe.

Kilbride gives some background on Olsen – former SEAL who worked in the CIA with Vostanik Sabatino. The Admiral wants Fatima to work with Sabatino while Kensi and Lance go to Utah to find out what is going on. If Tom Olsen “is on the right side of this”, Kilbride wants him brought in safely.

Kensi goes to a switch on the wall and shows the funding upgrades the Admiral got for the boat shed. An armory comes from the ceiling. Lance jokes that it is where Deeks keeps his haircare products. Kensi thinks he’s jealous. The two each grab a backpack and prepare for their trip to Utah. Kensi wants to ID the dead men. Lance is more worried about Olsen not being “on the right side of this.” If he’s not, they’ll have to arrest him.

Sabatino is looking at the Porsche as Fatima leaves the office. He scoffs at the car – what kind of man owns a vehicle like that. Fatima asks what if it is a woman. He scoffs more – obviously a woman with Daddy Issues. Fatima tells him to get in, she’s driving. Sabatino says he loves the color, Fatima says she loves her Daddy, no issues. And they’re off.

On the plane to Utah, Kensi talks about having an “instant teenager” with Lance. Kensi noticed Lance mentioned “we drove down to Austin” so is “we” a possible girlfriend. No, just his dog Francis. It was Jessica’s decision to name the dog Francis, Lance preferred “Zeus”. Jessica thought it was pedestrian and obvious. Kensi thinks she would have liked Jessica. Lance agrees. Francis, by the way, is a rottweiler. Kensi starts to ask Lance about dating again but he mentions that he can’t see himself dating another woman. He’s sad. So is Kensi.

On a video call, the Admiral talks to Col. Tuivasa, Tom Olsen’s former commanding officer, about his new career. Nobody at SOCOM on JSOC had problems with “Lt. Olsen’s works of fiction.” In fact, the members of the military are some of his biggest fans. Reviewing his work with the SEALs, they can’t find any obvious reason there would be a hit on him but everyone is checking to make sure. With a career in the SEALs and CIA, Olsen likely had enemies. Kilbride remembers a time when SEALs would keep a low-profile returning to the civilian live. Tuivasa tells him “Things are a little different these days.” Besides, there is nothing wrong with making a good living once out of the service. Kilbride agrees but is proud that nobody in “the Twitter-Tock universe knows who the hell I am.”

In the boat shed, Castor introduces Fatima and Sabatino to Lauren Olsen, Tom’s wife. Castor brought her to be boat shed. After the introductions, Fatima tries to reassure Lauren they believe her husband is alive but it is not needed – Lauren is sure he’s alive. When Fatima asks how, Sabatino tells Fatima that Lauren knows what her husband is capable of. Lauren explains he is comfortable in the South Valley in Utah – he has homefield advantage. Fatima asks about security concerns since the career change. Lauren things they are blessed, Olsen loves to write and now is getting paid for it. He loves to write but not do any of the publicity around selling a book but they both understand that’s now how publishing works. While Olsen wasn’t worried that someone would come after him, he was worried about Lauren and Robbie, their son. Fatima arranges a safehouse for Lauren and Robbie.

Back in Ops, there are no threats against Olsen from the SEALs, the CIA or the publishing world. That changes the investigation from the why, why are people after Olsen, to the who – who are the people after him. The Admiral wants to know everything about the shooters. Rountree found IDs for the two men but the IDs go back to men who have been dead for five years. The Admiral wants them tracked down.

Kensi fangirls to Lance about Olsen’s books. His hero is a normal man – he gets hurt, he gets scared. She’s read them all and recommends them to Lance. Lance is a “wait for the movie” kind of guy, which doesn’t surprise Kensi. Reading from her satellite phone, Olsen’s footprints disappeared about 20-yards from the shooting location. He disappeared. That makes sense to Kensi since Darren McCall was trained by the best tracker in Colorado. Lance asks about Darren McCall and learns that’s the hero in Olsen’s books. She thinks that the detail and expertise that appears in the books are the same expertise Olsen has. With four against Olsen, he is in for a hell of a fight – so are Kensi and Lance.

As Fatima makes tea, Sabatino complains about the year 2009 magazines in the boat shed. Fatima likes 2009, it was the year she got her drivers license. “Oh geez, I have jeans as old as you,” Sabatino replies. Fatima congratulates him – they’re coming back into fashion. Castor arrives with a woman named Marina, but he didn’t get her last name. She didn’t offer it, Marina says. Sabatino jumps up from the couch – he and Marina go way back. He hugs her and she throws him to the ground. Revenge for Kyoto. Fatima asks Sabatino if anyone likes him. The best he can come up with is his third wife.

Marina worked with Olsen, and “this moron” meaning Sabatino who is still trying to stand, at the CIA. She learned that there was a threat against Olsen at a book signing about a month ago but security diverted the threat before Olsen arrived. He likely never knew. The threat was a man named Austin. Finally off the floor, Sabatino teases Marina that she misses him.

Rountree arrives in Kilbride’s office with some updates. Kensi and Lance landed in Utah. The threat at Olsen’s book signing was a man named Luke Austin. Austin is in LA with four handguns and an AR-15. He’s big on guns and motorcycle clubs even though he doesn’t have a motorcycle license. Fatima and Sabatino are going to check out Austin. The Admiral is concerned that maybe some bikers have an issue with Olsen. He also wants to talk to Olsen’s publisher – Kelsey Shore. She lied to him about the threats against Olsen.

Kensi tells Lance that they found Olsen’s backpack full of deer meat but nothing else. The two guns used in the attack against Olsen had no numbers – they’re ghost guns and untraceable. Lance figures out the attack on Olsen based on what he left behind.

Waiting for Austin by his work, Fatima asks Sabatino what gives – everyone in the office says Sabatino talks all the time and Kensi finds him “straight up hilarious”. But he won’t talk to Fatima. Sabatino said that he was like that as a younger man but he’s different now. Fatima rolls her eyes and leaves the car. Sabatino follows her, explaining that it isn’t Fatima but it is everyone her age. They’re all so serious. If he said something funny, she might get offended and then he’d get “that call.” Then, the NCIS HR lady with the one good eye calls him and tells him the joke is going into his personnel file. Fatima argues her generation has a sense of humor.

Tracking through Utah, Kensi remembers that Darren McCall would follow his own tracks to change direction. Kensi walks back a few steps and finds blood on a large stone. A test on the blood comes back as B-Negative, Olsen’s type and rare blood type to boot.

Fatima and Sabatino approach Luke Austin, who is a bit nerdish. When they mention Tom Olsen, Austin freaks out about the rent-a-cops at the book signing. Austin is unhappy about the treatment of the Andre Gane character in “On My Six” – the character was killed off despite being the moral compass of the entire series. Sabatino makes sure Austin didn’t want to hurt Olsen. Austin says look at me – could he really hurt Olsen? Asked about the guns, Austin is a fan of guns. Asked if he’s left the state in the last five-days, Austin confesses he hasn’t left Orange County in the last five-years. He also has issues with millennials who identify with specific houses in “Harry Potter”. Fatima is offended.

Kensi and Lance come across another failed assassin. This one also has been shot by a bow and arrow but is impaled on a fallen tree limb. Kensi thinks Olsen saw the gunman sitting in a tree waiting for him to come by. Olsen got him first. The dead man’s walkie-talkie goes off with someone speaking in Portuguese with a Brazilian accent. Lance is surprised Kensi speaks Portuguese. She answers in the language. The walkie-talkie goes off again. The man on the other side is angry, they want to find and kill Olsen so they can all go home. The walkie-talkie reports that the three remaining hitmen found Olsen and are moving in on him.

The Admiral is reading the riot act to Olsen’s publisher. She did not believe the threats were “relevant” to the investigation. He calls her a moron. Rountree arrives to hear the Admiral complain that New York publishing executives are worse than Hollywood executives. “Good to know, sir,” is all Rountree has for that comment. Rountree found one of the shooters passed through a small entry station between Mexico and California a few days ago. Reviewing video of everyone – and that meant old people, families with kid – that passed, five men with a similar profile passed through the entry station. They are all young, fit, with no luggage. Their names trace back to people who died in the last few years. “Someone with means is funding this.” The Admiral wants to hear from Nina Barnes – she’d know who could get those style weapons, the ghost guns, to the gunmen. Rountree is a fan of the red velvet cupcakes. He started following her on Instagram and shows it to the Admiral. Nina has a food truck and updates her offerings daily with a video. “I feel a deep sense of embarrassment for Nina.” Fatima and Sabatino are on their way.

As one of the gunmen comes close to Kensi and Lance, she signals for Lance to “choke him out”. Lance doesn’t understand. He picks up the gunman and drives the man into the ground. There are now just two gunmen left.

There is a long line of cupcake fans but Fatima and Sabatino have to take Nina Barnes away from her cupcake food truck. With her foot in a boot – a spelunking accident – Barnes thinks she should be in a better place with Kilbride. Looking at Sabatino, she asks “what are you”, wanting to know his background. He claims Italian but she disagrees – Armenian. On his mother’s side. They ask about the ghost guns and the shooters being from Brazil. Fatima takes over the cake truck with Sabatino ‘s help as Barnes makes some phone calls.

A gunman starts walking toward Kensi and Lance before collapsing with an arrow in his back. “It’s about damn time the cavalry arrived,” Tom Olsen tells Kensi and Lance. Tom is bleeding from his shoulder. Kensi introduces Lance. Olsen notes that they are making DOJ agents bigger than they use to. As she tends to his wound, Kensi asks about Tom’s cane. After four years of physical therapy with a team of professionals, he’s finally walking without it. Kensi is impressed. Olsen isn’t – he and the physical therapists will all be back together as they try to heal his arm. With one gunman left, Olsen doesn’t think it is a far fight for the would be killer. Lance gives Olsen a mix of water and electrolytes to drink.

Sabatino is impressed by the cupcakes. Barnes was wondering why people were lined up to give her money for them – “mystery solved.” This program needed her after season six. The ghost guns were sold by a rival to Barnes’s contact. Ten ghost gun rifles and survival packs were supplied. There are four more assassins out there. They also have an Airpeek Professional Drone with a five-pound payload. It is carrying C-4. Everything was delivered to a ranch – Barnes sent the details to Kilbride. As Sabatino walks away, he asks for a cupcake and gets one – just one.

Ronaldo Campos is running the ranch. While most of it is classified, Kilbride tells Rountree that SOCOM said Campos is in the kidnapping business. A SEAL team killed Campos’s brother seven-years ago when they were rescuing a kidnapped executive. Olsen was a SEAL seven-years ago. SOCOM is investigating how Ronaldo Campos learned about the SEALs involvement. Fatima, Sabatino and Rountree are being brought to the ranch by a helicopter to capture Campos and find who is controlling the drone.

Kensi, Lance and Olsen are going to a rescue site to be flown out of the valley. As they move on, a drone is following them. With a helicopter five minutes out from their rescue site, Olsen thinks he’s two-hours away from a nice ribeye. If Olsen makes it three ribeyes, Lance will bring the tequila. As they wait, a series of gunmen come out of nowhere and open fire.

Fatima and Sabatino take out the two guards watching the ranch. Rountree gets a look inside the house. There are two guards and a drone pilot in the middle of the room. Rountree drops a flash-bang into the room. Fatima and Sabatino fight with the two guards in the room but the drone pilot runs away. Rountree is following him.

While the gunshots keep coming, Kensi is trying to figure out a way to get them to safety.

Rountree tackles the drone pilot, tossing the drone controls to Fatima.

Kensi opens fire on the bad guys but runs out ammo. Tom is out of ammo too. Kensi sees the drone coming and is trying to get a shot off with a different weapon. The drone makes a sudden turn and blows up around the killers. One survives with Lance taking him into custody.

Arriving back at the office, Fatima and Rountree listen to Sabatino complain about the helicopter ride. Sabatino brings Greek-Armenian food and passes out some beers. When Rountree hands Fatima some mineral water, Sabatino asks if that’s a health thing or a Muslim thing. She mentions HR and he laughs. Rountree is going to go with her to HR. Sabatino doesn’t know if they are serious or not.

No ribeyes on the plane, just some boxed sandwiches and salads. Olsen toasts his friend Webby Yamada, “a good dude.” Sad, Olsen says that all Yamada did was invite him to hunt on his land, he didn’t deserve what happened. The book publicity put Olsen on the Campos’s radar. SOCOM is looking to see who leaked the information about Olsen. Campos is in custody – he’ll never be a free man.

The Admiral calls with kind words for Kensi, Lance and Olsen. Kilbride turns the phone over to Rosa. Kensi apologizes for being out of touch. Rosa had a great day bodysurfing. She and the Admiral are having pizza until Kensi comes back to LA. Kensi tries to thank the Admiral, it means the world to her. “Why must everything be about you Agent Blye?”

There is a card at the end with a photo of longtime series director Terrence O’Hara, who passed away during the season. “Our brother, our teach, our friend.”

What head canon can be formed from here: A good episode with limited resources. Early in the program’s run, there was a need for outside characters. Sabatino and Hamilton provided that while everyone else was wrapping up the crossover episodes. Throw in Nina Barnes and while Sam not being around to rescue his buddy Tom was noticeable, the people around to help were up to the job.

While she had just one scene, Lauren Olsen was exactly the wife Tom Olsen would have – Sabatino nailed that. She knew her husband would stay alive until he could get to help or help could get to him.

Nice callback to “Let It Burn” with “the Speedo incident” for Rountree. Nice callback to “Decoy” in season 11 to the sushi with Lance for Kensi. Nina Barnes’s red velvet cupcakes brought to the office by Kilbride got a mention for the second consecutive episode. Those must be great cupcakes.

The cool armory from the ceiling, like the back deck of the boat shed, should have been in the program for several years.

Lovely tribute at the end to Terrence O’Hara. O’Hara directed 29-episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles, 56 episodes of the mothership and four-episodes of NCIS: New Orleans. He also directed an X-Files episode, my first fandom.

Episode number: This is the 11th episode of season 14, the 313th episode overall.

#NCIS: Los Angeles Rewatch #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la

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