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typingtess · 5 months ago

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NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Rewatch: “A Long Time Coming”

The basics: Morgan Miller moves on to Los Angeles as part of the Simon Williams project.

Written by: R. Scott Gemmill wrote/cowrote “The Only Easy Day”, “Brimstone”, “Breach”, “LD50”, “Found”, “Borderline”, “Absolution”, “Archangel”, “Tin Soldiers”, “Impostors”, “Cyberthreat”, “Honor”, “The Watchers” and both sides of the NCIS Los: Angeles/Hawaii Five-0 “Touch of Death” episodes, “Recruit”, “Free Ride”, “Wanted”, “Ravens and The Swans”, “Impact”, “War Cries”, both ends of the “Deep Trouble” season five finale/season six premiere, “Inelegant Heart”, “Praesidium”, “Traitor”, “Active Measures” (season seven premiere), “Blame It On Rio”, “Internal Affairs”, “Matryoshka” part one, "Talion" (season seven finale), “High Value Target”/”Belly of the Beast” (season eight premieres), “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Under Siege”, “Unleashed” (season eight finale), “Party Crashers” (season nine’s premiere), “This Is What We Do” (episode 200), “Các Tù Nhân”, “Goodbye Vietnam”, “Ninguna Salida” (the season nine finale), “Hit List”, “Asesinos”, “Till Death Do Us Part”, “Choke Point”, “The Guardian”, “Hail Mary”, “Kill Beale Vol. 1”, “Alsiyadun”, “Fortune Favors the Brave”, “The Bear” (season 12 premiere), “Angry Karen”, “Love Kills”, “Russia, Russia, Russia”, “The Noble Maidens”, “A Tale of Two Igors” (season 12 finale), "Subject 17" (season 13 premiere), "All The Little Things", “MWD”, “Work and Family” and “Game of Drones” (season 14 premiere).

Directed by: Dennis Smith directed “Fame”, “Standoff”, “Rocket Man”, “Cyberthreat”, “Exit Strategy”, “Patriot Acts”, “Out of the Past” part one, “The Livelong Day”, Between the Lines”, “Deep Trouble” part two, “Black Budget", “Black Wind”, “Blame it On Rio”, “Defectors”, “Matryoshka” part one, “Granger, O”, “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Hot Water”, “From Havana With Love”, “Plain Sight”, the lighthearted “Monster”, “Superhuman”, “One of Us”, “Smokescreen” part one, “Decoy”, “Mother” (episode 250), “Alsiyadun”, “The Bear”, “Angry Karen”, “Signs of Change”, “Fukushu” and “Dead Stick”.

Smith directed 63 episodes of NCIS so far, the most by any director.

Guest stars of note: Crossing over from parts one and two are Gary Cole as NCIS Special Agent Alden Parker, Wilmer Valderrama as NCIS Special Agent Nicholas "Nick" Torres and Vanessa Lachey as NCIS Special Agent Jane Tennant. Joining in on the fun is Yasmine Al-Bustami as NCIS Agent Lucy Tara. Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier returns from “Flesh and Blood” as NCIS Reserve Agent Shyla Dahr, Lesley Boone is back from “Come Together”, the season 13 finale, as Nina Barnes. Maya Stojan finishes up the crossover as Morgan Miller, Jose Pablo Cantillo as Pierce and Stephen Mendel as Jimmy McCann

Our heroes: Finally get to be part of a big crossover!

What important things did we learn about: Callen: Wouldn’t mind doing this all again. Sam: Swimming his way to the boat shed. Kensi: Driving Fatima back to the office so Fatima has proper time to beat herself up over Rountree’s kidnapping. Deeks: Promises Fatima they will find Rountree. Fatima: Not going home until Rountree is found. Rountree: Dean Rossmore, personal trainer. Kilbride: Hunting.

What not so important things did we learn about: Callen: Crazy cat lady who doesn’t know their place smells. 1.0. Sam: Crazy cat lady who doesn’t know their place smells 2.0. Kensi: A rare showing as not the episode’s best sniper. Deeks: Gluten allergy. Fatima: Fan of hot yoga. Rountree: Not a fan of rooms full of sweaty, smelly people. Kilbride: Last of the original Simon Williams.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange? Rountree mentions that Hetty has a number of real estate holdings. Callen guarantees Hetty knew about the Simon Williams project and was proven right. She provides the Kilbride look-a-like.

Who's down with OTP: Lovely scene outside between the armory and firing range between Kensi and Deeks and Deeks’s red truck was murdered.

Who's down with BrOTP: Fatima was truly worried about Rountree.

Fashion review: Callen wore a blue and white button down shirt while Sam back to his long-sleeve black tee. Kensi wore a wine-colored tee with cap sleeves. Deeks had on a slate-blue long-sleeve tee. Fatima wore a white long-sleeve turtleneck under a black cami. Rountree wore a long-sleeve athletic tee. Admiral Kilbride wore a desert camo sniper suit before returning to the office in a khaki leisure suit. While at the airplane graveyard, everyone had on light colored gear.

Music: None. This was a missed opportunity for all three episodes. There should have been celebratory music for The Professor’s retirement, local music in both Hawai’i and Los Angeles.

Any notable cut scene: No. There was a behind the scenes look at the three-episodes as “A Killer Crossover”. NCIS writer/executive producer Steven Binder said they always knew they’d do a three-show crossover. The writers room at NCIS: Hawai’i came up with the idea of a “Dread Pirate Roberts” of assassins and some other foundational ideas. Working with the two other programs, they built the outline where things would start and finish. Binder said it was written out of order so the writers met on Zoom so that everyone that the right feel for their show but also kept the three episodes on track.

Brian Dietzen (Jimmy Palmer) thought it would be the best crossover of any of the NCISs because all three show runners were working together. The storyline moved seamlessly through the three episodes. The goal was to have the audience sit and watch for three-hours straight.

Matt Bosack, NCIS: Hawai’i executive producer, spoke about the challenge of the logistics but fortunately, everyone really wanted things to work. Binder said the programs’ shooting schedules were impacted because sending actors to Hawai’i meant they weren’t necessarily available for the episode before or the episode after the crossover. R. Scott Gemmill of NCIS: Los Angeles said the easy part was shooting with NCIS since they were just “up the road” but COVID played a part of the filming too because of some Hawai’i protocols. Noah Mills (Jesse Boone) and Gary Cole (Alden Parker) discussed how it was complicated this all was.

NCIS writer Christopher Waild, who wrote part one, really wanted the scenes familiar to NCIS where there are jurisdictional disputes or conversations in the hallways but they are with familiar characters from other programs.

Vanessa Lachey (Jane Tennant) said it was “really cool” to see the “Orange Room” of the main NCIS set. Some of the partitions are duct taped together to keep the signature look of “the mothership”. Wilmer Valderrama (Nick Torres) was excited to show off “the mothership” – the icon set. They were also proud of their food/craft services and the great breakfast that can be ordered.

LL Cool J (Sam Hanna) spoke about “The Professor” and how the fans could see how all the teams interact. Valderrama said the shows have a runway to explore the other programs. He also thought it was fun because a few of the cast members know each other off set.

NCIS: Los Angeles shot first, NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’i were sort of staggered with some overlapping days.

Dietzen spoke about the episodes featuring the team leader for all three shows including the NCISverse’s first female leader. Vanessa Lachey was also the captain of her Hawai’i set. Hawai’i is a main character of the program – a big backdrop according to Jason Antoon (Ernie Malik) and Tori Anderson (Kate Whistler). They go on location more than most programs to showcase the area and the culture.

Alex Tarrant (Kai Holman) thought the crossover was a nice experience for the Hawai’i crew. Exciting to see other actors. Gary Cole found the other sets comfortable places because everyone spends so much time on the set.

Yasmine Al-Bustami (Lucy Tara) and Medalion Rahimi (Fatima Namazi) spoke about the different styles on the set but how much everything was the same – it all felt like family. They are cousins coming back for a family reunion.

Chris O’Donnell (G. Callen) and Vanessa Lachey spoke about Los Angeles being a spinoff and how New Orleans and Hawai’i all came from the NCIS. There is a way to contrast how things are done in Washington, Los Angeles and Hawai’i. It brings a different energy to the shows – brings it up.

R. Scott Gemmill thought he had the easiest part because it was the wrap-up and knew how he had to write around Callen and Sam being gone around the episodes. The airplane graveyard was a cool place to shoot according to Gemmill but the airplane were creaky and made all sorts of noise.

Rahimi liked the different feel from the actors. Al-Bustami was excited to work with the other universe and show them off to the fans. The crossover was a nod to the fans of the show to see Parker work with Ernie in Hawai’i.

Quote: Hetty: “Sounds like you've gotten yourselves in a bit of a pickle. I warned Hollace his Simon Williams days would come back to bite him in the ass. You are all quite capable, and far be it for me to tell you what to do, but you might want to contact an old friend, Gwen Johns, and inquire about the availability of Jimmy McCann….Good luck. Oh, and Alden? Don't think for a moment I've forgotten about the $600 you still owe me.”

Anything else: A person walks into the armory takes out quite a bit of gear. They also leave the group photo of the Simon Williams behind.

Kensi walks into Ops asking about Kilbride. Nobody can get him on the phone/texted/etc. according to Shyla. Fatima and Rountree are on their way to his home to check. He was last seen several hours ago in the building but there is no record of him leaving.

Fatima and Rountree are going into Kilbride’s home and chatting. She’d rather be at the beach or taking a hot yoga class, Rountree isn’t a fan of hot yoga. Fatima sees him as a Zumba guy.

Back in the office, Jane and Nick are giving Shyla the business about not knowing where Kilbride is, especially since she’s his assistant. Callen and Sam are not thrilled with the way Jane and Nick are pressing Shyla. So Jane and Nick start pressing Callen and Sam on Kilbride’s location. As the head of OSP, Kilbride must be available 24/7. Sam explains that Kilbride is not “much of a team player.” Callen looks around the empty office building and asks about the staff. Nick tells him all non-essential personnel were sent home. Nick doesn’t have the authority to do that but an arriving Alden Parker explains that Jane as the SAC of the Hawai’i office has jurisdiction over all NCIS offices in the Pacific Rim.

With the Admiral not answering his door, Fatima picks the lock reluctantly. “Better you than me,” Rountree remarks. Once house, Fatima has the code to turn off the burglar alarm but can’t remember is Shyla sent it to her as a text or in an e-mail. With the alarm off, Rountree is still worried. He doesn’t think the Admiral likes him and breaking into Kilbride’s house and looking around – not a way to win friends. The house is immaculate. Kilbride is not there.

Jane explains to Callen, Sam, Shyla, Nick and Parker that Kilbride is the only survivor of the original Simon Williams program. He was supposed to testify in front of Congress about the program but now Kilbride’s gone. Callen notes it would be a lot easier to find Kilbride if Jane didn’t send all the NCIS staffers home. Nick notes he’s there to help. So is the Hawai’i office’s Lucy Tara, who is going through the Admiral’s files in Kilbride’s office. Thinking the office location has been compromised, sending everyone home is for the staff’s protection.

Callen wants Shyla to call Sabatino to see what he knows about Simon Williams project and Morgan Miller. When asked if Sabino is trustworthy, Callen and Sam kinda sorta almost think he is. Sabatino's CIA past comes up, as does Callen’s. That’s news to Jane. Callen is suddenly eyed as being suspicious – could he be a Simon Williams? “You don’t want to go there,” Sam tells Nick. Callen tells the group he heard of Simon Williams while at the CIA but thought it was an urban myth. Everyone is welcome to look at his past as long as they look at Jane’s. Callen isn’t the only ex-CIA in the building. “They had a great health plan,” Jane explains.

With Callen and Jane not knowing about Simon Williams, the plan is to find Kilbride, take out the bad guys. Callen thinks Kilbride ghosted NCIS for their own safety – he knows who is coming for him.

Fatima and Rountree are surprised by Kilbride’s home – no laptop, no TV. There is nothing personal about the house. Rountree wonders if Kilbride even lives there. He’s heard that Hetty has houses all over the place, maybe Kilbride does as well. Fatima thinks Shyla would know where a second home would be. A tear gas canister goes off near the kitchen where Fatima is with a heavily armed man making his way into the house. Fatima goes into the living room, jumping behind a short bookcase to avoid being shot. If this is a rental, Kilbride is so not getting his deposit back.

Rountree takes out a second gunman as Fatima hides by the couch. A third gunman behind Rountree something it him – much bigger than a bullet – knocking him to the ground. The smoke alarm is ringing, Fatima is coughing and Rountree is gone. Only his weapon is left behind.

Going through Kilbride’s office, Lucy tells Parker that all she can find is some nice cigars and scotch. Shayla enters the office with the news of the attack on Fatima and the kidnapping of Rountree.

Kensi and Deeks arrive at Kilbride’s. Upset and sitting the back of an ambulance, Fatima tells the two that Rountree was abducted by “tac’d up” gunmen with gas masks. Her eyes are swollen and red. Deeks asks if Rountree was injured. An emotional Fatima does not know but there is no blood. She wishes the kidnappers took her instead. Kensi and Deeks put a fast end to that conversation. Kensi offers to have Deeks drive Fatima home. That’s a hard no for Fatima – she’s in this as long as Rountree is missing. She’s coughing and upset. Kensi gives Fatima the oxygen mask and tells her just to breathe for ten-minutes to clear out her lungs. When then ten-minutes are up, she should call Shyla and recount everything she can about the attack. Deeks promises Fatima they are going to find Rountree. Kensi does not look thrilled with that promise.

In Ops, Parker asks Shyla about Rountree. His phone is dead and there is no video footage of vehicles driving away from Kilbride’s home. Sabatino came through, however. Morgan Miller was close to another CIA Agent named David Ellis. While with the CIA, both had ID’s from the Department of Agriculture. Parker wants Shyla to put out an APB on Miller (one has been issued already? What are we doing people?). He also wants Shyla and Lucy to dig up dirt on David Ellis. Asking if Sabatino knew about Simon Williams – he didn’t – Parker wants Shyla to call the head of the CIA. They need to cooperate or all the Simon Williams death and destruction will be on the news. What if the head of the CIA won’t take her call, Shyla asks. Then the SecNav and the head of ODNI need to contacted. “It’s time to rattle some cages.” Shyla starts to rattle.

Going through what’s left of Kilbride’s home, Sam finds military grade tear gas cannister and shells. He wonders who in Los Angeles could secure that level of equipment – Nina Barnes. And she knows Kilbride. So if she isn’t arming the bad guys, she may be hiding Kilbride. As Callen texts Kensi and Deeks to talk to Nina Barnes, Sam finds a bean bag projectile. The kidnappers wanted Rountree alive, figuring he may know where Kilbride is. Callen doesn’t think Kilbride is hiding, he thinks Kilbride is hunting. Sam is worried that Rountree is going to be tortured for Kilbride’s location – information Rountree does not have.

Sweaty with a hood over his head, Rountree is sitting in an abandoned airplane. Removing the hood, Miller asks “Where is your boss?” Rountree tries to sell being unemployed but that gets him punched. Miller brings up Rountree’s employment history. He says he’s Dean Rossmore, a personal trainer. That gets him punched again. Miller asks for Kilbride’s location. When Rountree replies “who”, he gets punched again with the warning that Miller can do this all day. Rountree would like to see her try, which gets him hit with the back of her hand. Rountree now teases she hits like a girl. She punches him really hard.

Back in the office, Nick thinks the people who grabbed Rountree used Simon Williams-style tactics. Jane thinks whoever has Rountree wants to trade him for Kilbride. Except they don’t have Kilbride. Parker asks Callen and Sam who Kilbride trusts in the office. Sam doesn’t think Kilbride trusts anyone, inside or outside of the office. No family, no friends. Col. Ladd’s name comes up but Ladd hasn’t heard from the Admiral. Sam is sure Kilbride would not put Ladd in danger. Callen brings up Kilbride’s estranged son. There are safety concerns for the son.

Lucy joins the group. While looking for David Ellis, she found a page on the Dark Web that the Admiral visited. “Dead Sector” has a list of assassination targets where all transactions will be done in crypto. On one Dead Sector page is Kilbride, Callen, Sam, Kensi, Deeks, Parker, Nick, Jane and Lucy. It is 10-bitcoins ($200,000) for almost everyone – Kilbride is going for 15 ($300K). It is a Craigslist for killers. Parker wants the site shut down.

Rountree is still cracking-wise, which has Miller remarking that he is tougher than “your partner.” Denying he has a partner, Miller talks about the “cutie” in the hijab – “I mean she was cute when we grabbed her.” Rountree talks about needing to use the bathroom, “unless you want this to get really, really awkward for all of us.” Miller promises things will all be over long before that. Rountree doesn’t think Miller wants to end things – this is how she “gets her kink on.” He’s not one to judge however. Besides, “my mama gave out way worse whuppings than this.” David Ellis puts plastic over Rountree face to suffocate him.

At Kilbride’s, Fatima is yelling at someone in Ops about traffic cams as Kensi arrives. Fatima wants to know if Kensi has any Ring cam footage from Kilbride’s neighbors. With it being the middle of the workday, nobody is really home but Kensi left notes at all the neighbors. Fatima is asking for satellite footage – maybe one was passing by during the attack. Kensi wants Fatima to calm down and go home. She’s not doing herself or Rountree any good. Fatima is not going home but Kensi is taking her back to Ops – “you can beat yourself up on the ride over.”

Nick startles Deeks, who is sitting in his truck. Deeks is pretty sure he was doing tai chi. Nick is filling in for Kensi, who is taking care of Fatima, and wants an update. Deeks is watching Nina Barnes’s bakery – no major weaponry comes through LA without Barnes’s knowledge. Nick wonders why she hasn’t been arrested. With Nina “retired” and helpful on some cases, she gets a little pass with her shared history with Kilbride. Nick wonders if that history is sexual. Deeks flips out – that’s a vision he can’t get out of his head. Nick apologizes, he heard Deeks was the sensitive one. Deeks disagrees – Sam is the sensitive one – all strong on the outside but gooey on the inside, like a hot pocket. Deeks seems himself more as a street dog, a lone wolf. Nick understands, it explains the lack of grooming. A blue van drives past Deeks and Nick.

Inside the bakery, Deeks, after introducing Nick from “fancy pants Washington”, asks about Kilbride. Nina asks who wants to know and Deeks brings up that he wants to know. She can’t sure because of doctor/client privilege. Nick asks who is the doctor and Nina is – a PhD in military history. Now it is time for Nina to ask questions – like if Nick is single. “It’s complicated.” Deeks wants to know what is going on. He asks Nina to focus and she does – on cinnamon buns (Nick) and what makes him such a special agent.

Looking through Hetty’s office, Callen guarantees that Hetty knew about the Simon Williams project. She may but Sam can’t find any proof in her office. Callen gets an encrypted e-mail from an anonymous sender about Mr. Simon Williams. Sam thinks it may be from Rountree’s kidnappers but without a password, Callen can’t open the encrypted e-mail. Sam gets an anonymous text that says “Leviticus 28”. Callen wonders what that could mean. Sam explains that Leviticus has 27 chapters in the Bible – it is probably the password. Callen worries that it could also be the way to trigger a cyber-attack on NCIS when entered.

Back at the bakery, Deeks asks Nina about Simon Williams but she doesn’t recognize the name until Nick mentions the CIA. She remembers him as a Carlos the Jackal type. Deeks thinks more Dread Pirate Roberts (good comparison). Nobody recognizes “The Princess Bride”. Nick explains the Simon Williams project to Nina and Nina just loves Nick’s accent. She promises to show him a great time in Los Angeles when Deeks jumps in. Someone is trying to kill Kilbride, they kidnapped an NCIS agent who is being tortured, Deeks needs her help. Nina thinks Kilbride will be fine, she just got him an Accuracy International L115A3 sniper rifle. Deeks wonders why Kilbride asked for a sniper rifle. Nina brings up the CIA killers – “aren’t you supposed to be a detective?” Deeks explains he was a detective, now he is an investigator. Nick is surprise Deeks is not a Special Agent. Nina is worried things turned awkward. Deeks asks about how Kilbride contacted her. Kilbride left a message on her answering machine and picked up the gun the next day. She threw in a dozen red velvet cupcakes, which Deeks noted he brought to the office. Nina asked if Deeks liked the cupcakes but he as a gluten allergy. “Of course,” Nick sighs.

In Ops, Shyla tells Callen, Sam and Parker the Mr. Simon Williams e-mail to Callen from [email protected] bounced around the world before making its way to Callen’s in-box. The last place it was seen was a server proxy in Khartoum. Kilbride could have sent it. Opening the e-mail, it is an audio file. It doesn’t have the best sound but it seems Hetty warned Kilbride that his Simon Williams days “would come back to bite him in the ass.” She thinks the team is quite capable but if they need help, she’d contact Gwyn Johns about the availability of Jimmy McCann. Oh, and Parker still owes her $600 for the Monaco fiasco. Callen is pissed that it is Hetty. Parker assures everyone he doesn’t owe Hetty a dime. Jane just wants to know how Hetty knows what’s going on. “Behold the many mysteries of Hetty,” says Sam. Parker calls Hetty a witch, which angers Callen.

Gwen Johns in Los Angeles is a casting director. Sam explains that Hetty was a costumer in Hollywood as a cover for her CIA work. Jimmy McCann is an actor who looks exactly like Kilbride.

Nick needs a ride from Deeks – NCIS only allows one rental car for two agents. As they walk to Deeks’s truck, the blue van returns, with guns a blazing. Deeks and Nick are fine – even return fire and shooting one of the men in the van. Deeks’s truck, however, is a mess. The low-tech assassination attempt is not a Simon Williams project. It is a few guys looking for the Dark Web bounty. “Welcome to Hollywood,” Deeks tells Nick, who is calling them an Uber.

After another near Rountree suffocation, Miller tells her henchman to bring “the hijabi” in. Miller is going to kill Fatima in front of him. Rountree gives up the boat shed as Kilbride’s location. Smiling, Miller notes that torture does work. Though if Kilbride isn’t in the boatshed, she would killed Rountree’s “girlfriend” in front of him. Rountree explains that Fatima isn’t his girlfriend. Miller thinks that’s a shame – Fatima was kind of cute before all this. Rountree demands to see her but Miller promises things aren’t pretty.

Deeks arrives at the armory and gets a big hug from Kensi. He’s fine, the truck isn’t. Kensi doesn’t care about the truck but as good Americans, Deeks thinks they should. Both are worried about how to explain this to Rosa. There is no handbook for this conversation. Deeks asks about Fatima, who is still freaking out. Deeks thinks they’ve earned a family vacation after all this – maybe Winnipeg. He doesn’t really want to go to Winnipeg, just likes saying it.

In Ops, Callen and Sam explain to Jane and Parker that they will set-up Jimmy McCann in the boat shed. Morgan Miller’s Simon Williams group will show up and grab him. If the CIA knows about the main office, they would know about the boat shed. Let that work in their favor right now. Jane says it is one thing for the Kilbride look-a-like to walk into the boat shed but if team Simon Williams see Callen and Sam join him, what’s the point. Callen says they aren’t going to see them walk into the boat shed. Parker mentions a tunnel into the boat shed and Callen almost agrees – “something like that.”

Lucy joins Fatima in the armory. Fatima is in no mood to talk, she’s just getting geared up. Lucy is told to take whatever she needs. The bad guys have no chance against the combined NCIS forces Lucy tries to assure Fatima.

Kensi and Deeks are staking out the boat shed with Fatima and Lucy in a separate vehicle. Parker is running things from Ops with Shyla, warning that these are not the typical criminals – Fatima and Rountree learned that the hard way. Deeks says this should be fine – it isn’t like they all aren’t wanted by killers looking for a bounty. “Oh wait, we are.”

Callen, Sam, Jane and Nick use the trap door to get into the boatshed. Jane complains about the dirty water, Nick just about the smell. When Sam notes that the Potomac isn’t any cleaner, Nick tells Sam he doesn’t swim in the Potomac either. Jane and Nick take the second floor, Callen and Sam will be watching from boat shed’s main floor. Jane wonders if it smells as bad up on the second floor. Callen and Sam look confused until Jane realizes they are like the “crazy old cat lady who doesn’t realize their own house smells.”

International Almost Kilbride walks into the boat shed. Sam asks how many times has he been a double for the Admiral. Couple of times in DC, one in Turkey, a few times in Venezuela. Jane and Nick take Jimmy to the second floor.

Two dark, large SUVs pull up outside of the boat shed. Two, two-man teams “loaded for bear with body armor” make their way to the front door. They shoot their way in. Nick yells “federal agents” and we’ve done this for almost 1,000 episodes at this point. All hell breaks loose. Callen, Sam, Jane and Nick take care of three of the men while a fourth goes back to one of the SUVs. Deeks is in that SUV, waiting.

Taking off their ski masks, the three dead men are not Morgan Miller. Neither is the guy by the SUV – that’s David Ellis. Miller still has Rountree.

In Interrogation, Ellis is told he is looking at hard time. If Ellis turns over Morgan Miller, he could be helping himself. Watching Callen, Sam and Ellis from the main room TV, Fatima wants to know how long they are going to wait for Ellis to talk. She walks past Jane and Nick to break into interrogation. She grabs Ellis and wants to know where Rountree is. Sam peels her off Ellis before passing Fatima to Jane. Jane offers to make Fatima some tea – tea Fatima wants to use to scald Ellis.

Tracking the dead men’s cellphone, Lucy can’t pinpoint where they call came from. Kensi and Deeks are looking through the SUVs. The SUVs are clean. Kensi is sending over the GPS info from the SUVs. Cross-referencing the different locations with the cellphone locations, Lucy finds a place in the Mojave. Nick carelessly mentions it would be a good place to dump a body. That earns him a glare from Fatima.

One of the cellphones starts ringing. Nick brings it in to Ellis, who won’t answer it. Callen suggest bringing in Fatima to help Ellis cooperate. In Ops, Shyla traces the call – it is coming from an airplane boneyard in the Mojave. Parker wants a transport helicopter bringing the team to the boneyard. He also wants Shyla to have local law enforcement to circle the location to keep the bad guys from running. With Edwards Air Force Base 20-miles away, Parker wants Shyla to ask the base commander for some wheels.

In the plane, Morgan tells a henchman says that Ellis missed his first check in and none of the other gunmen are answering their phones. She is worried that the Admiral is not a soft target. If Miller and her henchman in the plane don’t hear from Ellis in 15-minutes – the next check-in – they’re pulling out with Rountree as insurance.

Plane henchman goes outside and tells other henchmen to pay attention. He notices there are dune buggies coming near the plane. They could just be joyriders. Miller wants to move.

Fatima takes out one henchman with Lucy’s help. Kensi and Deeks order one henchman to drop his weapon. He obeys. Nick’s henchman gets into some hand to hand combat. Jane takes the guy out with the butt of her rifle. Nick assures Jane he was in control.

Miller takes Rountree out of the plane with her indoor henchman leading the way. Callen and Sam try to stop them but Miller and company open fire. Miller uses Rountree as a shield. Callen and Sam take out the henchman, Miller is shot from a distance.

Fatima runs to Rountree, who talks about his five knuckle facial and jet leg. She hugs him and he hugs her back, thanking Fatima.

Sam, Callen, Kensi, Deeks, Jane, Lucy and Nick are looking at each other, wondering who shot Miller – who is very dead. Complaining about the team taking their “sweet time”, Kilbride pops up in desert camo. Kensi wants to know how Kilbride knew how to go to the boneyard. He was following the team. Deeks makes a comment about teamwork and Kilbride thinks that’s what he’s seen.

Kilbride find Parker in his office. With Miller dead, the Simon Williams program is done. Kilbride owes Parker a big thank you for working with his team. Kilbride is fine with going to Washington if Parker wants to run OSP. Parker is fine in DC and thinks that LA is growing on Kilbride. “Why must you hurt me?” the Admiral asks. Parker leaves and the Admiral checks on his now pilfered cigar supplies. “That son of a bitch.”

Fatima thanks Lucy for her help. Lucy tells Fatima, Kensi and Deeks that if they are ever in Hawai’i… and Deeks is thinking of transfer papers. Rountree is fine – beat up but sore.

Sam thanks Jane and Nick for everything – maybe they should do this again. “Hard pass” from Nick with Jane nodding her agreement.

What head canon can be formed from here: The wrap-up here was much better than part two. Again, the two Melina Devlins with the “good guy” one kidnapping Sam, Jane and Jimmy just seemed like both an excuse to get the Washington and Los Angeles staffers to Hawai’i and a way to waste time on the way to episode three.

As for this episode, it was interesting to see the frantic Fatima. Her usual demeanor is quite calm, easing tension with jokes and teasing before comforting to her co-workers who are upset. Liked Kensi going from being that comforting co-worker while Fatima was in the back of the ambulance to offering some tough love when Fatima started to spiral at Kilbride’s home.

Nina Barnes could have been the female Arkady – always a hilarious delight when she was on the screen.

Nick’s existential crisis in part one over maybe “The Professor” thinking he could be a Simon Williams was completely missing here.

Forgot that Hetty knew about the Simon Williams project – of course she would know.

The airplane graveyard was a great, unique to Los Angeles location. All three programs really featured locations that were unique to their programs. It was the old school NCIS sets with the bullpen, autopsy and lab in Washington, the beauty of Hawai’i and this arid place just outside of LA full of airplanes – the way to go from Washington to Hawai’i to Los Angeles and them back to either Washington to Hawai’i – really worked.

Found the end sort of sad in my TV viewing ways. Callen and Sam joked about doing this all again but it was the final season for the Los Angeles team and the Hawai’i team was finished one season later.

Good start, so-so middle, good wrap-up. Glad they got to do this once.

Episode number: This is episode 10 of season 14 though it was filmed 9th (matching up those three-show schedules had to be difficult). It is the 312th episode overall.

#NCIS: Los Angeles Rewatch #NCIS #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: Hawai'i #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la

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bigskydreaming · 3 years ago

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could you tell us a bit more about why you like mar'i so much?? <3

Hmm, nostalgia's a huge part of it, ngl. I probably don't say it enough, but I have my fan blinders just like everyone else, and a huge part of my DickKory shipping as well as my fondness for even just the idea of Mar’i is just my willful perseverance through all the admittedly crappy takes or depictions of them and their relationship in the comics. But they were one of my first big ships, and like....they stuck on me. Imprinted. Like baby (ship) ducklings. Or I imprinted on it like a baby duckling? Idk. Something to do with baby ducklings and imprinting though, for sure.

Another part of it though - because it really is just a giant conglomeration of factors - is I fucking ADORE the trope of second generation heroes, like the children of superheroes and what their lives are like, and Mar'i isn't even just second gen, she's technically THIRD due to the fact that Dick's a second gen hero himself, being Bruce's kid and all. So that's like, the thing I like but even BETTER because its MORE and I, as you know, am all about Things In Moderation.

And then on top of that, there's also the fact that like - I mean, there's a reason I rarely talk about JUST Mar'i or even Mar'i and Jake, but tend to drone on about ALL the Titan kids en masse, because the appeal isn't just Mar'i, its her being a core part of a larger whole, with a whole BUNCH of next gen superhero kids, the future generation of Titans we SHOULD have gotten but were ROBBED of like people who got ROBBED! *shakes fist mightily* So I love that entire brood of future chaos-artists, Mar'i, Lian, Cerdian, the twins, even Bobby who is not responsible for his father being the Literal Worst.

And its just like.....we were this close to having something genuinely unique in comics, because SO MANY comics only give their Can't Let Them Age, Can't Let Them Groooooooooooow superheroes kids via time travel shenanigans and occasional genetic experimentation accelerated grow-ups.....but like, literally every one of the Titan kids we got in continuity was just....a kid, being raised normally by their parents, from babies into the possible future heroes they might someday become while we got to watch the whole thing happen, well normally plus the way Wally did it cuz he had to go and be such a special fucking snowflake about it I stg, le sigh.......at least until DC upended the chessboard and was like we're gonna murder all these babies so damn hard.

So its all of them, y'know? I love Mar'i, but I don't want a world with Mar'i so much as just a world where DC had literally just chilled and we got the whole gang.

But then ALSO, it IS about Mar'i, specifically, because I just want to see what she'd be like because I'm so big thematically on like, the impact parents' child-rearing has on their kids, and like.....I just genuinely think that Dick and Kory, when portrayed at their best as a couple, or even just as friends, like I'm honestly fine with takes where they end up breaking up but still co-parenting....like I genuinely do think their natures complement each other in such a way as I can picture them just being fucking AWESOME parents. Like, the expressive, loving, embarrassing-but-you're-actually-okay-with-it-just-can't-let-them-know-that kind of parents that are like....The Dream.

The closest thing to what I picture Dick and Kory raising kids together like is definitely Lois and Clark, as I think there's parallels there. I know I've said before that I've never been big on 'if every gen of heroes needs a Super, like Tim has Kon and Damian has Jon, then Dick needs Kara or Chris'.....like, I've never been big on that because for me, I always viewed Kory as thematically being the Titans' Superman. Like DickKory in a lot of weird ways kinda IS the Titans version of Superbat for me, and so I think their style of parenting would have a lot of crossover with Clark and Lois. But at the same time, I'm also the first one to say that no like, Dick's not Batman but he is A Bat, and he definitely has Batlike tendencies and you know I had that whole massive post-on-post-on-post chain about like, headcanons I have for quirky Batfam eccentricities that remind people that Batkids are just not like other kids, lol. So you'd have Batfam tendencies still thrown into the mix but overall a fairly healthy and happy family unit, and like....I just really want to see what that looks like or imagine it, and what teenage or adult Mar'i would grow up to be like as a result.

Similarly, the appeal of the Batfam in next gen stuff is there's so many different distinct dynamics you can imagine Mar'i having with each of them one on one.....like, there's just so much POTENTIAL in her and how she fits into her two respective family trees, because I ALSO think its incredibly interesting that Mar'i and Jake, after years of Bruce and Dick and the rest of the Batfam being characterized as like, Princes of Gotham and Gothamite royalty, like....due to Kory's family, Mar'i and Jake would actually BE literal royalty, and that's also an interesting dynamic to throw into the mix, as well as Kory's oft-neglected siblings.

But ultimately that's what it comes down to for me....I'm a sucker for untapped potential, and Mar'i just represents so damn MUCH of it. There's also the element of gestalt, like its a fave trope of mine when next gen kids are clear composites of BOTH of their parents, but also more than the sum of their parts and a distinct entity unto themselves who exists outside of just being so and so's kid.

Anyway, yeah, like I could go on for hours, probably, lol, but the gist is just....there's so many potential directions and dynamics baked into her very existence, and I would love to see any of them explored.

And again, the nostalgia thing.....like, I don't think we truly understand until we reach a certain point like, the effect time can have on your story wants or priorities, if that makes sense? Like I just mean, not to discount younger fans at all, but when you've only been reading comics for a few years or even been aware of the characters for a relatively finite length of time......there comes a point where in comparison you're suddenly like holy shit I've been a fan of this character or team or concept for literal DECADES. And that's a big element here. Like I'm in my mid-thirties and Mar'i first was introduced as possibility way back in Kingdom Come, like I first read about her when I was like....twelve.

This is a character who was more teased than ever really INTRODUCED....but like.....TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO, lmao.

That's a loooooong time to be waiting to see her actually become an idea that's explored, that's given room to expand and become an actual character rather than just the possibility of one.

Like what we got was juuuuust enough to capture my interest and be like oh okay cool, I would like to see more of her, and then....

DC: Lmao.

FOR TWENTY-FIVE FUCKING YEARS.

sfhklafhklafhklfahklfahlf

I just....

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