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NCIS: Los Angeles Season 13 Rewatch: “Where Loyalties Lie”

The basics: When military tech is stolen and its creator murdered, the team searches for both the killer and the tech.

Written by: Matt Klafter. This is Klafter's first solo episode. He co-wrote "Smokescreen Part II" and "A Fait Accompli".

Directed by: Tawnia McKiernan, who directed "Exchange Rate", "High Value Target", "Kulinda", "Assets", "Joy Ride", "The Frogman’s Daughter", "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" and "A Land of Wolves" (episode before last).

Guest stars of note: Anthony Alabi as Marine Master Sgt. David Maxwell, J. Anthony Pena as Manny Ortiz, Jessica A. Caesar as Ruby, James Martin Kelly as Seth Wilcox, Ann Hu as Jun Chen, Kristin Carey as Dr. Laura Nash, Bridger Buckley as Hunt and Tom Virtue as Dr. Hodge.

Our heroes: Search for really cool goggles.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen: Stayed at the bar apartment longer than he planned because he knew Kensi and Deeks needed the money. Sam: Worried about gang leaders and other bad actors getting their proteges into the military. Kensi: Seriously into her jeans and their management. Deeks: Seriously mourning the loss of the bar. Fatima: Saw Jordyn Rountree play the prior night. Rountree: Out. Kilbride: See Fatima.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen: Moving, again. Sam: Having dinner with Kam and her boyfriend Josh. Kensi: Wants their cars in their garage because it is safe. Deeks: Wants a mancave in the garage. Fatima: Thought the day went fairly well. Rountree: Probably recovering from seeing his sister play the night before. Kilbride: Thought the day only went fairly well because the technology is still missing.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange? Like the tech in the episode, missing.

Who's down with OTP: Kensi and Deeks are talking mancaves and men who look good in jeans. All is well.

Who's down with BrOTP: Callen is lying to Sam about some strange phone calls but only because he doesn’t understand them either.

Fashion review: Callen is wearing a dark blue button-down shirt. Sam is in a long-sleeve black tee-shirt. Kensi works out in a tiffany blue athletic top and dark blue running tights. Working the case, Kensi wears a sand colored sweater with a white band, a gold band and a grey one the sweater. Deeks works out in a Navy blue sleeveless shirt and grey joggers. Later, Deeks has on a pink Henley. Fatima has on a green oversized (really oversized) jacket over a dark blue turtleneck. The Admiral is in a dark blue three-piece suit, light-blue dress shirt and medium blue tie.

Music: “Three Alley Cats” by Roy Hall is playing when the team decides to investigate the denim shop. “Back on Top” by Buffalo Nichols is playing in the background in Ruby’s Denim Shop.

Any notable cut scene: Nope.

Quote: Deeks: “I'm gonna sell the bar.” Callen: “You're selling the bar?” Deeks: “Yeah.” Callen: “Thank God. Deeks: “I don't... I don't think that you, um... Sorry. I don't think that you heard me.” Callen: “No, I heard you. Congrats.” Deeks: “Right, well, then, I don't... I don't think that you're fully understanding, because if I... if I sell the bar, it means that you got to find a new place….a new place to live.” Callen: “No, I get it.” Deeks: “It's just, it's a lot, and you-you don't seem very fazed by that.” Callen: “I've had a little bit of practice at this.” Deeks: “Right. Just out of curiosity, when's the last time you lived in a place this long?” Callen: “Never. In fact, I actually don't know how I made it work.” Deeks: “So why did you do it? Why did you stay?” Callen: “I thought you could use the money. I know things have been tight around here lately, and I figured at some point you and Kens would want to buy a house and start a family.” Deeks: “Thank you. Yeah. Of course.” Callen: “You would have... you would have done the same for me.” Deeks: “In a heartbeat. You know, uh, the house we bought, it's a two-bedroom, if you want to…” Callen: “Not a chance.”

Anything else: A tactical team of– they look military – enter a dark building. Using fancy night-vision goggles, the team leader moves into the facility with ease. The goggles give him not only the ability to see through walls but the goggles identify weapons used by the person on the other side of the wall. When one member of the team gets near the person behind the wall, someone pops up and shoots the two men moving forward. The shooter then says “bang.”

This was a training session. Other members of the team want to use the goggles but the team leader tells them they can use them soon enough. Dr. Nash, who is running this exercise, arrives. The goggles failed part of the test – the person behind the wall had a rifle but the goggles identified it as a pistol. They are running the test again.

Later that night, Dr. Nash is working in the facility when she hears a noise. She is looking for the Master Sergeant who was running the team to help her check around but he’s not there. Walking around the testing area, she sees what caused the noise – a dead mouse in a trap. Her relief is momentary, however, when she sees a man out of the corner of her eye. Warning him she’s called security, Dr. Nash is shot and killed.

Kensi and Deeks are working out their local park. Kensi is jogging and still has the bandage on her arm, Deeks is on one of the piece of equipment, making a Seabiscuit announcers call. Deeks is buttering up Kensi, literally, about her cooking skills. Seems Deeks wants to turn the garage into a mancave. Kensi wants the cars in the garage – it’s safer. Deeks does the financials about how much it costs to park their cars based on LA real estate prices. Kensi doesn’t want him to rebuild The Squid and Dagger in their garage.

Kensi shifts the conversation to talking to Callen. With the bar being sold, Callen has to leave. Deeks keeps checking his Magic Eightball for the perfect time to have the conversation but the outlook keeps saying no. He brings up how many times he used it before proposing and that just goes poorly. Deeks decides to talk to Sam before talking to Callen.

Finding Sam at his coffee spot, Deeks tells Sam about the best, and only, offer to sell the bar. Sam is surprised they are selling the bar. Deeks tells Sam that he and Kensi are lucky they had other jobs because COVID wiped out the bar. Thinking aloud, Deeks offers the bar to Sam, golden shark included, but since Sam doesn’t even own a house, why would he want a bar? The real problem is Callen – the new owners don’t want a tenant. Deeks suggests Sam, as Callen’s best and possible only friendly, break the bad news. Deeks even promises a year’s worth of free coffee from his coffee spot, detailing the Hellcat and a year membership to the Jelly of the Month club. “Deeks, relax. It will be fine, Callen is cool, just talk to him. He’ll understand.” Deeks will tell Callen.

At the office, an arriving Callen gets a phone call. His doctor is on the call about a follow-up appointment- a telemedicine call - two-weeks ago. Callen denies doing the call and the doctor wants to review his records.

In Ops, Fatima tells Callen, Sam and the Admiral about a call from ONI. They are interested in the murder of Dr. Laura Nash. Nash was leading a team developing short-range radar technology in goggles for the Navy. The only prototype was stolen when Nash was killed. Fatima calls the prototype “x-ray goggles on steroids”.

Callen asks about the team testing the goggles. They are Marines, Master Sergeant David Maxwell was the operator wearing the goggles. He’s worked with Nash for two years. Maxwell and the other Marines all have alibis that were checked by the local police, who also cleared Nash’s team of engineers. Nash was a single mom with a daughter at Penn. Her husband died when the daughter was seven. She brought up her child on her own.

All agree Nash was killed for the tech. Fatima thinks it would be terrifying to have that equipment fall into the hands of a mass-shooter. Callen, Sam and the Admiral are all more worried about America’s enemies getting the tech. They could reverse engineer the goggles and mass produce them. The Admiral is sending Callen and Sam to the boatshed to speak to Master Sergeant Maxwell. Kensi and Deeks are off to the crime scene while the Admiral wants Fatima to check into the engineers. NCIS can’t afford to have a single mass-shooter with the goggles, let alone an entire army.

In the boatshed, Maxwell tells Callen and Sam that Nash’s death is like losing a member of the team. While she wasn’t military, “she was one of us.” She wanted to give Marines an edge in the battlefield. As far as Maxwell was concerned, the goggles were ready to go but Nash wanted them to be perfect. Refused to sign off until every last bug was checked out.

Sam asks who will take over the project. Maxwell said he if he has any say in this, it would be Kevin Tyler, Nash’s right-hand man, “her clone.” Both were diligent, meticulous but Tyler was more personable. At the training warehouse, it was just Nash and the Marines. Tyler was back in their lab studying the data coming from the goggles. Another Sam question – who knew about the training warehouse? Maxwell says it was just the team. They kept a tight lid on the testing.

Calling Fatima into his office, the Admiral wants a report on the engineers. Fatima is still interviewing them, much to the displeasure of the Admiral. He’s seen “snails move through molasses with greater speed.” Fatima explains that she’s doing it alone, she’d usually be splitting this work with Rountree. Since Rountree isn’t here, Fatima is expected to get it done. Leaving the office, the Admiral asks if Fatima saw the game last night. She did – Jordyn Rountree won the game. The Admiral also saw the game and the two share a moment.

In the training warehouse, Kensi and Deeks are looking around. Deeks thinks if they ever hit the jackpot, he doesn’t want a mancave, he wants his own warehouse. He also checked out a window in the back. It was so caked with dust that there is no way the killer could have used it to gain access to the warehouse.

Kensi notes that the side door has no security cameras. There was a half-hour window where the killing could have taken place but a few of the Marines were hanging out in the parking lot near the side door when it happened. There is no way someone was able to sneak in with the Marines around. Kensi thinks the killer was already inside. If the killer came in when the test run was going on, nobody would notice them entering. They could hang around, kill Dr. Nash and steal the goggles.

Listening to his voicemail as he walks into the bullpen, Callen is gets another call, this time about a loan application he made. The loan officer is sorry, no loan, and sorry about Callen’s mother. Sam asks what’s going on and Callen goes with “robocall”. After getting the stink-eye from Sam, Callen promises he’s not looking for any of Hetty’s protégés (technically not a lie since he found one already). Fatima arrives. She spoke to everyone on Nash’s team except Kevin Tyler, who is a Navy Reservist. He didn’t show up to work – first missed day in five-years. Tyler was last seen in the office yesterday afternoon by a co-worker. He was leaving around 4PM. Sam thinks if they find Tyler, they may find the tech. LAPD got a call from a neighbor, Tyler’s door was left opened all night. Sam doesn’t see how someone who is diligent and meticulous would leave their door opened. Callen and Sam are on their way.

As they look around the warehouse, Deeks is dreaming out loud about the mancave and man-warehouse. Kensi knows he’s mourning the loss of the bar, she is too. But they have to focus their priorities on bringing a child into their lives. Kensi finds a spot she thinks would be the perfect place to hide. It has a perfect view of the testing area. The killer could watch the Marines call it a night and wait for Nash. Looking around the area where the killer likely hid, Kensi finds some loose threads.

At Kevin Tyler’s house, Callen and Sam go in when there is no answer to their knocking (and yelling “federal agents”). The house was ransacked – tipped lamps on the floor, dining room chairs on their sides. They are concerned Tyler met the same fate as Nash.

In Ops, the Admiral asks what is up on the big screen. It is the fibers from the threads Kensi found in the warehouse. It is raw denim. Kensi knew this because Japanese salvage was all she wore in college. The Admiral demands to know what is Japanese salvage. Deeks explains she’s talking about jeans. Kensi goes on a Deeks-like tangent on caring for and not washing her jeans – both Deeks and Fatima share a “gross” but Kensi goes on to explain freezing her jeans. The Admiral hates Los Angeles just a little bit more after this exchange. The jeans were new with a black overdye. Only one place sells those type of jeans in Los Angeles. Kensi wants to go jeans shopping. Deeks wants a new freezer.

Looking at Tyler’s home, there is no signs of forced entry – maybe he let the people who ransacked the apartment in before finding out their real reason for showing up. Sam finds some tattoo tracing paper in a frame – some people keep theirs after getting a tattoo as a memento. Callen thinks the tattoo should be the memento. Sam asks when is Callen going to final get a tattoo. Callen says maybe he already has one. Sam doesn’t believe him – there is no way Callen could keep something like that quiet.

Sam finds another tracing – this one has gang connections. The tattoo tracing is from 2008, Tyler was 16. It could have been an initiation tattoo. Looking around some more, while the place has been tossed, nothing is really broken, nothing ruined. In fact, it looks like Tyler’s clothing and suitcases are gone. People who break in to ransack the place don’t usually let you pack up.

Walking into the denim store, Deeks finds a leather jacket to his liking – something like Marlon Brando wore in the “The Wild One”. Kensi tells him to hang it back up after he does his Marlon Brando imitation. Kensi finds a great pair of jeans for $425. Deeks thinks she should get three-pairs of jeans for that sort of money.

Ruby, the shop owner, approaches Kensi and Deeks. She can get the jeans tailored for Kensi if she’d like. Deeks doesn’t like. Kensi and Deeks identify themselves. Ruby asks how she can help. Kensi shows the jeans where the threads came from. Ruby says they are her best sellers. Kensi asks for a customers list and Ruby complies. With the price of the jeans in the store, Kensi wonders if the person who stole the tech isn’t going to sell it, maybe they are going to use it to get some more money.

Calling Callen and Sam, Fatima explains the tattoo belongs to the White Kings white-supremacist gang in Venice, best known for dealing drugs and weapons. This seems impossible to Callen and Sam that Tyler would be part of that gang. Surely the Navy, his high tech company or the DoD would find out. Callen wants a list of all the known White Kings in Los Angeles – he wants to know who they’re dealing with.

Looking that Ruby’s customer list, most of the addresses are in Beverly Hills or Malibu. Kensi thinks they would appreciate some fine denim. While that’s true, Deeks thinks they lack the skills to break into a Marines-run warehouse. Kensi thinks both the Rock and Jason Momoa could do it. Deeks says Kensi is now dreaming out loud, putting her favorite guys in her favorite jeans. When Deeks mentions Chris Hemsworth, Kensi half giggles/half snorts. Deeks asks her what is happening, including possibly having a stroke. Kensi want to move on.

Noticing a clothing donations collection box in the parking lot of the store, Kensi says the jeans may not have come from the store but from a donation. Kensi explains that jeans with small irregulars could be donated to charities. Going back to Ruby, she does donate her jeans that either didn’t sell well or had flaws to a charity run by a man she knows. When Deeks pushes her on the guy, Ruby is reticent at first. She met the man, Manny, through her sister. Her sister, her best friend, had drug issues. After trying everything to help, her sister wound up on the streets. The community center let her sleep there, fed her, let her shower. After seemingly kicking her addiction, Ruby’s sister relapsed and died. Ruby doesn’t have much but what she has goes to the community center.

Fatima is having a hard time figuring out who is in the gang and what is their command structure. Sam says that’s likely on purpose to protect members from the police. It may also explain why Kevin Tyler was never flagged. During Tyler’s time with the Navy, there were several inventory issues where he was assigned but Tyler was never implicated. Callen asks about the inventory and Fatima replies weapons, equipment – a few rifles here, some body armor there. Nothing big enough to raise red flags. Over time, however, he stockpiled enough to arm a small militia.

Wondering where he kept it all, Callen thinks he sold it with the White Kings. Which makes sense because the occasional missing rifle or kevlar vest gets noticed but not a lot of attention. The one-of-one goggles going missing went all the way to ONI. This could have been Tyler’s way to cash out – one last payout. If this is going to someone in either Russia or China – the only ones who could not only play for the tech but mass produce it – their buyers must be in LA. Callen wants Fatima to check everyone going in and out of LAX over the last two days.

At the community center, Kensi and Deeks speak to Manny Ortiz. The center is giving out their Heroes of Tomorrow Diversity Scholarships at a big party. There is a red carpet for the event. Kensi asks about the jeans Ruby donated. Manny thinks people are crazy to pay that kind of money for jeans. Deeks has a new friend. A workman leaves after painting the inside with Manny’s thanks. Ten high school seniors are getting scholarships that night, they are making the place look great. Deeks asks what happens to the jeans. Usually donated clothing is just left in the center but Manny gave the expensive jeans to some of their volunteers – he can’t pay them but he can reward them. Unlike Ruby, Manny doesn’t have a list who has the jeans. He just left them out for the volunteers with a request that you don’t take anything you won’t wear but he will ask around.

Fatima tells an arriving Callen and Sam that she found a June Chen, a Chinese professor who has been here teaching for the last five years. She’s leaving tonight. All of the colleges where she was teaching Chinese are near Navy bases. She’s also a person of interest in a joint investigation between NCIS and Scotland Yard but they didn’t have enough evidence to question her. Fatima tablet beeps – Chen is entering a nail salon. Castor and his partner are nearby so they’ll pick her up and bring her to the boat shed.

At the boat shed, June Chen is on the wrong side in the interrogation table. Chen claims innocence, she just a college professor, but Callen knows she’s so much more. In Ops, Fatima calls Chen a ghost. The only information she can find about Chen is her parents’ apartment address in Shanghai.

Sam asks Chen about the goggles but again, Chen says she knows nothing. She has a flight to catch. Callen explains she’s not going anywhere. Even when NCIS is finished with her, the FBI, CIA and NSA are lined up to speak with her. Fatima explains to the Admiral that half of the residents of Chen’s parents’ apartment building are all from the same farming province in China and all work for the same mining-fertilizer company.

Sam explains Chen is looking at life in jail. Fatima’s review of the medical records shows that there has been a 50% increase of cancer diagnosis of the people from that farming province.

Making one last pitch, Sam asks where are the goggles. Chen says nothing. Noticing scars on Chen’s hands, Callen tells her they aren’t the hands of a scholar. Sam agrees, those hands worked hard in the fields. Years of physical labor. Chen asks if they find labor shameful. Sam shows his hands and is proud he works with them every day. Callen finds no shame in wanting out of an area that has become a toxic wasteland – Chen found a way out. She found a way out for her parents, her friends and their parents. By helping out the government, earned a way out for all of them. She was a great help to the Chinese government but now that she’s been arrested, the government is going to kill her.

While Callen and Sam promise to protect Chen in prison but Chen is at peace dying in an American prison. It would be many times worse if the Chinese government learned she gave up the goggles. She won’t tell them where it is but she will help in other ways. The tech was sold by two men – a younger man she confirmed was Kevin Tyler and another man, an older man – who got $2 million. The older man wanted a Chinese explosive called “Devil’s Wrath”. Sam confirms with his bomb tech buddies that it is highly unstable and has to be detonated within a 100-yards. No cell phone triggers or deadman’s switches.

Popping up on the screen, Fatima has news from ATF about the White Kings. Seth Wilcox is their leader. It is the workman from the community center. He painted the place for this minorities scholarship ceremony – he could have put the bomb in the drywall, patched it up and painted over it. Nobody would notice. With nobody answering the phone at the community center, the team is making their way to the event.

Kensi and Deeks arrive first and start evacuating the place. Callen and Sam are looking for Wilcox – he has to be nearby to detonate the bomb. They spot Wilcox and Kevin Tyler are in an alley with a dead end. Callen and Sam try to sneak up on Wilcox, who is taking a smoke break, when Tyler sees them. Lots of shooting ensues. Callen takes out Tyler turns his and Sam’s attention to Wilcox.

Kens and Deeks are evacuating the community center. People are fleeing.

With Sam covering him, Callen moves closer to Wilcox. Wilcox is ordered to put the gun on the ground. The detonator is within his reach. When he puts the gun down, he tries to go for the detonator and is shot for his trouble. Sam takes the denotator for safe keeping. The bomb squad arrived at the community center.

In a darkened office, Fatima updates the Admiral. Wilcox and Tyler were about the flee with the money, more explosives and fake passports. Tyler had the jeans in his suitcase. Fatima thinks all things considered – stopped the explosion, found the money - they had a fairly good day. Since the goggles are still missing, the Admiral agrees fairy good since the goggles are still missing.

Walking into the armory, Kensi and Deeks feel like honorary members of Manny Ortiz’s family. They were guests at the ceremony. One of the scholarship winners was going to UCLA so Kensi offered an introduction to Jordyn Rountree which made the young woman’s day. Deeks wants to go home and watch something on TV with lots of action and little plot. Kensi would be find with less action and more plot. Deeks sighs, if only he had a special spot where he could watch his programs, they could do both. Kensi cuts a deal. During the week, the cars go in the garage, during the weekend, one car is outside. Deeks wants a chair, a tiny TV and his big golden shark. Kensi commits to a beach chair.

Deeks has to tell Callen about moving out. Kensi is willing to do it with him but he’s going to do it alone. He asked Callen to move in, he can ask Callen to move out.

In the bullpen, Sam is bothered that Tyler got so far in the Marines and in the military tech field. He’s horrified that someone like Wilcox could plant Tyler into such high raking positions. And if Wilcox could do that, so could other gang leaders, other foreign governments. Sam gets a call from Kam – he’s going to dinner with Kam and her boyfriend Josh. Callen is invited but passes.

As Sam leaves, Deeks arrives. It takes Deeks a while to get to say what he has to. Deeks tells Callen he has to sell the bar. Callen is relieved. And thrilled. He’s happy to be moving – he’s had some practice at this. This is the longest Callen has ever lived in one place. He’s not sure how he made it worked. Deeks asks why Callen stayed. Knowing that Deeks needed the money, that he and Kensi wanted to buy a house and start a family, he was happy to pay. He knows Deeks would do the same for him. Deeks would. In fact, Deeks offers the second bedroom in the Blye-Deeks home. “Not a chance,” is Callen’s reply.

When Deeks leaves, Callen get a text from his doctor. He is sure he spoke to Callen two-weeks ago. He wants to talk to Callen. In a home with Russian television running in the background, someone is working on the deep fake technology.

What head canon can be formed from here: Kensi as a jeans-fan. This is an “evergreen” episode. The bones of this episode – stolen tech, gang infiltration in the military, murder, racism – have been regular storylines. This is a well-told, well-act hour with no gapping plot holes. It would have worked in season two and in season 13.

This season has had more Callen-Deeks solo interaction than any other one I can remember. Callen and Deeks are often in the same scene but Sam and Kensi are usually with them.

Liked the Master Sergeant and Manny at the community center. Wouldn’t mind seeing them again. Same with Ruby, who had a terrible story to tell.

Episode number: Episode 290 overall, the 10th episode of season 13.

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

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