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typingtess · 2 months

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NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Rewatch: “Game of Drones”

The basics: A bombing at a drone facility kills one, injures another and sets off the search for some terrorists in Los Angeles.

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” and “Work and Family”.

Directed by: Kevin Berlandi. Berlandi is new to NCIS: Los Angeles. He has directed episodes of Criminal Minds, Bull and Partner Track.

Guest stars of note: Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier returns as NCIS Reserve Agent Shyla Dahr from “Work and Family”. Both Natalia Del Riego as Rosa Reyes and Richard Gant as Raymond Hanna are back from “Come Together”. Jennifer Marshall as Navy Commander Neal, Jamil Zraikat as Cyrus Karimian, Jenapher Zheng as Janice Ng, Anna Rajo as Maria Estevez, Turhan Troy Caylak as Darius “Bunny” Vale and Ramona Dubarry as Monica Tavares

Our heroes: Are back at it for season 14.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen: Asks to bring Hetty’s remains home from Syria if she was the one who perished. Sam: Bringing his father to an activity center so he can swim, play pool and poker. Kensi: Sniper. Deeks: Would have been killed without Sniper Wife. Fatima: Doling out assignments. Rountree: Starts an interview with an engineer and ends up defending what he does. Kilbride: Commandeering helicopters.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen: Self-titled world’s coolest uncle. Sam: Not thrilled his father broke away from the activity center. Kensi: First day school drop off. Deeks: Not built for first day school drop off or public restrooms. Fatima: Old show went into syndication so Fatima has cool new wheels. Rountree: Calculus is better than is algebra. Kilbride: Betting his non-existent grandchildren.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange? Not in a schoolhouse/safe house in Syria although some of her alias IDs were.

Who's down with OTP: Kensi and Deeks get to be anxious parents dropping Rosa off for her first day at school. They have a long and serious conversation bracketed between some Deeks jokes about how brutal their jobs can be, how awful the world is and that letting Rosa into the world to be her best self is an act of faith that the world will be kind.

Who's down with BrOTP: Not a lot of BrOTP situations. Callen works with Fatima, Rountree is mostly solo and Sam is only around at the end.

Fashion review: Callen is wearing a red, white and blue plaid button-down. Long sleeve black tee-shirt for Sam. Kensi wears a blood-red tee-shirt. Deeks starts the episode in a pale purple tee-shirt before wearing an LAFD fire inspector/marshal’s uniform undercover. White turtleneck for Fatima with a buttery looking black leather jacket (spectacular!). Rountree is wearing a blue, white and grey jacket over a pale blue tee. Dark blue three-piece suit, white dress shirt and blue and white tie for the Admiral.

Music: Not today.

Any notable cut scene: See music.

Quote: Kensi: “You know, all this is making me feel like I want to call Rosa and check in on her.” Deeks: “Okay, pull up on that stick there, helicopter mom, because she's fine. You just need to give her some space and time to find herself and-and to grow. Put the phone down.” Kensi: “Yeah, I know, but how many parents dropped their kids off at school only to never see them again because of another school shooting” Deeks: “Okay, you can't, you can't think like that.” Kensi: “How can you not think like that?” Deeks: “I mean, all right, you can consider the possibility, you can do the drills, but at some point, you just have to give in and believe in a greater good. I just feel like that's getting harder and harder to do. Yeah, well, that's why they call it faith.”

Anything else: A security guard is making his way through an engineering firm. The firm builds drones. The guard’s route is very deliberate, logging in and out of areas as he makes his way through building. As he gets near the exit, he sees a janitor’s cart just off the entrance.

Exiting the building, the guard locks up and logs out. There is a massive explosion. The guard is thrown ten feet from the door and fiery debris lands all around him.

Cue the new credits – a little red in the logo.

A really overprotective Kensi and Deeks are dropping Rosa off at school. Deeks is worried about bullying which makes Rosa nervous about bullying. Kensi and Deeks will pick her up after school but will text if there is a delay. There is a back-up plan with “Naomi’s mom”. After reviewing the alarm code for the house and the panic code, Rosa is finally on her way. Kensi and Deeks rethink their plan with home schooling a possibility. Deeks announces “I’m not built for this.”

As Sam is ready to take his father to an adult activity center, Raymond is walking around in his pajamas and slippers. Raymond is has no interest in “adult day-care”. Sam sells the place which has a gym, pool and library. Raymond is fine with Sam leaving him at a gym, a pool or a library. Sam notes this place has all three. The two bicker before Sam asks Raymond to just try the place. Since they have billiards and poker, Raymond is a little more interested but disappointed that the poker games aren’t for money. “The only fun is when you’re winning real money.” Mrs. Williams, Raymond’s caretaker, will be picking him up at the end of the day. Raymond complains about her driving. He’s also not keen on the idea of making new friends at the activity center since as soon as you get to know someone, they die. The only new things there are hips and pacemakers. Sam is patient with his father as he makes old age jokes.

Arriving through the side door, Fatima sees Callen looking at party venues. She offers some help – she’s good at planning things. Callen was looking for wedding venues. Fatima asks what does Anna want. Anna is torn between a trip to City Hall and Arkady’s dream of recreating “Doctor Zhivago”, complete with horses and snow. Fatima asks if Callen has a theme – traditional, fantasy, cosplay. Callen asks about “fantasy” and Fatima goes on including Sam as a troll, Deeks as a pixie, Kilbride as a wizard. Shaking his head, Callen tells Fatima he’s going to run these roles by them to see what they think. Fatima says no. “It doesn’t hurt to ask,” Callen replies. Fatima knows he’s kidding and asks that he not. Shyla interrupts, Kilbride needs to see Callen.

Walking to Kilbride’s office, Callen asks Shyla what’s up. She isn’t sure but there has been a communique from Syria. In his office, Kilbride tells Shyla to hold his calls and patch the Commander through to the plasma in his office. Commander Neal pops up on the screen. With the help of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Neal and her team were doing some recon work. At an abandoned school, known to be a safehouse, there was an ambush. Human remains were found, burned beyond recognition. One body had documents identifying them as Trudy Chambers, an American female. Callen looks stunned. Asking if the remains of Chambers were that of a small woman, Neal confirms they were. Dental records and DNA is still be checked. She will contact them when they have an ID. Trudy Chambers is one of Hetty’s aliases.

In Ops, Fatima arrives and asks Shyla what’s the new case. There is television coverage of the explosion and fire at Havlock/Haines Aerospace the prior night. Havlock/Haines builds remote piloted vehicles for the Navy. A janitor was killed, the security guard was badly injured. ATF said the bomb was nitroamine high explosive. The dead janitor was Luis Estevez, the guard Morgan Reynolds. Neither fits the profile of a bomber – more wrong place, wrong time. Fatima will go to the crime scene with Callen, Kensi and Deeks will look into the janitor while Rountree looks into the security guard. Shyla seems a little surprised that Fatima is doling out assignments – that is usually the job of a more senior agent. Since Shyla does not see a more senior agent in Ops, “go get ‘em girl,” is her advice.

Asking if the remains will be flown back to the US, Kilbride tells Callen they will be if they are positively identified. Callen wants to accompany them. Kilbride agrees. Callen then brings up Harris Keane, who was travelling with Hetty. Once the forensic team completes their work, the Admiral thinks they’ll know more. Knowing if she was ambushed at a safe house – even if it wasn’t Hetty – Callen believes she’s in danger. Kilbride disagrees – Hetty was in danger the minute she went back to Syria. And there are no safe houses in Syria right now. But since this is Hetty, she has more lives than a barn cat and is just as mean. Callen nods his head in agreement.

In the boatshed’s main room, Kensi and Deeks are speaking to Maria Estevez, daughter of janitor Luis Estevez. After offering condolences, they asks Maria about her father. He liked working as the night janitor – the money was good and it left him time during the day for other projects. As a skilled carpenter and mason, Estevez worked construction jobs when they came up. Kensi asks when did he sleep. Maria has an immediate answer – Sundays. During family dinners in the fall, he’d doze off watching football. Deeks asks why did Estevez work two jobs. Maria explains that years ago, her immigrant father worked two jobs to make ends meet. In recent years, especially after the death of his wife/Maria’s mother from COVID two years ago, it was to keep busy. Estevez did not work with explosives but loved fireworks. The Estevez family loved to put on a display. Asking if there were any financial issues, drugs, enemies, Maria states her father was a gentle and caring man who did anything to help others. Since Maria was told Estevez died in a factory accident, she wants to know what’s going on. Kensi and Deeks would like to see Estevez’s home.

A sullen Callen is a bit surprised by Fatima’s new Porsche. She explains her old TV show was just sold into syndication. When Callen notes the vehicle isn’t subtle, Fatima replies that in LA, subtle stands out. Callen is still distracted so Fatima asks if he is OK. He updates her about the body found in Syria. Fatima offers condolences and asks if they can do anything. They can’t so they should work the case.

Calling in to Ops from outside the hospital, Rountree has no luck with the security guard. He’s lawyered up but even if he didn’t, his doctor said he was in no condition to be questioned. Shyla notes he was healthy enough to find a lawyer. The Admiral wants the hospital staff and the lawyer to be put on notice, “as soon as he can eat his Jell-O, he better start talking.” Shyla is going to get a warrant to search Reynolds’s residence while the Admiral wants to question the staff at Havlock/Haines about Reynolds.

At the crime scene, Callen and Fatima are in the bombed out facility. The sleek, modern place is now a mass of burnt walls, cables and wires hanging from the ceiling, rubble all over. Speaking to executive Monica Tavares, she explains that the explosion is a financial hit to the company. Not only do they have to rebuild but they are not going to meet certain orders from contracts. Callen asks if she knows who would do something like this. Tavares has a list – anarchists, right-wing extremists, anti-war activists. Fatima asks about industry rivals or disgruntled employees. There are some – a few staffers left after they started working for the government – conscientious objections to making “weapons of war”. When Fatima asks for contact info, Taveras agrees to cooperate but makes it clear, none of them would blow up the building.

Callen asks if there were any other issues in recent weeks and months. Nothing as obvious as blowing up the facility but Havlock/Haines has been subject to a “relentless” series of cyber-attacks. The company is working on where they are coming from but no luck finding who is behind them. Callen gets a call from Shyla who has the terribly burned corpse of Luis Estevez on the big screen (ick, show, ick). Estevez was already dead for several hours when the explosion occurred.

Later speaking to Fatima, if Estevez was dead before the explosion, they likely used him to get into the building. Fatima agrees – the bombers killed Estevez, used his ID to get into the building, probably put his body and the bomb into something like a cleaning cart. That would be Fatima’s plan. Callen finds it scary but thinks it would be a good way to dispose of the body. Fatima agrees – it would make it look like Estevez died in the explosion.

Walking around the immaculate home of Luis Estevez, Kensi is on the phone with Callen. Thinking unless he was Jekyll and Hyde, Kensi believes Estevez was Mr. Rogers only more neat. Callen wants Kensi to check if Maria has power of attorney so they can access his phone and financials. Fatima asks about home security but Estevez barely locked is doors. Fatima wants to check the neighbors’ security systems to see if anyone was following Estevez. Kensi will ask. They also want Kensi to ask about Estevez’s daily routine. Meanwhile, Estevez’s Jeep is going to NCIS’s carport – they will check to see if he had GPS.

Moving to the kitchen, Maria is packing up the food in her father’s home. She talks about her father’s truck. Deeks assures her the truck will be released to the family when NCIS is done with it. Maria seems less worried about that, more thinking about how much her father loved the truck. It was his first ever new vehicle. Kensi asks about power-of-attorney. Maria got it after her mother passed away, her father got all his paperwork in order. Kensi tells Maria that they can take info from her father’s phone and financial records and maybe find who killed him. Maria is weeping. Deeks looks so uncomfortable. Kensi, seeing Maria’s distress, asks if she would be able to come up with her father’s daily routine, “Can you do that?” Maria says she can try.

Outside of the house, Kensi and Deeks are wrecked about the pain of the day. Deeks makes a joke about the pain being as bad as kidney stones, annoying Kensi. He extends to the joke to childbirth, leading Kensi to calling him an idiot. When Deeks says he’s joking, Kensi wants to know why. “Because if I don’t joke, this job is too sad for me to keep doing it.” Kensi understands but thinks he’s an idiot – a loveable one. All the sadness has Kensi wanting to call Rosa and see if she’s OK. Deeks stops her – this is Rosa’s time to “find herself and to grow.” Kensi brings up school shootings, something Deeks does not want to think about. It is what Kensi thinks about. Deeks tells her they can do the drills and prepare Rosa the best they can but at some point “you just have to give in and believe in a greater good.” Kensi finds that hard to do but Deeks tells her that’s what faith is. “I mean George Michael even wrote a song about it.” Deeks makes some George jokes.

Arriving at Ops, the Admiral wants a sit-rep. Shyla fills him in on the team’s status. She is also working with NCIS CYBER to find who is behind the cyber-attacks against Havlock/Haines. The Admiral figures that whoever did this was willing to kill an innocent man and used high end explosives – they are not militia “idiots”. Shyla suggests industrial espionage – a rival company that wants some of the hundreds of millions of dollars available in military contracts. The Admiral is rooting for that because the alternative is state sponsored terrorism.

As Kilbride walks back to his office, Callen calls up from the bullpen, looking for news about the remains and Trudy Chambers. Kilbride assures Callen he would have updated him if there was any news from Syria. The Admiral’s more pressing concern is whoever blew up Havlock/Haines since they like aren’t done. He wants Callen focused on the task at hand and not Hetty. “Now go catch these bastards before they strike again.”

In the carport, Fatima is working on Estevez’s truck. She tells Callen that the vehicle was wiped clean – she can still smell the bleach. Callen gets a call from Alex asking if she wants to hang out with Jake. Fatima wishes she had a niece or nephew – it seems like fun. Callen agrees it is while they are young. When they get a little older, less time for the world’s coolest uncle and more time for teenage girls. Fatima asks if Callen gave himself the designation of world’s coolest uncle. Callen wants to know who is cooler than he is? After Fatima laughs, she announces he’s cool, “like supercool.” “Let’s not oversell it.”

In the boatshed, Rountree and Shyla on the plasma are chatting. He is meeting with Janice Ng who left Havlock/Haines when they started working for the DoD. Shyla gets an alert from CYBER – the source of the attack is coming from Beirut, Lebanon.

With Fatima and Callen back in Ops with Shyla, they are discussing Lebanon being an US ally but Hezbollah, a militant group with a political arm, is not. Callen brings up two Hezbollah operatives who were arrested in the US for planning acts of terrorism. Those arrests were for fundraising and weapon buys but things may have gotten more aggressive since the US’s relationship with Iran gets worse. Iran funds a lot of Hezbollah’s actions. Asking about Estevez’s truck, Callen tells Shyla that the truck was wiped clean as was his GPS. Callen wants a list from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of any known Hezbollah members in the US, especially anyone on the West Coast.

In the boat shed, Janice Ng explains she joined Havlock/Haines to be part of the team that put the first person on Mars. She did not sign up to build weapons of mass destruction. Rountree tells her the drones aren’t weapons of mass destruction. Ng disagrees – they could be armed with a nuclear weapon. Rountree points out they aren’t but Ng thinks he’s being naïve. But she thinks it is Rountree’s job to cover up the military’s crimes against humanity. Explaining that it isn’t his job to cover up anything, Rountree is there to find the truth about who set the bomb at Havlock/Haines. Ng is annoyed – since she quit for not wanting to be “a warmonger”, she’s being treated as a suspect. She’s waiting for Rountree to beat a confession out of her.

Deeks arrives at the boat shed with Kensi right behind him. Rountree explains that he isn’t there to beat a confession out of Ng. Pointing to his wife, Deeks tells Ng that what Kensi is there to do as he walks into the restroom. Kensi tells Ng Deeks is just kidding. Rountree updates Kensi on his questioning and Ng lawyers up. Rountree tells her she doesn’t need a lawyer. After she warns them against railroading her, Rountree just cuts Ng loose.

Sighing that it is just “one of those days”, Rountree tells Kensi he’s gotten nothing from the former Havlock/Haines staffers. Kensi explains that they got some security footage and were going to Ops when “somebody needed a potty break.” Deeks returns from the restroom where they’re out of towels so he airdries his hands all over Kensi and Rountree. He explains that he would rather use their restroom than some public restroom. Rountree is more concerned that some of Deeks’s air-drying got into his mouth.

Contacting Ops, Kensi pulls out the thumb drive with the security camera footage and sends it to Shyla. Shyla has camera footage from other places as she tries to stitch together Estevez’s day. Kensi and Deeks are on their way to Ops to help Shyla. Deeks signals to Rountree that he probably shouldn’t use the restroom.

In the bullpen, Callen is reviewing some street camera footage with Fatima. With the coroner estimating Estevez’s time of death around 4PM, Callen sees white van for Bunny Vale Laundry and Dry Cleaning outside of his house at 11AM. The branded van is still there two-hours later. While it could be a long lunch or a day off, it is just as likely a stakeout. In Ops, Shyla has info on Bunny Vale Laundry, a chain in LA. Tracing the specific van, for the last few days, it was always near Estevez, either at his home or following him around.

Bunny Vale Laundry is owned by Darius “Bunny” Vale and his wife Sara. They are first-generation Persian-Americans, born in America. No links to Hezbollah but Fatima wonders if Vale is using his business as a front. There is a laundering money suggestion from Shyla – she really does fit right in. Callen and Fatima are going to speak to Vale.

In interrogation, Darius “Bunny” Vale is on the wrong side of the table. Callen shows him a photo of the laundry truck outside of Estevez’s home. Vale claims to have over a dozen vans like it. Callen tells Vale the van was used in a crime. Vale was worried something like that would happen – the van was stolen. Callen mentions there was no police report but Vale says the truck was gone for a while and then returned. He never knew it was missing until one of his employees found it. Since there was no damage to the van, he didn’t report it, figuring it was some teenage joyriders. The van was found near one of Vale’s locations by an employee who was with Vale for years. “Anything else?”

Pulling out his phone, Callen shows Vale Estevez’s dead body. Vale expresses his disgust in Farsi. Callen explains that Estevez was a father and a grandfather who was likely murdered in Vale’s van. When the forensic team goes through the “stolen” van, if they find any evidence Vale will be connected to Estevez’s murder and the attack on Havlock/Haines. Fatima asks how long as Vale supported Hezbollah. Vale is stunned – he’s never supported Hezbollah. Callen threatens a trip to Guantanamo Bay but Vale claims he had nothing to do with what happened.

When Callen says “last chance” to Vale, he explains he can’t help, “they’ll hurt my family.” Fatima offers protection but Vale is speaking about his family in Tehran. While NCIS has agents all over the world, they are not in Iran. Fatima tells him the threat is to his family in the US as well as Iran. If he helps them, they can stop threat.

Vale explains that two men demanded a van, was told if he didn’t cooperate his family in Iran would pay the price. He was told to not ask any questions and to not tell anyone. Vale gave them the van and then the van was returned. Vale doesn’t have much information – he didn’t know the men, he didn’t know where they were staying. In Farsi, Fatima tells Vale he needs to help them. He is in danger if he doesn’t cooperate. Vale mentions a friend named Ava who was threatened as well. She had to provide a place where the men could work. Callen wants Sam called in – this is a full team operation.

Joining Callen, Fatima and Rountree at an office park, Sam and the team are all wearing their kevlar with the big guns out. He thinks this assignment is easier than getting his father to behave. When Fatima asks how Raymond is doing, Sam replies he’s doing everything possible to make him crazy. The Admiral has had enough chit-chat – and Deeks isn’t even involved. Fatima and Rountree take one entrance, Sam and Callen take another. Shyla tells the team the building is owned by Ava Safari with only a 26% occupancy rate due to COVID. The terrorists are set-up on a vacant office floor. The Admiral considers them armed and they are dangerous since they have access to high end explosives. He warns them of booby traps. That doesn’t sit well with Deeks, who is dress as a fire marshal/inspector. “I’m not the bomb disposal guy.”

Deeks walks through one of the offices. It is empty though there is a cot and a lantern flashlight in an open area. He is approached by a man asking why Deeks is there. After saying he’s happy the place is rented again, Deeks claims to be LAFD there for the building’s monthly inspection. The man wants Deeks to leave and return the following day. Deeks explains he can’t do that. Deeks is walking ahead of the man, through the office. He is rambling about the inspecting the Nakatomi Plaza – nice “Die Hard” shoutout – and puts on soundproof headphones because he’s about to set off the building’s alarms. The man behind Deeks pulls out his gun. Kensi says “weapon” and takes out the man from an office building a healthy distance away. “Tango down.” Deeks seems surprised.

Callen and Sam join Deeks – “Nice shot honey,” Deeks calls to Kensi. He starts talking about having a BB right under his scalp from being shot by Darrel Dinkins. Sam mentioned the BB migrating to Deeks’s brain. An arriving Fatima and Rountree enjoy the show. Deeks tells Sam he missed him. “I bet you did.”

While Fatima sends the dead man’s prints to Ops, Callen has the dead man’s burner phone and wants to Shyla to check the contacts and any GPS info. Sam finds a Canadian passport for the dead man issued to Cyrus Karimain from Fort Erie, Ontario. It is likely a fake. Sam has four other passports for four other men. There may be an entire cell in Los Angeles.

Deeks find a trash pail full of shredded documents. One looks like a map but he could only figure it out if he was the Amazing Kreskin. Fatima doesn’t know who the Amazing Kreskin is. “That was before Google,” Sam tells her. Callen finds something and shows it to Sam. It is a symbol of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s staff college. The men in the office aren’t Hezbollah, they are Iranian special operatives who usually train proxies to fight, not do the fighting themselves. The Admiral knew this was state sponsored and is willing to bet his grandchildren that the drones that took out Soleimani was manufactured by Havlock/Haines. Shyla notes the Admiral doesn’t have grandchildren. “This team America, is payback.”

Tracing the location of the cellphone numbers in the dead man’s phone, they are all traveling on the PCH, just passing Malibu. While Deeks thinks they are surfers, Sam realizes they’re going to Point Magu. Point Magu is the home of the Triton drone project. The Admiral wants the team in helicopters on their way to the base in two minutes. When Shyla asks how, the Admiral doesn’t care – Coast Guard, National Guard, borrow a TV traffic helicopter.

At Point Magu’s entrance, a Bunny Vale Landry Van shoots its way past a guard station. The sole guard tries to fire on the men but is overwhelmed by four men with military weapons. Driving the van into the base, there are two barrel in the back with explosives. The men all exit the van before it plows into a trailer with a satellite on top. Since this is NCIS: Los Angeles, there is a massive explosion.

One of the men tries to enter a structure next to the structure that just was blown up. He has a keycard to get in but the door does not open. Callen comes out from the side of the structure and tells the man “nobody’s home.” The men are surrounded by Callen and Sam on the right, Kensi, Fatima and Rountree on their left and Deeks from the top of the structure. Behind the on the ground team is more armed Navy sailors. It was set-up as a kill box. Fatima starts ordering the men to surrender in Farsi. The men surrender. Deeks wonders how he is getting off the building – he asks Rountree to catch him.

Stepping away, Sam has a call from Mrs. Williams, his father’s caretaker. Raymond left the activity center without the caretaker. He instead left with a woman named Victoria. Callen is impressed – one day at the activity center and Raymond has a girlfriend. Callen thinks Sam could learn a little something from his father.

In the armory, Kensi, Deeks, Fatima and Rountree are dropping off their gear. Fatima thinks they should go out for drinks and Rountree should pay. This surprises Rountree until Fatima says she’s buying. Deeks offers to take everyone out to dinner if Rosa could join them. Kensi steps in – not on a school night. Deeks asks how is Rountree’s calculus. It is better than his algebra but it is not very good.

Pouring two glasses of scotch, the Admiral offers an arriving Callen a glass. Callen asks if he is going to need it. The Admiral thinks the longer Callen stays in their business, he will but he won’t need it today for Hetty “Not now anyway,” he tells Callen. The remains were of a female child, not Hetty. Callen asks why were Hetty’s IDs found on a dead child. The Admiral thinks Hetty planted them. Without the forensics the US military has, anyone who saw the remains and the ID thinks Hetty is dead. Thinking Hetty is in trouble – and the Admiral saying she was in the trouble the minute she went to Syria, Callen asks for permission to look for her. That’s a no from the Admiral. If they had actionable intel, they would go. Until then, Hetty is on her own.

Saying he has a lot of personal time, Callen is thinking of going anyway. The Admiral makes it clear LA just had foreign terrorists attack a building and a Naval Station so there will be no going halfway around the world “searching for your surrogate mommy.” Telling the Admiral to enjoy his scotch, Callen storms out. The Admiral drinks his own scotch and then Callen’s untouched glass, saying he intends to.

Not enjoying his scotch is Sam, sitting with a glass at his dining room table. Raymond sneaks in almost like a teenager caught by his parents. Sam asks where his father was. Raymond said he took Sam’s advice and made some friends. Sam thinks Raymond should have called. Raymond is sure he sent a text but he didn’t. This is every parent-child discussion about being out late with friends, just with the roles reversed. When Raymond says he’s not a child, Sam tells him he's acting like one. Yep, parent-child in reverse. Sam is angry that Raymond “hooked up with a woman on your first damn day. An angry Raymond talks about Victoria, who is married to Cliff, a bedridden veteran. After his time at the activity center, Raymond went to see Cliff, providing him such much needed company. Sam is instantly remorseful until Raymond makes it clear that he also provided Victoria some much needed company. Sam isn’t sure his father is joking as Raymond says good night.

They changed the fonts on the credits too.

What head canon can be formed from here: Sort of an update to the season 13 finale – Callen is looking at wedding venues, Sam is dealing with his father, Kensi and Deeks are taking Rosa to her first day of school. Family continues to play a big part.

Shyla is great with the team. She has a different relationship with Kilbride – more casual and fun than any of the team members.

Visiting the bombed out drone place had to be pretty brutal to Callen, who less than an hour earlier learned his “surrogate mommy” may have met her end in a similar action.

The Kensi and Deeks conversation about doing their jobs in the world we live in has been going on now since season eight. This was another variation of it with Kensi sounding a little more done this time.

The program used real events – the arrest of two Hezbollah terrorists, the bombing of Soleimani- to make the story go.

Episode number: Season 14 (a healthy run for any program), episode one. Episode 303 overall. These recaps will go up every Friday (save one in mid-March) until season 14 wraps.

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

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typingtess · 5 days

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NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Rewatch: “Glory of the Sea”

The basics: The team hunts (see what I did there) for an Admiral abducted from his home.

Written by: Faythallegra Claude wrote season 13’s “Perception”.

Directed by: Terence Nightingall directed "Expiration Date", "Old Tricks", "Warrior of Peace", "The Sound of Silence", “A Bloody Brilliant Plan” (which he co-wrote) and “Divided We Fall”.

Guest stars of note: Duncan Campbell returns from “Of Value” as NCIS Special Agent Castor, John O'Hurley as Navy Rear Admiral Ted Gordon, Bryan Lillis as Jessie Fiore, Audrey Wasilewski as Meredith Huxley, Charles Kohut as Jim Bones, Brent McGregor as Long John and Tre Hall as Marcus Moore.

Our heroes: Go on a treasure hunt.

What important things did we learn about: Callen: Not so sure about the treasure. Sam: Totally doesn’t believe in the treasure. Kensi: Working well with Rountree today. Deeks: Looking at places where Bertie can live. Fatima: Solving puzzles with the Admiral. Rountree: Figures out the lock number by thinking like Gordon. Kilbride: See Kensi.

What not so important things did we learn about: Callen: No bachelor party. Sam: Fire at the Hanna household was contained with more embarrassment than damage. Kensi: Thinking she’s not the fun parent. Deeks: Possibly the fun parents because of the blonde surfer look and skydiving. Fatima: Helping Kensi achieve fun parent status. Rountree: Thinks life is about the journey, not the treasure at the end. Kilbride: Enjoyed Michael Mann’s “Heat 2” novel.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange? Earns a mention about Callen’s wedding gear.

Who's down with OTP: One half was apartment shopping with his mother.

Who's down with BrOTP: Great Callen and Sam episode – lots of banter, wedding talk, bachelor parties and treasure.

Fashion review: Callen has on a long-sleeve dark blue tee-shirt. Sam is in a charcoal grey long-sleeve tee-shirt. Kensi is wearing a dark purple cap sleeve top. A white turtleneck with chocolate brown pants for Fatima. A black short-sleeve tee for Rountree. The Admiral wears a darker blue suit than usual, white shirt, blue tie.

Music: John O’Hurley sings “Weigh, Hey and Up She Rises” to open the episode. “Sloop John B” by The Merrymen ends the episode.

Any notable cut scene: Yes. Kensi and Rountree talk in the boatshed before Marcus Moore arrives. She has a question for him – how did he bring up his sister alone? Rountree said he didn’t really have much of a choice. Kensi just doesn’t understand - Rountree was a kid. Kensi and Deeks are adults. That gets a laugh from Rountree. Kensi agrees, “Rosa’s easy. Deeks is like having a baby chimp.” She asks him seriously how did he get through it all. There were lots of tears, lots of mornings where he was scared. But he had to go on for Jordyn’s sake. And they had each other which made it easier.

Kensi thinks Rountree did an amazing job. Jordyn is so accomplished. Rountree said all he did was keep her clothed and fed, Jordyn did all the amazing stuff. Kensi doesn’t believe that. Rountree tells her he really wouldn’t want to do that again. Kensi is confused – raising Jordyn or rasing a child of his own. Either one is Rountree’s answer. He isn’t sure about bringing another kid into the world. He’s also not sure about wanting to do it again. Kensi tells him that when he meets the person he’s supposed to be with, “and you fall madly in love”, things change. Rountree thinks it might.

What a terrible scene to cut. Find this one a home in another episode because it was a great look at Rountree.

Quote: Sam: “You know what treasure is to me?” Callen: “A 50-pound kettlebell and some baby oil?” Sam (laughing): “Family and friends, a good day's work.”

Anything else: In a small Los Angeles home, a gentleman is making himself a smoothie for breakfast where the main ingredient is alcohol. Singing “Whey, Hey and Up She Rises” as the man works on his smoothie, the power goes out in the house. There are kids outside causing trouble outside – “oh, those damn kids!” The man grabs a spear (as one does when the neighborhood kids are full of mischief) and goes to his door. When the man opens the door, he met by a group of men wearing ski-masks, looking for a fight. The man puts up a decent defense of himself but is subdued. A hood is thrown over his head as he’s taken from his home.

While Deeks is using a personal day to help Bertie find a new place to live, Kensi is working on a list of fun places to take Rosa. Fatima is interested until she hears Kensi’s suggestions – a production at the Geffen, visiting museums like the Getty, LACMA and MOLAA. The MOLAA, Kensi notes, is the only museum in the entire country dedicated to Latin American art.

Fatima thinks a play and four museums aren’t exactly young girl fun stuff. She thinks shopping at the Grove, being part of an audience when a TV show is filmed, celebrity house tour around LA or visiting an escape room could be fun. Kensi is all about art and theater. Fatima is all about Kensi “ushering Deeks into the role of fun parent.” Kensi talks about not being the fun parent and Fatima gets it – surfer Deeks is the default fun parent unless Kensi really wants it.

In the driveway, Sam gets a phone call – the fire department was by the house. Alone in the house, Raymond forgot he was making steak and eggs. Small fire, no real damage according to the fire captain. Callen is sympathetic – how does a man like Raymond go from commanding a battalion to suddenly need a caretaker? “Kicking and screaming,” according to Sam.

Changing the subject, Sam wants to know if Callen has been fitted for his wedding suit. He hasn’t. In fact, he’s been thinking about grabbing a suit from wardrobe – they’re all really good. Sam is horrified. The suits have gunpowder and blood in them. Besides, Hetty would kill him if he took the suit for an unauthorized event. Callen laments that Hetty would have to come out hiding to do that. Sam pushes his tailor again, even promises to pay for the suit. Callen and Sam are called to Ops. Kensi and Fatima are already there.

The man kidnapped from his home is Rear Admiral Ted Gordon. Neighbors heard the struggle and a security camera picks up Gordon and his abductors leaving the house. The security video is from behind – no clear faces, no visible license plate. Gordon has no family – no wife, no siblings, no kids. He has been on leave from the Navy in advance of his pending retirement. His prior assignment was working with a civilian tech contractor Nautical Robotics. They specialize in robotics – mostly underwater gliders than can travel unmanned through the ocean.

Sam is familiar with the Navy’s gliders – they can do scientific research, catch drug smugglers, deploy weapons. The Russians and the Chinese have both captured these gliders in the past, claiming they are “spy boats”. Sam doesn’t disagree with the term. The team thinks instead of trying to recreate one based on the captured “spy boats”, a hostile actor grabbed Gordon so he could make a glider for them. Castor picked up Jessie Fiore, Nautical Robotics chief engineer. Kensi and Rountree will interview him in the boat shed. Callen and Sam are off to Gordon’s home.

In the boat shed, Fiore isn’t sure why he’s been brought in. Kensi mentions Gordon, who Fiore calls “the Navy arm of our project.” The two were close. Operating the glider requires two people. Fiore is shocked to learn Gordon was kidnapped. Kensi asks if Gordon mentioned threats. Fiore says no but didn’t think Gordon would say anything it he was threatened. “Ted’s not scared of anything, just like my Dad.” Fiore invited Gordon to family barbeques until the two had a falling out after Gordon appeared on the Marcus Moore tech podcast. With 12-million subscribers, Moore’s interview of Gordon never mentioned all the people working at Nautical Robotics. “A tiny shoutout could have catapulted my career.” There are questions if Gordon even had permission to appear on the podcast.

A flashback of the podcast has Gordon chatting up the gliders and their capability. He talks about “my gliders” in a Navy authorized interview. Fatima learns that after the interview, Moore flew to China and met with a groups of hackers.

Callen and Sam arrive at Gordon’s home talking about robots, thinking at some point RoboCop will be real. Sam jokes about replacing Callen with RoboCop before wondering how his father would deal with an electronic home health aide. Inside the house, Sam thinks the place looks like a maritime museum. Antique compasses and cannon balls, the place looks like a museum to Sam (maybe Kensi can take Rosa there). The bookshelves have been tossed, same with several drawers with papers. Callen picks up the one of the model boats. It reads “SOS” on the back. Sam notices the sails all have a morse code on them. The sails spell “Inside”.

In the boat shed, Kensi and Rountree question Marcus Moore. The trip to China was to expand the reach of his show – he met with some tech firms with money to spend. Kensi asks Moore about a meeting with some black-hat hackers who have caused trouble for a number of big hospitals. Moore denies knowing the people he met were hackers. Moore thought he was meeting with people who work in green energy. Rountree mentions the Gordon interview which Moore thinks is irrelevant – the Navy approved the interview. The kidnapping comes up and Moore is worried. Gordon was a difficult interview – always interrupting the flow to make calls away from Moore in the recording booth. Moore could see that Gordon was angry.

Callen breaks up the wood boat and finds a leather journal inside. Gordon went to a lot of trouble to hid the journal but also went to a lot of trouble to make sure it could be found.

From the boat shed, Kensi and Rountree get a debrief from Fatima in Ops. Gordon’s calls were to a librarian in the LA Public Library system, Meredith Huxley. She works in the maps department. Gordon called Huxley five times in a short time span. Kensi and Rountree are off to interview Huxley.

Returning to the office, Callen and Sam run into Admiral. Callen is reading Gordon’s journal. The Admiral recommends “Heat 2” instead. The kidnappers were looking for something – probably the journal. The journal is about buried treasure – a Spanish galleon sunk somewhere off the California coast with the crew burying the ship’s riches nearby. The Admiral now knows why Gordon never married. A SEAL buddy of Sam does some deep sea treasure hunting in Florida – no luck. The Admiral wants to why Gordon kept such a specific diary – there are drawings of the ocean throughout the book. One drawing is missing a big section. The team is either looking for people stealing robotic technology or they’re going on a treasure hunt.

At the library, Kensi introduces herself and Rountree to Meredith Huxley in what looks like a map room in an LA library. Huxley is unhappy to have Navy cops sent after she returned Gordon’s antique map. The map, Gordon believes, leads to buried treasure. Huxley isn’t so sure. She did, however, verify the map was legit – 17th century Spain. But with her planned visit to her daughter in Sacramento, Huxley locked it into a secure drawer in the library. Gordon picked it up as soon as Huxley returned. The map may not lead to treasure but it is true antique and worth a good deal of money. In his rush to retrieve the map, Gordon left behind some notes he took. Huxley offers them to Kensi and Rountree.

The journal is full of information, including a manifest for the Spanish galleon, the stars in the sky the night of ship wreck – incredible details. Gordon has a riddle for the location of map - "The Lone Sailor can't see the treasure, but he looks to the map at his parallel dove." Sam is good at riddles – thinks the Lone Sailor Statue in Long Beach. Callen and Sam are on their way to check things out.

Gordon’s notes were mostly about the symbols on map. To find the treasure on-shore, Gordon first had to find the ship. If he find the ship and deciphers the symbols on the map, he should be able to find the treasure. About a month ago, Gordon told Huxley he found the ship using glider technology. Kensi remembers Fiore saying the glider needed two people to operate it. Fiore likely knows about the shipwreck and the treasure hunt. Kensi asks Fatima to bring Fiore in again.

Callen and Sam arrive at the Lone Sailor Statue and with Fatima, start working through the riddle. The statue of the Lone Sailor is looking at the ocean, which is south. The statue is on Paloma Avenue – paloma means dove in Spanish. With the latitude of the statue being 3376, Callen and Sam are off to 3376 Paloma Avenue – Antique Mariner Bookstore.

While the bookstore is closed for business that day, the door is opened. Callen and Sam enter the store and hear noises in the back. Two men in ski masks are taking in the back. Callen and Sam say “federal agents” which causes both men to run. Sam captures the man who jumped into a storage room while Callen’s guy escaped in a white van that looked like the vehicle used to kidnap Gordon. No license plates. Back in the store, Sam takes off his guy’s ski mask – it is Jessie Fiore.

Callen and Sam question Fiore, who isn’t cooperating. He’s afraid for his life. After being convinced that Callen and Sam want to find Gordon and keep both Gordon and Fiore safe, Fiore opens up. Gordon was still in the van that got away. The plan was to go to the Channel Islands and find the treasure. Sam asks which one of the Channel Islands – there are five – but Fiore doesn’t know. The map was drawn before the different islands had names. Gordon wouldn’t tell anyone which island. Sam asks Fatima to track a boat Gordon had and where it is located. It is probably near the treasure.

Kensi and Rountree finish with Meredith Huxley. As they are about to leave, Huxley pulls out a briefcase belonging to Gordon. It is very heavy – makes a loud noise when she places it on a library desk. Kensi asks to look through the bag. It is empty but weighs a lot. With Kensi finding a false bottom, Rountree breaks out his knife to see what’s there.

The man with the van is Jim Bones, a name earning a chuckle from Sam. Fiore explains that he helped Gordon find the shipwreck with the glider. Once they found the shipwreck, Gordon wouldn’t share the location of the treasure but promised to give Fiore his share once it was discovered. An angry Fiore didn’t trust Gordon to do that so he joined an online forum of treasure hunters. Jim Bones and a guy name Long John promised to help Fiore. Fiore promises he didn’t know the two would kidnap Gordon. Calling Gordon “amazing”, Fiore says Gordon didn’t give up the map even after the was roughed up by Bones and Long John. Only after they put a gun to Fiore’s head and promised to kill him did Gordon give up the bookstore’s location. Fiore feels guilty – Gordon took a beating and gave up the bookstore location after Fiore betrayed him.

Kensi opens the false bottom. There is a small key safe. Opening the key safe using the year of the shipwreck, Kensi and Rountree find part of the missing piece of Gordon’s journal.

In the book store, one of the file cabinets is opened. It was a locked drawer, now opened with a key. Gordon said that is where the map was held. Opening the other drawers to see what’s inside, Sam finds one is jammed. Finally getting it opened after a struggle, Sam finds and cypher decoder wheel and an encrypted manuscript written in Latin. There is another piece of paper cut from Gordon’s journal.

The Admiral walks into Ops and asks Fatima about narrowing down the island. She hasn’t – Gordon visited all five with his small boat. Callen and Sam send their missing drawing piece and Fatima is able to put them all together. Looking at the drawing on the big screen, the Admiral notices a letter in one of the waves, a U. They also find a Q, N, A and T. Fatima can’t make that into a word while the Admiral isn’t going to even try to pronounce it.

Noting the letters are in different waves coming closer to the shore, ordering the letters as they make their way to the beach, it spells Tuqan. Tuqan is a Palestinian poet according to Fatima. It is also the Chumash word for San Miguel Island. The Chumash were indigenous to the area and treasure hunters would us that in their maps. Callen and Sam are going to be sent there on a chopper but San Miguel Island is a Navy test site for missiles and other unexploded ordinance.

Arriving at San Miguel Island, Callen and Sam in their vests with the big guns find Gordon with his kidnappers. They are being very careful. The island is full of places where one misstep means “kaboom” according to Sam.

The kidnappers want Gordon to dig up the treasure. They have a metal detector and weapons pointed at Gordon. Gordon mentions Juan Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer who died on the island. Before his death he cursed the island – people of ill-will are cursed if the come to the island. The unimpressed kidnappers threaten Gordon but he tells them his destiny will not be controlled by men like them.

Callen and Sam creep up. They yell “federal agents”. This gives Gordon the chance to take his shovel and knock out one of the kidnappers. The other kidnapper makes a run for it and hits some of the unexploded ordinance. Kaboom.

The area was cleared by the Navy’s bomb squad and medics took away the kidnappers. Gordon admits he’s stunned Callen and Sam found him. Callen mentioned that Gordon didn’t make it easy. Saying that he was looking for the treasure for decades, Gordon says he realized that if he was ever lost at sea, all of his work “would have been for naught.” He set up the journal and the puzzle to leave his discoveries to a person with the same spirit he has. It never dawned on Gordon that his passion would put him or anyone else in danger. They mention Jessie Fiore. “Gold and silver are worth a fortune but a human life is priceless, even a scoundrelous traitor like Jessie.”

Gordon thanks Callen and Sam who are ready to fly him back to the mainland. Gordon isn’t going anywhere, instead he wants Callen and Sam to join him on his adventure. Callen declines. Gordon says the two don’t believe the treasure is there. Callen is evasive, Sam’s a hard no. Gordon promises to report to the SecNav about anything he finds. He tells Callen and Sam that when ships were made of wood, men were made of steel. Callen and Sam like that.

As they walk away, Callen thinks about a beach wedding. Sam thinks Callen would like a beach bar wedding instead. The two talk about sharks – Callen doesn’t like a beach with sharks. Sam suggests the Great Lakes. All the while, Gordon is studying his map and getting ready to dig. Sam is down on beach weddings – weather is always an issue. Sam’s suggestion is to let Anna plan the wedding with Callen using the magic groom words – “whatever you want, honey.” Sam is looking more for another wedding event – the bachelor party. Callen doesn’t want any part of the bachelor party. Even though Deeks has booked the flights. Cage diving with sharks in Mexico.

Fatima meets with Kensi in the bullpen. She has an idea of turning the cultural/educational places as part of a scavenger hunt. This way it is fun - Rosa can learn some things and get a feel for Los Angeles. Fatima will even help. Kensi thinks it is a great idea but thinks it is asking a lot of Fatima. Fatima is all in – it will be fun, put some brain teasers to keep the mind sharp. Kensi wonders if this makes her the fun parent. It would unless Deeks takes Rosa skydiving – which he totally would do.

Rountree joins Kensi and Fatima. He wonders if Gordon will find the treasure. They admire how he loves the hunt – it is about the journey, not the outcome.

Callen and Sam are sharing some beers on the back deck of the boatshed. Sam is talking about hiring the nurse from the hospital in “Dead Stick” to take care of Raymond. Callen thinks they should have put Gordon on the chopper with them back to LA. Sam disagrees – Gordon is right where he wants to be, looking for the treasure.

The Admiral arrives. He’s pro-treasure hunting, it started capitalism. Sam isn’t – treasure is family, friends and a good day’s work. The Admiral hands Callen and Sam a gift from Gordon before he leaves. Sam opens the little pouch and pours the contents into Callen’s hand. It is a little bit of the treasure. Callen is stunned. Sam isn’t.

What head canon can be formed from here: Again, I really think the cut scene was a huge loss not only for the episode but for the series. It was a great look at Rountree.

I’m sorry they didn’t use John O’Hurley more. The man is a great comic actor and he could have really filled out that role instead of being in the very beginning and the end. This episode could have been the final season’s “A Bloody Brilliant Plan” – played for laughs with a good case of the week – but played it a little too straight. A funny hour once a season is always a good thing. A funny episode without Deeks – often the source or the butt of the humor in the show – is a fine effort.

Callen and Deeks as an anti-bachelor party grooms. Did not see that coming.

Episode number: Season 14, episode six. It is the 308th episode overall.

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

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