Episode 254 - "Commitment Issues"
I'm going to start with the positives of this episode and by saying that NCIS:LA is one of my favorite shows and has been since season 1 because this review may not sound like it is. It was nice to see DeChamps again and Carla was a welcome character. That's it; those are all the positives of this episode. Although the title of this episode was "Commitment Issues," "Writing Issues" would be a more appropriate one. It's unfortunate that such a poorly written episode heralds the return of the series from its extended hiatus, but perhaps by now viewers recognize that an episode written by Jordana Lewis Jaffe tends to be one that arrives without much to recommend it.
As with most poorly written episodes for any procedural crime drama, "Commitment Issues" begins with a story that is stunning in its absurdity and continues to implode. The action begins at a local bookstore where a live poetry read is happening--replete with stereotype caricatures--and where a dead body is discovered in the bookstore's bathroom. This murder is the beginning of a case that turns out to be both obvious and ridiculous at the same time.
From the dead body the action shifts to OSP headquarters and a conversation between Callen and Nell. The banter between them seems anything but natural when the scene begins. They've worked together for ten years, Callen knows how sensitive documents are destroyed at NCIS--in the incinerator--and since that's all Nell is doing when he enters the burn room, the reason behind Nell's attempts to brush him off is unclear. When he does get past her attitude and states that he wants her help in locating Anna, her attitude disappears and she's willing to offer any assistance she can. And then Eric enters the scene and the scene completely falls apart and takes far too long to do that. There is a prolonged exchange between the three with absolutely no purpose other than to consume precious screen time.
This is followed by a brief conversation in Ops between Kensi, Deeks, Nell, and Beale where we learn that Callen and Sam have left for the tech company that employed the victim, and Kensi and Deeks will be going to the crime scene. But before Kensi and Deeks leave, Nell delivers the blow to Beale--who wants to be a field agent--that the people bankrolling this tech company are the same people who bankrolled the company he worked for undercover in San Francisco, the same people who tried to kill him. This seems to cause a massive brain dysfunction in Beale. When Kensi and Deeks leave, we then join Callen and Sam at the tech company that employed the victim, Michael Carpenter, an ex-Navy man, for a brief moment and meet his boss, Miguel, before returning to Kensi and Deeks at the crime scene where they meet Carla, a colorful grouch who voices nothing but contempt for the people who attended the poetry read the previous night. Their conversation is little more than a chance to get to know Carla because we learn nothing relevant to the case. The action then jumps back to the tech company where Callen and Sam are now joined by Agent DeChamps, a true breath of fresh air with some of the best lines in the episode. During the interview of Miguel, DeChamps shares her suspicion that this company is completing a project for the Chinese government, a project to track their populace. But that information isn't enough for the agents to bring him in for questioning even though an employee working on this project was murdered the night before. This is more than surprising since the agents have pulled people in for questioning on far less.
We then see Carla once again as Kensi and Deeks review the security tape, and the conversation gets a little too personal, but Deeks often pries into others' personal lives. Undoubtedly his intentions are simply to get to know people better, but it's not surprising some find it an irritating trait. After reviewing the tape, Kensi and Deeks interview the woman seen with Michael Carpenter at the poetry reading, Daisy Patel, but they learn nothing of significance and surprisingly never ask her why she and Michael were there or why she didn't notice he was missing. Following this feeble attempt at an interrogation, the team seems stumped, and DeChamps says what many viewers must have been thinking, "I feel like you guys usually have more by now." No kidding. It was interesting--and unbelievable--that at no time do we see the team review Carpenter's military record, bank statements, employment history, social media posts or searches, or any other information that would be an expected line of inquiry, but there is more absurdity to come.
Consider the car chase that takes place later. Miguel is kidnapped and Kensi and Deeks are in pursuit. Nell and Beale are watching the pursuit in Ops on a large map on which both vehicles can be identified. So, first Kensi and Deeks engage in a high speed pursuit on city streets with a van they believe is carrying a kidnap victim. They then block the van, causing it to crash in a fiery wreck. They never actually know that the people in the van are the kidnappers, and, it seems, causing bodily harm or death to an innocent kidnap victim is something they don't take into consideration. Does this sound like the action of two, very experienced law enforcement officers?
But, the most unbelievable element in this story was that Katherine Casillas, the insurance broker/agent, was the "mastermind" behind this elaborate plot. So, not only does Katherine know everything about art, fashion, and wine, she also knows how to set up an elaborate plot to deceive the Chinese government in the field of technology. And she does this without any obvious oversight or training, or, presumably, the approval of the entire board of the company whose other members are never questioned. She knows all about NCIS OSP, but for reasons unknown, feels they can't be trusted to handle such information discreetly--not even Sam--and she refuses to explain the plan to them when interviewed twice. Her refusal to notify the authorities seems almost criminal after she admits that Miguel was being harassed and threatened by the Saudis who wanted the same program the company was designing for the Chinese. This harassment began a few weeks prior, but she didn't consider it serious enough to alert the authorities or to hire security. Perhaps she should have since it turned out to be the Saudis who killed Carpenter. Her refusal to share information makes Sam doubt who she really is, and it requires more than a simple suspension of disbelief by the viewer to believe that Katherine, on her own, put all of this into action without any training in law enforcement or the intelligence services. (Anyone familiar with procedurals probably guessed before the halfway point that the tech company was creating a search engine that contained a flaw of some kind, and that this was the purpose behind the tech company and Carpenter's work.)
However, as to be expected, everything works out in the end: the bad guys are caught, the tech boss survives, and Sam is still interested in Katherine as a possible love interest because, hey, why not?. It seems he can easily forgive an attractive woman who has the hubris to run an elaborate scheme to deceive a foreign government even if it results in the death of an innocent man, a death that might have been avoided if she had acted differently and shared her plan with an agency trained in this type of work, say the agency Sam works for, NCIS OSP.
"Commitment Issues" was difficult to watch the first time and even harder to watch a second time. The episode had a few good scenes, but a few good scenes do not a good episode make. And there were far too many elements that didn't work including the storyline. The entire Beale segment in the gym was a scene so over-the-top it was cringe worthy. At some point, the powers that be have to decide if Beale is a mature, technical genius who happens to be a geeky nerd or an immature, "adolescent," buffoonish geek who happens to be a technical genius.
This episode was written by a producer who wants to be a writer, but hasn't mastered the craft. The cast and the viewers deserve better, and next week's episode is likely to be much better because next week's episode is written by a writer who just happens to be a producer.
As with most poorly written episodes for any procedural crime drama, "Commitment Issues" begins with a story that is stunning in its absurdity and continues to implode. The action begins at a local bookstore where a live poetry read is happening--replete with stereotype caricatures--and where a dead body is discovered in the bookstore's bathroom. This murder is the beginning of a case that turns out to be both obvious and ridiculous at the same time.
From the dead body the action shifts to OSP headquarters and a conversation between Callen and Nell. The banter between them seems anything but natural when the scene begins. They've worked together for ten years, Callen knows how sensitive documents are destroyed at NCIS--in the incinerator--and since that's all Nell is doing when he enters the burn room, the reason behind Nell's attempts to brush him off is unclear. When he does get past her attitude and states that he wants her help in locating Anna, her attitude disappears and she's willing to offer any assistance she can. And then Eric enters the scene and the scene completely falls apart and takes far too long to do that. There is a prolonged exchange between the three with absolutely no purpose other than to consume precious screen time.
This is followed by a brief conversation in Ops between Kensi, Deeks, Nell, and Beale where we learn that Callen and Sam have left for the tech company that employed the victim, and Kensi and Deeks will be going to the crime scene. But before Kensi and Deeks leave, Nell delivers the blow to Beale--who wants to be a field agent--that the people bankrolling this tech company are the same people who bankrolled the company he worked for undercover in San Francisco, the same people who tried to kill him. This seems to cause a massive brain dysfunction in Beale. When Kensi and Deeks leave, we then join Callen and Sam at the tech company that employed the victim, Michael Carpenter, an ex-Navy man, for a brief moment and meet his boss, Miguel, before returning to Kensi and Deeks at the crime scene where they meet Carla, a colorful grouch who voices nothing but contempt for the people who attended the poetry read the previous night. Their conversation is little more than a chance to get to know Carla because we learn nothing relevant to the case. The action then jumps back to the tech company where Callen and Sam are now joined by Agent DeChamps, a true breath of fresh air with some of the best lines in the episode. During the interview of Miguel, DeChamps shares her suspicion that this company is completing a project for the Chinese government, a project to track their populace. But that information isn't enough for the agents to bring him in for questioning even though an employee working on this project was murdered the night before. This is more than surprising since the agents have pulled people in for questioning on far less.
We then see Carla once again as Kensi and Deeks review the security tape, and the conversation gets a little too personal, but Deeks often pries into others' personal lives. Undoubtedly his intentions are simply to get to know people better, but it's not surprising some find it an irritating trait. After reviewing the tape, Kensi and Deeks interview the woman seen with Michael Carpenter at the poetry reading, Daisy Patel, but they learn nothing of significance and surprisingly never ask her why she and Michael were there or why she didn't notice he was missing. Following this feeble attempt at an interrogation, the team seems stumped, and DeChamps says what many viewers must have been thinking, "I feel like you guys usually have more by now." No kidding. It was interesting--and unbelievable--that at no time do we see the team review Carpenter's military record, bank statements, employment history, social media posts or searches, or any other information that would be an expected line of inquiry, but there is more absurdity to come.
Consider the car chase that takes place later. Miguel is kidnapped and Kensi and Deeks are in pursuit. Nell and Beale are watching the pursuit in Ops on a large map on which both vehicles can be identified. So, first Kensi and Deeks engage in a high speed pursuit on city streets with a van they believe is carrying a kidnap victim. They then block the van, causing it to crash in a fiery wreck. They never actually know that the people in the van are the kidnappers, and, it seems, causing bodily harm or death to an innocent kidnap victim is something they don't take into consideration. Does this sound like the action of two, very experienced law enforcement officers?
But, the most unbelievable element in this story was that Katherine Casillas, the insurance broker/agent, was the "mastermind" behind this elaborate plot. So, not only does Katherine know everything about art, fashion, and wine, she also knows how to set up an elaborate plot to deceive the Chinese government in the field of technology. And she does this without any obvious oversight or training, or, presumably, the approval of the entire board of the company whose other members are never questioned. She knows all about NCIS OSP, but for reasons unknown, feels they can't be trusted to handle such information discreetly--not even Sam--and she refuses to explain the plan to them when interviewed twice. Her refusal to notify the authorities seems almost criminal after she admits that Miguel was being harassed and threatened by the Saudis who wanted the same program the company was designing for the Chinese. This harassment began a few weeks prior, but she didn't consider it serious enough to alert the authorities or to hire security. Perhaps she should have since it turned out to be the Saudis who killed Carpenter. Her refusal to share information makes Sam doubt who she really is, and it requires more than a simple suspension of disbelief by the viewer to believe that Katherine, on her own, put all of this into action without any training in law enforcement or the intelligence services. (Anyone familiar with procedurals probably guessed before the halfway point that the tech company was creating a search engine that contained a flaw of some kind, and that this was the purpose behind the tech company and Carpenter's work.)
However, as to be expected, everything works out in the end: the bad guys are caught, the tech boss survives, and Sam is still interested in Katherine as a possible love interest because, hey, why not?. It seems he can easily forgive an attractive woman who has the hubris to run an elaborate scheme to deceive a foreign government even if it results in the death of an innocent man, a death that might have been avoided if she had acted differently and shared her plan with an agency trained in this type of work, say the agency Sam works for, NCIS OSP.
"Commitment Issues" was difficult to watch the first time and even harder to watch a second time. The episode had a few good scenes, but a few good scenes do not a good episode make. And there were far too many elements that didn't work including the storyline. The entire Beale segment in the gym was a scene so over-the-top it was cringe worthy. At some point, the powers that be have to decide if Beale is a mature, technical genius who happens to be a geeky nerd or an immature, "adolescent," buffoonish geek who happens to be a technical genius.
This episode was written by a producer who wants to be a writer, but hasn't mastered the craft. The cast and the viewers deserve better, and next week's episode is likely to be much better because next week's episode is written by a writer who just happens to be a producer.
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