Episode 258 - "Missing Time"

The title of Andrew Bartels' latest episode does double duty, suggesting the possibility of alien life and developing the relationship between Callen and Anna, a relationship that has missing time stretching over four seasons. The case the team is tasked with involves solving the disappearance of a DoD employee, Walter Anderson, and since the case focuses on the possibility of "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAP), formerly known as UFOs, the subject is a perfect one to ease Eric Beale back into field work. The other storyline--that of Callen and Anna--is, as usual with these two, more complicated.

The episode opens with a nod to Top Gun (not to mention Aiden who we recently learned was accepted into flight school). From the quick view of the mysterious flying object, the episode then switches gears to the very stationary objects of Anna and Callen. It's the early morning and they're sitting in a booth at the Squid and Dagger, and while an empty plate sits in front of Callen, Anna's plate of loco moco is untouched. Their conversation reveals that Anna has been in hiding at Callen's apartment for a month, and she is obviously stressed by both her confinement and because her presence puts Callen in danger of losing his career, his freedom, everything. It is a quiet scene, but one in which Callen finally puts into words what Anna means to him: he stands by his decision to shelter her, to protect her, and to risk everything for her. It has taken Callen four seasons and several roadblocks to at last realize that he and Anna are soulmates as much as Sam and Michelle were and Kensi and Deeks are. From this admission, Callen heads to work--with a last-minute reminder about dishes--that makes them sound like a couple. But after he leaves, we see by Anna's expression and body language that she will be doing more than the dishes.

Back in OPS, Kensi and Deeks are briefed by Nell and Fatima about the disappearance of Walter Anderson who's disappearance might be related to the recent sighting of a UAP while Callen, Sam, and Beale head to the man's office. It turns out that Walter, along with his co-worker Sarah Raines, are the local office of AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program). Raines shows the NCIS agents footage of the UAP, Beale sets at once to determine if there was some sort of data breach that might help explain Walter's disappearance, and Kensi and Deeks search Walter's house and find that he has a significant collection of ufology (the study of UFOs) literature. While Beale continues his technical search for a possible security breach, Callen and Sam interview a possible new lead, Jason Ward, a fellow ufologist who had coffee with Walter a few days prior to his disappearance. As Kensi and Deeks continue checking Walter's house, it appears that someone has staged the crime scene to suggest he's the victim of an alien abduction due to the "missing time"--all the clocks in his house are 37 minutes behind, and the banter back and forth between Kensi and Deeks in this scene is a lot of fun, especially when Deeks finally manages to get Kensi to utter those two words, "alien abduction." Reviewing video, Nell and Fatima provide a new lead--an SUV leaving Walter's house during the segment of "missing time" are located outside a vacant restaurant. When the team arrives, two men leave the restaurant and Kensi and Deeks tail them while Callen and Sam enter the restaurant and rescue Walter after a brief fight, but Kensi and Deeks, unfortunately, lose the suspects they're tailing in the L.A. traffic.

In between the efforts of the NCIS team to discover who's behind Walter's abduction, the more interesting subplot is that of Callen and his relationship with Anna. Of course, their relationship has experienced more than its share of difficulties. Both characters have trouble trusting and opening up emotionally to others, especially on an intimate level, and while we don't know about Anna's past romantic entanglements, we know of Callen's. We know that his most recent relationship with Joelle was particularly difficult for him. He and Anna spent almost the entirety of season 10 separated because of her legal problems that culminated with her incarceration. When Anna escaped in "The One That Got Away," we saw Callen let her go even before he knew that her purpose was to find his father. And in the following episode "No More Secrets"--the last time he saw Anna before this season's "The Circle"--she insisted that he leave her behind in Cuba, wounded and with only his ex to help her while he returned home with his father.

Earlier this season, Callen admitted he didn't know what he was looking for and that was a problem at this stage of his life. In the following episodes, he seemed conflicted over his life, troubled about his choices, what he'd focused on, and what he'd left behind. And in "Kill Beale: Vol. 1" Callen and Sam talked about life and work, and Sam spoke of regrets a person who only lives for work would have later in life. Callen never acknowledged Sam's comments, and it's not certain that Sam is speaking of his partner, but two episodes later in "Answers" Callen decides to look for Anna. His search efforts proved unsuccessful even with Nell's help, as he admitted to Kensi and Deeks early in "The Circle." But fate has a way of intervening, and Anna came back to him. Now, after her return, it seems Callen's found what he's looking for--a life with Anna. It's interesting that Anna's relationship with Callen has become so "normal" in some ways because she's a fugitive. Being in hiding isn't normal, but the way they interact reflects a relationship that's grown in affection and ease. It's as if Anna being a fugitive forced Callen into making a decision about his life, about his feelings for her, about what's important to him now while Anna is struggling with Callen's willingness to risk everything for her. A brief scene about 20 minutes into the episode shows how each sees their relationship at this moment: Callen steps out of Jason's interrogation and calls Anna to check in on her just as she's preparing to take an action that will have severe repercussions. It's significant that he initiates the call just to "check in." It's as if he feels the need to reassure himself after their breakfast conversation when they agreed to wait a few more days to see if the CIA will clear her record. He told her that he will stand by her no matter the outcome, but he knows she's anxious and impatient and worried for him. And it's this worry for him that has led to her decision. She won't be the reason he loses everything (it doesn't seem to occur to Anna that she is the one thing he doesn't want to lose.) When he calls, she tells him she's playing video games--a common activity for her we learned about in season 9--and that she joined a team game. She asks if he's working on anything interesting, and he tells her he'll tell her about it later tonight, revealing in that statement that coming home to her is his new "normal." Callen asks how she's doing, and she cuts the call short by stating that the game is beginning. After hanging up, Anna doesn't join game. Instead, she leaves the apartment. Anna's always been a woman of action, but now she's taking an action she's never done before--she lies to Callen. This is the first time she's ever lied to Callen, and although she's doing it for the "right" reason, by doing so she's putting her relationship with him--and everything that they both want--at risk.

When Anna leaves the apartment, she ducks into a small cafe when a police car pulls up to the curb, and then we hear Arkady's voice ordering vodka. She has come to say goodbye. She stays inside and watches him in silence as he takes his drink and settles down at a sidewalk table. It is a silent appreciation of her father. After a few moments, Arkady rises to leave and she passes--unrecognizable wearing a hoodie--dropping a phone into his pocket which she calls. When he answers, she watches him as they have a brief, but emotional conversation in which he expresses feelings of guilt and she comforts him. It's interesting that he says he should have broken her out of jail himself, something she and Callen did for him when he was imprisoned in Russia, showing once again that Anna is a woman who shows her feelings by taking action. (It's little wonder that she and Callen understand each other so well, for both let their actions, more than words, speak for them.) It's only a car honking at a pedestrian that alerts Arkady that Anna is nearby, but she disappears before he finds her, and he is left with a feeling of unease about what she plans to do.

When the story switches back to the case, it turns out that Raines is the person responsible for Walter's "disappearance" and is interrupted by Beale while she's downloading data on the newest experimental U.S. Navy aircraft (not a UAP) to sell to Chinese agents. When Callen and Sam arrive at the AATIP office, they find Beale regaining consciousness and Raines gone. At the boat shed, Kensi and Deeks offer one of the captured kidnappers a choice:he can go to a U.S. prison or help NCIS ensure the safety of his fiancee. He chooses his fiancee. (This scene may foreshadow choices team members will be forced to make themselves in future episodes.) While at the AATIP office, Callen receives a frantic call from Arkady who tells him that he fears Anna is about to do "something not very smart." As Callen and Sam head out to join Kensi and Deeks to stop the sale of the data, Callen quietly tries to contact Anna. This leads to a touching conversation between these partners who have shared so much together over the years. Sam notices what Callen's doing. He asks if Anna's in trouble and tells Callen he's known Anna's been living with him for three weeks. Callen tells Sam he kept the secret because Anna didn't want anyone else taking a risk for her. Sam understands, but he tells Callen that he, the entire team, would have shared the risk because Anna is family. Callen's expression shows how much his partner's words mean to him because his NCIS family is the only family Callen's ever known, and now Anna is part of that family, too. Beale then pops up from the backseat as only Beale can and asks if they're talking about Anna Kolcheck.

There is a brief chase and arrest sequence in Pershing Square when the team apprehends Raines and the buyers. As they make the arrests, Callen receives a call from Nell informing him that LAPD has taken Anna into custody. His face reflects his emotion, and then he confronts her at an LAPD station. The meeting is tense and the staging of the scene reflects the characters' emotions: Anna remains seated, resigned, knowing that doing the "right" thing may have cost her not just her freedom, but her life with Callen, while Callen remains standing at a distance from her, defiant, angry, and confused. People have been lying to him his entire life--Hetty, Joelle, Nikita--and now Anna. Sometimes she hadn't told him things, but she had never lied until now. And the reason she did doesn't really matter. People have lied to protect him all his life, but that doesn't make their lies any easier to accept. In Anna, he thought he had found a woman he could trust completely, a woman he was willing to put everything on the line for. Anna must have known how much Callen would be hurt when he found out that she lied to him, but she chose keeping him safe over possibly losing his love. But now that Callen's found what he wants, he's not willing to give it away so easily. He immediately decides to call Hetty and ask her for help even though Anna tells him not to. We don't know how Anna's choice might affect their relationship in the future because they're interrupted when a U.S. attorney enters. Callen asks him to give them a moment, but when the attorney says he's there to talk to Anna, Callen immediately comes to Anna's defense. He's still standing by her, but there's no need now because the attorney reveals that Anna's entire criminal record--including her incarceration--doesn't exist. The only law she's broken is making a false 911 call.

After a brief reunion between Beale and Nell in OPS where they ponder a photograph from Area 51 and the possibility of alien life, the scene shifts to the Squid and Dagger. Kensi and Deeks "knew" of Anna's presence--Kensi because of Callen's eagerness to return home (which is a nice touch reflecting his comfort with Anna) and Deeks because he's letting his hair grow longer (the "angelic mat"). After Callen reveals Anna as the author of a Yelp review that Deeks quotes often because of its poetic description of his loco moco, Arkady arrives and the reunion between father and daughter is everything it should be: tender, sweet, genuine. Arkady then buys vodka for the house while Callen joins Sam for a side conversation. Callen is upset because whoever cleared Anna took so long to do it, but Sam reminds him that he should be celebrating. Callen agrees, and they return to their friends at the bar. The scene moves onto the street outside where the attorney who spoke to Anna now joins two men, and tells them that Anna's actions moved the timetable forward. He then hands one a folder with instructions to notify him as soon as the "subject" appears, warning them not to approach her because she's considered dangerous. The photo in the file is of Anna's former cellmate, Katya. While not justifying Callen's feelings about the delay in Anna's exoneration, it does lend an air of uncertainty about the reason behind it. That someone expects Katya to seek out Anna--possibly to avenge betraying her--presents a future still filled with uncertainty for both Callen and Anna and their life together.

This episode showed the growth in the Callen-Anna relationship, a growth that reveals their love and care for one another, their commitment to one another, and their willingness to put everything on the line for one another. Anna demonstrated this by risking her life in her effort to find Nikita, but this is the first time we've seen Callen put everything on the line for anyone other than his NCIS family or his family by blood when not in the line of duty. This is a breakthrough for him, a realization that he needs someone who's more than a co-worker, more than a "brother-in-arms." He needs--and Anna needs--someone to come home to. The question now is, will the powers that be at NCIS:LA let both of them have this.