Episode 5, Season 12 - "Raising the Dead"

It's the job of a writer to create, but there's a difference between "creating" drama and "manufacturing" drama. This episode was, to me, a "manufactured" drama. Some viewers found this episode to be everything they expected and more. I wish that had been true for me.

Frank Military has written some of the best and some of my favorite NCIS:LA episodes and is a talented writer; however, I wouldn't include this among his best.The best procedural drama episodes have a coherent story that flows, a conflict of power and tension, and characters who live and breathe their emotion in their actions and speech.  "Raising the Dead" didn't deliver in any of these areas for me.

While the press release promised an antagonist to rival any of those that have appeared in the series, the first view of Military as David Kessler was a disappointment. He seemed to be play-acting, and as the episode progressed, he seemed more bored than consumed with his obsession for Kensi and his overall demeanor lacked the restrained intensity of a dangerous sociopath plotting his revenge. In addition, his dialogue was so cliche much of the time it was more laughable than threatening. It's practically impossible to build the kind of relationship between an antagonist and protagonist that Military tried to do in the amount of time he had to do it, and as a talented writer with years of experience, he must have known the difficult task he set for himself. He was unsuccessful, and the result was forced and lacked dramatic tension despite the efforts of both actors. And it wasn't only the lack of drama in the conflict between Kensi and Kessler that made this episode one of Military's less successful ones.

The past few seasons have seen Military veer into melodramatic territory, and he veered that way again in this episode. One of the problems with melodrama is that it relies on convoluted plots, which are not the same as complicated plots, and exaggerated behavior. And this episode had both. Let's start with the cell. Why was Kessler in that particular cell? The explanation was that he'd been biting and throwing urine on guards. So, when an inmate misbehaves, those in charge build him a special cell? Unlikely. They'd be far more likely to put him in a tiny cell with solid walls and one matching tiny window instead of a rather luxury-sized terrarium (complete with a toilet modestly hidden behind a tile half-wall) with nice light and an unobstructed view of everyone. Military used the cell to "manufacture" drama, but rather than create an air of danger around Kessler, the cell created a barrier between the characters that didn't enhance but rather lessened the drama. How much more dramatic might the conversations between Kensi and Kessler have been if they'd been sitting in a simple interrogation room at a table across from each other? And then there was the question of why Kessler even bothered to escape and risk being shot. If he wanted to get the President to release him, all he had to do was wait until Sinclair escaped and then tell the authorities that he had information about another plot by Sinclair to assassinate the President, and he would have gotten the same result: the authorities would have summoned Kensi. (After all, there was no indication Kessler had played a role in enabling Sinclair's escape.)

That wasn't the only problem with the plot. For instance, who was the man in black who killed the officer about to capture Sinclair early in the episode, and where did he go? As we learned much later from Kessler, Sinclair was prepared to wait weeks in hiding with plenty of supplies. Of course, that means that there was a larger group helping Sinclair in a possible conspiracy to assassinate the President, but this was a group that, oddly, seemed to be of no interest to NCIS or any of the other authorities. Time--perhaps hours--had passed before Kensi, Sam, and Rountree arrived in Arizona, and yet none of the other law enforcement officers knew that one of their own was missing until Sam and Rountree found his body? Surely, after capturing Kessler, the dead officer's partner would have tried to contact him and failing, alerted others of the direction his partner took when they split up, and they would have gone in search of him. Also, the fact that the FBI focused on only one possible route of escape given the stated abilities of Sinclair was unlikely no matter how arrogant the lead agent was. Then we're told in a conversation between Kensi and Kessler that several helicopters landed in the search area, but at no time did anyone in the search area--including Sam and Rountree--ever mention the presence of helicopters. And, these unseen helicopters led to the FBI calling off the search on the ground. This information was completely superfluous, and to top off this pointless plot detail, the helicopters were no surprise to Kessler. He explained that they were part of Sinclair's (overly) elaborate escape plan. Kessler's later conversation with the President and his subsequent release was a stretch even in 2020, and Boucher leaving the photo in her dresser drawer was too sloppy once we learned of her true relationship with Kessler. This allowed the twist at the end, but it was something I'd expect from a less experienced writer than Military.  This is a woman who we're to believe managed to hide her relationship with Kessler from federal prosecutors for years, yet she leaves behind an incriminating photo once he's released and they're on the run? And, frankly, Callen learned an awful lot about their relationship from a single photo. Finally, at the end, Kensi and Deeks walk out of a building that looks nothing like their house. If the writers have moved them out of the nice residence they've been in since season 8, it'd be nice if viewers had been given some advance notice. Little details matter, and that one might help explain why they're suddenly looking for a home.

And most of the guest characters were poorly fleshed out. For a "brilliant" ex-CIA agent, Sinclair wasn't very bright. Once Kessler split from him, a "brilliant" former intelligence agent might anticipate that, if captured, Kessler would use his knowledge of Sinclair's plans for his own benefit, so for Sinclair to stay holed up in a tiny cave made no sense. That Sinclair even shared the most minute details of his plans with Kessler was additional evidence that he was far from "brilliant." It's unlikely that any intelligence agent would disclose his entire escape plan to a fellow inmate. The FBI lead agent was a standard condescending know-it-all institutional racist (he made me realize, once again, how much I miss Special Agent Rand's professionalism). Boucher was a more interesting, less stereotypical character, and her interactions with Callen were some of the most believable scenes in the episode for me, but the most disappointing character of all was Kessler.

It seemed Kessler was a weird combination of Jeffrey Epstein and Isaac Sidorov, but the combination didn't work. Epstein was sleazy and desperate to be accepted, not sociopathic, and while a weapons dealer like Sidorov certainly can be a sociopath, the driving force is an obsession for power and money. Sidorov had no qualms about killing people who got in his way, were of no more use to him, or out of revenge, but his killings were neat and methodical, not those of a deranged killer because being successful in his business meant staying under the radar. Kessler was arrested and convicted of human trafficking and illegal arms sales according to his arrest record, but his behavior came across as more of a sadist than a sociopath. The lack of an earlier introduction to his character meant that Military's performance needed to be extremely powerful, and it simply wasn't. I know Military is also an actor, but in this role I found his performance flat. He relied on stereotypical mannerisms and the dialogue he gave his character wasn't much help. There was no power, no danger, and no obsession behind his performance. It's not that it can't be done. The performance of Beukes as Akhos Laos in "Mother" was an extraordinarily powerful portrayal of a violent, damaged man whom we meet for the first--and only--time in that episode. Kessler wasn't Akhos, but there should have been a stronger sense of danger, instability, and malevolence from him. I'd feel much less nervous being pursued by Military's Kessler than I would being pursued by Lambert's Janvier, Murphy's Sidorov, or Richardson's Tahir.

The conversations between Kensi and Kessler were too often unrevealing and seldom unrelenting. A comment made a direct hit a few times, but too seldom to create the tension this relationship needed to make it dramatic rather than melodramatic. The most effective scene between them was when Kessler noted that Kensi had no children and Kensi threw his mother back at him. You could see the cut of Kessler's comment in Kensi's eyes. The other conversation that was effective was not between Kensi and Kessler, but the very brief one between Callen and Kessler (Kessler's "I don't like whoever this is" showed clearly that Callen irritated him). The conversations between Callen and Boucher were interesting because Callen's expressions suggested that he didn't quite trust or believe her, but had to hope that she would help, and her apology to him at the end for having done nothing to help Kessler's victims left him unconvinced.

The pairing of Sam and Rountree worked. Rountree is much more serious and focused when paired with Sam, and it makes me hope he's paired with him more often because Sam is a good mentor (I'd like to see Rountree partnered with Callen, as well). His interest in the outdoors was a nice, unexpected touch, and they both learned something from each other. Their brief comments about racism worked in the context and weren't preachy, but the capture of Sinclair seemed far too easy given Sinclair's purported skill level. It was difficult to believe Sinclair posed a serious threat to any national figure, particularly the President.

With the case being so important and involving such a "dangerous" person, it seemed an odd time for Nell to try to solve the issue of Deeks' position and leave Fatima in charge. Which is more important: a threat against the President of the U.S. or trying to keep the LAPD liaison position? That's a tough one (if you're a Deeks fan, maybe). Nell's inexplicable absence did create a good scene between Fatima, Deeks, and Callen, but that scene would have worked had Nell been in Ops because Callen would have stepped in for her just as he did for Fatima.

The "farewell" scene between Nell and Deeks was melodramatic to the max. Nell's emotions were too exaggerated--again--especially considering Deeks has been fired before and returned. Besides, it's not as if she would never see him again since he's married to Kensi or that he would be unable to work for the agency as Anna did when she was freelance. Also, the idea that Deeks becoming an NCIS agent would affect his LAPD pension (he did the time, he'll get his dime) was as silly as the idea that if he became an NCIS agent, he'd start at the bottom of the pay scale given his experience. And his farewell comment, "make me proud." was a little strange coming from a co-worker. The scene seemed simply a set-up for an emotional scene later where Hetty steps in and saves the day, but only time will tell.

With both Kessler and Boucher on the run at the end, we know we'll see him again, and when we do, I hope the episode has more drama, less melodrama, stronger characters, better dialogue, and a tighter plot. We know this is well within Military's wheelhouse as a writer.