Episode 8, Season 12 - "Love Kills"

This week's episode saw the return of two familiar faces: Sabatino, who's visited NCISLA since season 4 and Pietra Rey, who first appeared in season's 9 episode, "Forasteira." Although both are disreputable in their own way, both also have a definite code of conduct they follow. As a CIA agent, Sabatino resorts to questionable methods on occasion and when we met Pietra, she was bent on avenging the murder of her father. 

The case this week was more cohesive and tighter than some of the earlier episodes: someone is printing near perfect counterfeit American bills and these bills are now financing terrorists. A witness, Miguel Galliano, was going to provide details about who was involved, but while in DOJ custody was murdered. This explains Sabatino's return because the CIA wants answers. As he explains, there hasn't been an increase in kidnappings, the price of oil has plummeted, and due to the pandemic, human trafficking is more difficult, but terrorists are still being funded. NCIS gets involved in the case because Lance Hamilton, a DOJ agent who has worked with our team on previous cases, calls OSP and tells them that he's concerned and asks that they take a look, unofficially. Of course, they do. Sabatino meets with Callen and Sam and brings them up to speed, and in this conversation tells them that he already thinks he knows who killed Miguel. He holds up a photo of Pietra whom Callen and Sam have not forgotten. Callen, Sam, and Sabatino head to the scene of the murder (it doesn't seem as if "safe houses" are very safe in the NCISLA universe) where they're met by  DOJ agent Blake Garcia who instructs them to leave. Off the premises they're met by a lead DOJ agent, Effie Carlson, who emphasizes that DOJ does not want or need the help of NCIS and doesn't care that Lance Hamilton asked them to investigate. Needless to say, the NCIS team and Sabatino don't drop the case; instead, they begin searching for Pietra. Eventually, with Fatima's help who is managing Ops, Callen and Sam track down Pietra and bring her back to the boatshed where she reveals that she and Blake Garcia, the DOJ agent they met at the crime scene, are in a relationship. Blake is subsequently gunned down and Callen delivers news of Blake's death to Pietra. Shortly after that, Pietra "escapes" from the boatshed through the trap door--something anticipated by Callen and Sam who've fitted a tracking device on her (one that she, hopefully, hasn't discovered). After Pietra's escape, Sabatino decides to return to the scene of Garcia's death. He's joined by Kensi who's told by Fatima that she now has a lead on the van driven by those who killed Blake. Kensi and Sabatino head to the location, and the episode ends with them in a gunfight with a group of bad guys.

Besides the fairly straightforward plot, there were other elements about the episode that were positive. The banter between Callen, Sam, and Sabatino is always fun, and this episode provided some of the best banter this season. One of the keys to good banter is that it's sharp without being mean or harsh. The comments about Sabatino's "man bun" and his retorts met those criteria. The conversation between Fatima and Rountree about being "on the wrong side" when it comes to law enforcement raised an issue that seems pertinent and that is likely on the minds of a lot of people in similar positions--especially young POC entering this field--but it didn't seem organic to the scene, as opposed to the conversation between Sam and Rountree in "Raising the Dead." Fatima throwing movie quotes at Rountree that he didn't recognize was cute, and it also told us a little about her dad since he was the action movie buff. It was also nice to see Callen and Sam in the field together. It's been awhile since they've partnered up, and this episode was a reminder of how great their chemistry still is going into the twelfth season. Kenis and Rountree also work well together in the field. Their partnership sort of reminds me of when she worked with Dom only Rountree's not a nerd and has more street smarts, but Kensi is a good mentor. Fatima also worked well in Ops, providing information when needed and as an anchor to the team.

There were, likewise, some things that were just strange and others that didn't work for me. It was unbelievable that the DOJ had just one agent--outside--watching such an important witness who could easily have disappeared over the backyard fence into the neighborhood. It was also strange that Blake didn't seem to have a house key. In the shooting range, Rountree's comments about witty repartee being "old school and pretty unprofessional" seemed a criticism of the older agents who've saved his life more than once. Perhaps the writers are trying to use Rountree to provide a more seriousness tone to the team, but the team is plenty serious when necessary; however, this might also explain the recent shift in Deeks' character to being more "grown up." There was cockiness overload, especially on the part of Sabatino, and while entertaining, it was too much of a good thing. While Sabatino's cocky, he's also every bit a professional. And what of Kensi's "confession"? I cringed when Kensi told Rountree that Pietra beat her in their earlier encounter because she [Kensi] was having her period. Information of such a personal nature in a casual conversation with a male colleague was unnecessary and unprofessional and is behavior that Rountree would be justified in reporting to a superior. It's also something I can't imagine Kensi doing. Kensi seemed unfazed by Sabatino's "man bun" when she saw him and made no comment, positive or negative, but the interaction between Kensi, Rountree, and Sabatino was spot on, especially the way Sabatino spoke to Rountree dismissively at first and then tried to recruit him when Kensi wasn't around. Smooth, Sabatino.

One thing the writers have done better this season than in the last few seasons is include details about storylines that are continuing even if they are not included in a specific episode storyline. In this episode, there was a conversation that let us know that Deeks hasn't sold the bar yet because Sam asked Callen where he'd live if Deeks did sell it. What was interesting about this conversation was that Sam didn't ask where Callen and Anna would live, but used the pronoun "you" which can refer to one person or two. Callen, however, answered with "we" which showed that, in his mind, he and Anna are a couple, and it made me wonder if Sam has any idea how strong Callen's feelings are for Anna. 

Besides the episode case, there were also some glimpses of Deeks struggling at FLETC. These glimpses were focused on the "age" theme again, and for me they rang false. First, Deeks is not too old to attend FLETC; he's too old to be hired as an NCIS agent (because NCIS only hires people who can serve as agents for at least 20 years). Second, Deeks is in excellent physical condition. In "If the Fates Allow" he was doing 200+ push-ups and now he can't run a course or take down an opponent? Deeks is many things, but he's not a weakling and he can focus as well as the other agents on something he wants. Could it be that Deeks really doesn't want to be an NCIS agent and that he's only doing this to please Kensi? Deeks has mentioned quitting several times before, not because he's afraid, but because he sees the danger as incompatible with raising a family. He also knows how much Kensi defines herself by this work. So, maybe his heart really isn't in this training. The only thing that did work for me in these glimpses was that Deeks saw clearly that his brand of humor wasn't going to be helpful because it doesn't work with everyone. Yes, it's how he releases tension and deals with his insecurities, and although his NCIS teammates are used to his humor and either appreciate it or ignore it, at FLETC, the instructor clearly doesn't do either. (Just to clarify, the liaison position was terminated, but Deeks wasn't fired from LAPD.)

It was an episode that did a good job of integrating Sabatino and Pietra into the plot and moved the FLETC storyline forward. Knowing that Deeks drops out of FLETC in the next episode, it'll be interesting to see what Hetty has planned for him, and then, of course, there is the Callen-Anna storyline that's ramping up.