Episode 11, Season 12 - "Russia, Russia, Russia"

 

 

Grisha, Grisha, Grisha. Finally, an episode that revolves around the team leader in a plot that is both intriguing and exceptional even if not completely without flaws. This episode is more outstanding in more areas than any episode this season--and more than most of those from the last season--so I'm going to go easy on the areas that didn't work, but I'll start by saying that it was an auspicious beginning to Daniela Ruah's career as a director and it, once again, showed the talent of Chris O'Donnell. Dani's choices of shot selection, editing, lighting, and music demonstrated an appreciation for everything that makes a show work. And having a very talented cast was a bonus. Chris, in portraying the quiet, intense, difficult to know character that is Grisha Callen, is perfection. It's always struck me as odd that so many people acknowledge Linda Hunt's portrayal of Henrietta Lange--also a quiet, intense, and difficult to know character--but don't extend the same kudos to Chris for his work as Callen. And, honestly, his work has been as, if not more, challenging given the amount of time Callen is on screen versus Hetty and the various interpretations and numerous rewrites to his background that the writers have attempted, most of which have been disasters. 

The episode opens with a gorgeous scene of Callen alone on the beach trying to call someone, and the most likely person is Anna. The number he dials has been disconnected. This scene finally gives us a chance to see Callen focused on the turmoil that is his personal life, and it makes complete sense that he would go, alone, to the beach to try to put the pieces back together and think. And the song that plays over the scene is perfect and captures the isolation and confusion Callen must be feeling. As he leaves, he notices an SUV that's been tailing him, and this becomes another twist in a plot that has quite a few coming during the episode.

When Callen returns to OSP, he asks Fatima to try to identify the SUV but not alert the team because, in his own words, "Maybe I'm getting paranoid." We know, if he doesn't, that being paranoid is going to be the least of his problems. Once Callen arrives at the federal building to interview Oleg, one of the Russian crew members we met in the premiere episode, "The Bear," we see Callen doing one of the things he does best--interrogate people without them realizing they're being interrogated. During his conversation with Oleg, Callen doesn't get Oleg to engage much, but as he's leaving, Oleg tells Callen that the captain of the bomber is a "true patriot." An odd comment given that the captain chose to defect. This brief conversation then gives way to an extended one between Callen and the DOJ agent we first met in "Love Kills," Effie Carlson, in which Carlson lays out the "evidence" for Callen being a Russian double agent. Callen retains his cool. When he asks the source of the intelligence that's identified him as such, Carlson refuses to identify it, but states that this source has provided additional information that has been verified. So, is this intel being given to the DOJ by the actual Russian double agent or someone else? 

Meanwhile, Sam discovers that Callen is AWOL when he arrives at OSP, and he and Fatima trace his last location to the federal building in Westwood when Admiral Kilbride arrives who informs them that Callen is being detained and questioned as a Russian asset. They decide to send in someone to see what's going on, and this gives attorney Martin Deeks a chance to practice his legal talents. This scene works well because these two characters are so different: Deeks is a non-stop talker with terrific, energetic delivery and Callen offers either terse verbal responses or perfect facial expressions.

Gemmill then uses this as a segue into explaining what Hetty has been doing since she's been "out of the office": to smoke out the Russian mole, Hetty has been in Syria with agents she's embedded as journalists. These agents are feeding info to members of the US intel community, and then foreign troop movements will help identify which agency has the mole and maybe even the identity of the mole himself/herself. But a speed bump's arisen: the "journalists" have been picked up, likely by Assad's people, and Hetty is trying to secure their release. What's not known is whether or not their true identities have been revealed. This begs the question: Were they picked up because they were identified as agents, were they picked up because Hetty was getting too close to identifying the mole, or was their detention completely unrelated to Hetty's mission? Also, was the intel identifying Callen as a Russian agent due to Hetty's efforts or could it be something on a more "personal" level (such as Katya seeking revenge or related to the person following him)? This is the kind of cat-and-mouse game that's intriguing and allows for lots of plot twists, speculation, and dead ends, but it's also a challenge to write, and Gemmill does an admirable job keeping all these options open while moving the story along. As Callen and Deeks leave the federal building, their conversation suggests that Callen's known the purpose of Hetty's mission in Syria for some time, and he makes the decision to try to turn the tables on the Russians and make whoever the mole is act quickly, and perhaps recklessly, by changing the playing field.

Needles to say, things do not go as planned. It appears, however, that the Russian captain is not a member of Russian intelligence but that his scuttling the bomber might have been part of a Russian intelligence plan to distract the Americans. Is that what Oleg meant by his earlier comment that the captain was a "true patriot"? Did he risk his life and the lives of his flight crew because Russian intelligence asked him to? The way in which the Russians "pick up" the captain after he calls in is well done and true to spy and espionage stories and to actual Russian actions. And then we have that ending.  If Chris was not the actor he is, that ending would not have worked, but because he is the actor he is, that ending was one of the most powerful endings of an NCIS:LA episode ever.

It's always nice to see Admiral Kilbride (although you knew he hadn't been killed because there was no reaction, no shout, by Sam on the other end when he was shot, no "Admiral!"). And I genuinely liked Agent Carlson. She had some perfect one-liners and delivered them with aplomb. It's nice to see a woman who behaves like a professional (unlike Jaffe's FBI agent) and isn't intimidated by our NCIS team. 

What didn't work? Bringing Kirkin in made no sense. Why did NCIS need someone with "legitimate Russian connections"? The captain wouldn't know everyone in Russian intelligence, and if the captain was in Russian intelligence, Kirkin seems like the last Russian you'd want given that he's probably well-known within that community for turning on his fellow Russian mob bosses. The boatshed scene didn't work for me, probably because Kirkin was so NOT intimidating (when pretending to be a torturer, your white jumpsuit should have some blood spatter on it) and the whole thing just seemed like an act--which it was. I did appreciate that the scenes between Deeks and Kirkin were not as flamboyant as scenes between them in earlier episodes have been even though the photo shoot outfits were utterly ridiculous and unbelievable and didn't have to be to make that scene work. The Deeks-Kirkin scenes broke the intensity of the episode, and perhaps that was their main purpose. Since NCIS:LA episodes have seldom been "intense" lately, the subject matter of this episode would certainly have worked without the comic relief, but it was a minor thing, and it didn't detract from the overall quality of the episode. And the photo shoot was in stark contrast to the ending, but even without that extreme contrast, the ending would still have been as intense and as dark as it was because Callen was.

Fatima was much more the NCIS agent in this episode than in others--serious and on task, and it was interesting that while Gemmill provided a reason for Rountree not being with the team, he provided no such reason for Nell's continuing absence. Beale, as a consultant now, needs no excuse when he's not present. In all honesty, I didn't miss any of those agents not present because the story moved so quickly--and probably because we finally had more Callen on screen than we've had all season.

So, while this episode wasn't "perfect," I can forgive the little things that didn't work. I do hope that the writers don't make a mess of the threads that have been introduced in this episode: Hetty's mission, who's following Callen, what is Callen doing and is he working with Hetty or on his own, and who is the Russian asset? Next week the writers delve back into the Anna story arc. I hope that return is as worthy an effort as this episode was.