Episode 12, Season 12 - "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"

There were many things that made this episode a convoluted mess, and the first review I wrote was a brutal critique. So, I revised it. NCIS:LA is one of my favorite shows because of the cast. The cast always does a good job with the material they're given. Other elements can also be good--the directing, the stunts (not as many this year), and I love location shoots. But, unfortunately, the writing is not consistently good; in fact, to be honest, it's more often been consistently mediocre or really bad in recent years. For me, the writing comes first and the acting a close second, but when the writing is bad, the episode is bad no matter how good the individual actors might be or how many scenes favorite characters have. That's because an episode with a bad script is like a golfer who can hit great drives but can't putt; a gymnast who can do a perfect floor routine but can't do a vault; a tennis player who can serve but can't hit a passing shot: in other words, the episode isn't complete. And writing isn't simply dialogue. There can be clever dialogue or a few good scenes, but the overall writing remains bad. And that's what so many NCIS:LA episodes suffer from lately, including this one: simply bad writing. So, while some scenes worked for some characters, the overall plot was illogical and unbelievable, there were scenes that served no purpose, and the writing for some characters missed the mark by a mile.

While the title of this episode promised an hour of focused intensity, it proved all too easy to take my eyes off the screen. This episode seldom kept my attention, maybe because I don't watch NCIS:LA for lengthy conversations, especially repetitive ones. For me, one of the lasting hallmarks of Scott Gemmill's tenure as showrunner of NCIS:LA will be the plethora of poorly written scripts that have made it to the screen. Many of the writers--most of whom are also producers in some capacity--have been with the show since the early seasons, but under Brennan's stewardship, there were far fewer lousy episodes with such low-quality writing. This episode is just one more to add to the long list of sad episodes under Gemmill's leadership, a list that continues to grow longer.

The episode begins with Callen apprehending one of the men who've been following him, but then we have two domestic scenes. Kensi and Deeks begin her hormone therapy--a scene extended by Deeks' aversion to needles and his need to assure Kensi that he really loves her and would never do anything to hurt her. Dani and ECO do a good job in this scene, but it's a scene they've done many times before; only the needle is new. Some viewers like to see these two characters endlessly profess their undying devotion to each other. I'm not one. I don't want to see any of the characters do that. If I want to see two characters proclaim their affection ceaselessly, I'll watch a soap opera or novella. Repeating the same words in different situations is neither creative nor good writing. The other conversation is between Sam and his daughter, Kam--who we've seen more of this season than in all the previous 11 seasons combined. Sam has refused to let Kam return to Keating since her kidnapping, either afraid that something might happen to her (which is somewhat odd since he didn't take Aidan out of Keating after he'd been held hostage and threatened by Tahir there) or because he wants to have more control over her life (again, odd since he willingly sent her to Keating when she was only 12 because he believed she was ready). Anyway, Kam tells him she's decided not to attend Annapolis just before he leaves for work, which leads him to tell her their conversation will continue later and reminds her to follow another one of his "new" rules.

In Ops, Nell--who's returned from places unknown without any explanation--receives a cryptic message from Hetty. I'm not sure Hetty understands the purpose of sending coded messages: when the message is decoded, the message should be readily understood. That's never the case with Hetty's messages; they always remain cryptic. No matter. Somehow, even halfway around the world in Syria working to uncover a Russian mole and secure the release of two undercover agents, Hetty's learned of a dangerous situation developing in L. A. Callen, meanwhile, has decided to let the man he apprehended go and assigns Rountree to follow him, and after Nell decodes Hetty's message as much as possible, Sam and Deeks check out the business mentioned, but only after Kensi is sidelined by an adverse reaction to her hormone shot and, once again, given comfort and encouragement by Deeks. (The writers may not always accurately portray the other main characters--especially Callen--but they all seem to do a fairly consistent job writing these two.)

While checking out the business site--complete with no sign of employees or business--Sam and Deeks engage in a very loud conversation (no reason to not let people know they're checking things out, it seems). The conversation is initiated when Sam reveals that Kam doesn't want to go to Annapolis. Deeks shares some wisdom with a story about a car dealership and a reptile zoo, but it seems strange that Sam--a man who's traded his house for a boat and is dating a woman who's quite different from Michelle--doesn't understand about dreams changing. The conversation seems more a convenient setup so Sam can tell Deeks that he'll be a great dad one day than a genuine conversation (Deeks appreciates whenever Sam gives his approval or confirms his decisions). Anyway, as this conversation concludes and while they're in different areas of the site still unable to find an entrance to the building, they hear gunshots inside and suddenly find an entrance and enter simultaneously. Abracadabra!

From the multiple conversations, to the amazing ability of Hetty (in Syria) to know her team in L.A. is in danger before they do, to Sam and Deeks making the ginormous leap from two unidentified dead men to a CIA defection operation gone wrong in record time, this episode was nothing if not unbelievable. The "defection operation" leap seems all the more remarkable since the team has had several interactions with the CIA, including on American soil--the most recent being in "A Fait Accompli"--and none have involved a defection operation. And the defection operation angle just raises the question of why the CIA would bring a defector to L.A. at all. California is a beautiful state, but if the CIA is going to bring a Russian defector and set up shop in L.A. in some empty building instead of debriefing her in Langley or in a secure government building, there needs to be some logical reason behind it and the writer provides none. Katya is not even a high-level defector. 

And the writing just gets worse when Anna finally shows up with all of 16 minutes remaining. (The press release and promo pics were excellent examples of misdirection because these made it seem as though the episode was all about the reunion of Callen and Anna while they actually had fewer than 14 minutes onscreen together. Not much of a reunion, but then these two seldom get much time together onscreen, so nothing new there.) When Callen does reconnect with Anna, he's understandably upset and wants answers. Her explanation for lying to him about going to Santa Cruz is that Katya's "back." So, the writer's explanation is that when Anna learns that Katya's back, Anna decides to lie to Callen and leave town to assess the danger--meanwhile leaving him to face potential danger alone. And it took her months to assess the danger? It seems the writer didn't see "The One That Got Away" because the danger Katya poses is pretty obvious. And while (or after) Anna's assessed the danger and decided to work with FSB agents who have arrived in the U.S. secretly to take Katya back to Russia, Katya begins threatening Callen and Arkady. But Anna still thinks it's better not to tell Callen that a psychopath who's making violent threats against him is back in L.A. These are the things that make it seem as though the writers don't know the characters. Does this writer not remember that Anna worked in the private sector as a specialist in preventing kidnappings and with the Chicago PD? Somehow I doubt that one of the accepted methods of protecting a potential victim of violence is to keep the target uninformed about threats. Besides, Callen is an NCIS agent. And as for "off the books," that was another excuse that didn't ring true given what Anna and Callen already know about each other. After the operation to rescue Arkady in Russia (Season 7), Anna should know that Callen wouldn't have a problem working with her--and he could do it without involving the NCIS team, just as he offered to do before that rescue operation in Russia became an NCIS operation and as he planned to do when he promised to get Mosley's son back. Callen might have even told Anna about his attempt to prevent Nikita from being sent to Russia by trading Kirkin for him. If he was willing to go "off the books" to do that, why wouldn't he be willing to go "off the books" to protect Anna and himself? Also during this conversation, Callen finds out that Max, one of the FSB agents tailing him, had a personal relationship with Anna which seems a little weird since Anna never worked for the FSB (unless the writers are now rewriting Anna's backstory). Anyway, this detail doesn't sit well with Callen even though Anna assures him it was years ago. Callen also tells Anna that he hasn't been able to see Alex and Jake through this whole "thing"? What is the "thing" and why does it involve Anna? The only "thing" involving Anna would be the guy tailing him (who Callen could lose easily) or Anna going to Santa Cruz, and why would Anna going to Santa Cruz affect Callen's ability to see Alex and Jake? The "thing" can't be a reference to Katya being back since he just learns about that in this scene. But things get more ridiculous. The idea that Anna would let Arkady know about the danger but not Callen (it's obvious Arkady knows from the phone call) is as absurd as the idea that she doesn't tell Callen what's going on because she has to work "off the books." This is the man who risked his career and a prison sentence to hide her when she was a fugitive and with whom she's lived for almost a year or more, and yet her idea of "protecting" him is to have men tail him in an SUV and keep him in the dark?  Given the Russian affinity for using poison to kill targets, the men in the SUV would be worthless. And do they sleep outside Callen's apartment every night? The whole idea is ludicrous. Besides, if Katya's threatening Callen, Katya is not just "her" problem anymore. This scene emphasizes how little the writer knows either Callen or Anna or how their relationship must have progressed for Callen to be ready to ask her to marry him. Callen is extremely cautious about getting personally involved with anyone, so the fact that he feels ready to ask Anna to marry him--he bought a ring and drove hundreds of miles to ask her--is evidence that their relationship has already developed into one of trust and intimacy because Callen is not a love-sick puppy. Too often with Callen, writers seem to simply ignore what he's done or said in previous episodes, but this leads to a character that has no consistency. That is the fault of the writers and of Gemmill as showrunner.

One more problem with the plot is that during the scene between Callen and Anna in the cabin, the other team members are listening in Ops and the boatshed and guess that Katya is the defector the CIA brought back because she had to have their help to get back in the country. Of course this isn't true. The team knows that several criminals they've dealt with over the years have slipped into the country without the help of any government agency and even when authorities were watching for them. Still, if Katya is the defector the CIA brought in, that makes her the person most likely responsible for the deaths of two CIA agents, plus she kidnapped Joelle (her again), so multiple agencies would be hunting her and the operation wouldn't be "off the books."  

A few other things bothered me, such as the pointless conversation between Kam and her boyfriend. Why waste screen time on that? Are we suppose to believe that her boyfriend "understands" Sam because Sam yelled at him for a few minutes during an earlier episode? Don't have Rountree call Callen G. There's only one person on the team who calls Callen G, and that's his partner. And can the writers please stop having Kensi talk about her body? I get that she really wants to have a baby, but does she have to talk about it with everybody? It's as if it's all she thinks about. Will the writers ever give Callen and Anna the time to have the conversation they need to have in private, a conversation that lasts longer than two minutes (the hormone injection scene in this episode lasted longer than two minutes). And Joelle again? Really? Only Gemmill can explain the weird fascination he and his writers have with this character who lost relevance several seasons ago.

Did anything in the episode work? The acting was good overall, but not much else. The final shootout was okay, but even that had problems. While the music suggests how much of a psychopath Katya is, it's unlikely that a rideshare driver, seeing a group of men with semiautomatic weapons waiting, would park and wait to pick up a passenger. And why did Max change the plan? If the Russians followed Anna in the van--the original plan--they could still kill Katya, so why begin shooting at an empty van? And were Sam, Kensi, and Deeks just going to let Anna walk into the van? What was their plan? Did they even have a plan? Once the shooting begins, there's little tension since it's obvious only the Russians are going to die and Katya won't be found. Callen arrives in time to shoot Max and although he finds Anna alive, the DOJ lady arrives, so they have no time for any meaningful conversation. Callen does, however, get to put her in handcuffs--and it doesn't seem entirely objectionable to her (a sexy aside). What's interesting but unexplained is why the DOJ lady now seems convinced that Callen isn't a Russian asset despite the earlier intelligence, so she's willing to work with NCIS. And despite the dire message in Hetty's warning, nothing happens to any of the team members (neither the dead CIA agents nor Joelle are members of the "family") during this episode, so unless the next episode picks up on the same day, Hetty's warning was inaccurate in at least one respect. One more reminder that Hetty is not infallible.

This episode might have seemed better if it hadn't followed "Russia, Russia, Russia," but its weaknesses are more apparent because it did and they become even more evident on subsequent viewings.  For whatever reason, the writer tried to squeeze in multiple storylines which ended up diluting the entire episode. This episode didn't "build up" to anything and had neither the tension nor the intensity it should have had, especially since it reunited Callen and Anna after Callen's discovery that she lied to him and brought back--in a manner of speaking--Katya. In addition, this Anna is unlike the character we already know, and her behavior is inconsistent with the evolution of her relationship with Callen which makes their reunion awkward instead of honest.

The best line in this episode belonged to Callen: "I'm tired of playing games." One hopes that Gemmill and company are done playing games and that the following episode is significantly better than this one in both plot and characterization, particularly in relation to Callen and Anna. The characters--and the viewers--deserve much better.