Season 14, Episode 1 - "Game of Drones"

 

It's nice to finally see the team back after the summer hiatus, but that being said, this was one of the dullest premieres I can remember--and not just for this show, but for any show. I'm just gonna say it: Gemmill does a good job writing most character scenes, but he has a really, REALLY difficult time writing these scenes within a coherent, interesting, logical storyline. This was also true of last season's finale: it had memorable character scenes, but the case itself was b-o-r-i-n-g. I hope this premiere isn't a preview of this season because if it is, this will be a l-o-n-g season. (At least it's likely that the crossover episodes will have a tighter, more dramatic storyline because both of the other NCIS show writers do a consistently better job of integrating good character scenes within interesting storylines.) I get that some viewers love the character scenes and don't care about the case, but NCIS:LA is supposed to be a crime drama, so the crime storyline should be of some importance. This episode had NO drama, NO intensity, and NO tension (note to NCIS:LA writers: exploding buildings and vehicles are NOT "drama"). 

The teaser is of a security guard on his evening rounds at a drone manufacturing business, and when he leaves--swiping his ID--there is an explosion inside the business that throws him backwards, and after the credits (new photos and a change in font and color), we meet the team. There's a scene of Kensi and Deeks dropping Rosa off at school (this was a sneak peek). It's cute and shows their smothering instinct in full flower, an instinct born out of their personal inexperience at being parents, their unvoiced fears about the dangers and uncertainty teenagers face, as well as the dangers and uncertainties they face in their own profession, especially with a new member of their family. (Deeks had a very loving, protective mother, and Kensi was estranged from her mother because of a misunderstanding about something her mother did.)  This scene then cuts to Sam who's trying to persuade his dad to go to a "senior activity center," a term his dad believes is just another name for "babysitting service for seniors." The dialogue between them is sharp and quick and provides a perspective of how both men feel about their current life situation. Then we're at OSP and Callen is at his desk, viewing various photos on his laptop when Fatima, walking behind him, asks him what he's doing. Callen closes his laptop and tells her he's doing nothing, but Fatima has a feeling, so she tells him she's good at organizing events and offers a few suggestions for wedding themes--most of them not at all anything that would appeal to Callen or Anna--ending with the truly awful fairy tale theme. (I get that Gemmill is intent on bringing Fatima and Rountree more into the team, but trying to create a close friendship between Callen and Fatima feels weird. These are two characters who--literally--have NOTHING in common except their jobs, and even in that they don't have much in common. Callen has years of experience in the intelligence field and Fatima has fewer than five. The scenes between these two didn't seem natural, especially when Callen shared his feelings about Hetty with her. Relationships are special things and take time to develop; characters can't simply be exchanged for one another, so even though Callen is opening up, he's not opening up to everyone on the team in the same way, and Fatima seems to be the last person he would share his feelings with because they have so little in common. Plus, she's had no scenes with Callen that suggest a stronger relationship between them, certainly not like the close relationships she's developed with Kensi, Deeks, and Rountree. They've had no casual conversations nor has she ever asked him for advice related to being an NCIS agent. If the writers want Callen and Fatima to have a closer relationship, they have to develop it, not simply have her suddenly become involved in his and Anna's wedding. That's lazy writing. And nothing in past episodes indicates that Fatima and Anna have any relationship.)

Unfortunately, one of the things NCIS:LA writers do more than the writers of any other drama show I watch is spend screentime on scenes that don't move the story forward or too often involve guest characters nobody cares about. This episode was no exception. The conversations Kensi and Deeks had with the daughter of the deceased in the boatshed and at her father's home could've been crisper and shorter, and the conversation between Rountree and the ex-employee had no real purpose other than to give Rountree a scene and include a caricature (Gemmill does seem to have a thing for caricatures). Another thing the writers often do is put in scenes that are dramatic, but if you think about them, they aren't logical, like the sniper scene: it was well-filmed and lots of viewers liked it, but it made no sense. Why shoot a suspect if you can capture and question him? (At this point, the agents had no idea who the bad guys were.) And who in law enforcement turns his back on a suspect AND puts on noise-canceling headphones? This just seemed like a scene Gemmill wrote so he could highlight Kensi as a sniper and write cute lines for her and Deeks. And why was Deeks in a uniform? He could have gone in as a real estate agent showing the space and had one of the team with him as his client. (And all I could think of when Deeks and Kensi returned to the boatshed because he wouldn't use a public restroom was 1) he could never have worked for LAPD and 2) the scene in season 1 when Kensi and Dom were on a stakeout and Kensi crawled into the backseat to pee in a bottle. Now, that's a professional. I miss that professionalism and dedication to their work the agents showed before their personal lives took center stage.) Anyway, the bad guys left a bunch of stuff in the office space, and among the stuff was an item that gave away their identity as Iranian Special Operatives (not very "special" to leave incriminating evidence about). Once the agents had some clues, they contacted ops, and the semi-regular ops person and Kilbride's assistant, Shyla, located the remaining Iranians on their way to Port Mugu, Naval Station Ventura. This ending scene was pretty weak. I mean, the NCIS agents had no idea what the Iranians had in the van they were driving, but they let them enter the base and crash the van into a shipping container (an odd target). The special operatives were captured easily, and the case was over. It was all very humdrum. There were two things that really didn't work for me. One was when Fatima handed out assignments. It wasn't as if Callen wasn't at work; he was just in Kilbride's office, but Fatima took it upon herself to hand out the assignments to the much senior agents? I remember when Callen objected when Hunter and Moseley handed out assignments, and they were acting in Hetty's absence in supervisory positions, but here a junior agent stepped in and handed out assignments and Callen says nothing? It's not that he would have necessarily objected, but for him to make no comment at all was unbelievable. (And how practical is Fatima's fancy sports car for work? Fancy cars add nothing if the writing is mediocre.) The other was Callen's overreaction to Hetty's absence. She's been missing many times before, especially in the past few seasons, and Callen's never reacted quite like this which seems odd when he has so much else going on in his life with Anna and his search for Pembrok, who knows as much--maybe more--about the Drona Program and Callen's time as a subject in it as Hetty. In addition, Callen knows that Keane is with Hetty, and he sent Zasha over to Syria. If he was worried, his first action would be to contact Zasha just like he did last season, to get the most recent news about Hetty. The fact that he didn't was a problem with the storyline because either Zasha has left Syria--something that Callen should've noted in dialogue-- or Gemmill forgot that she's in Syria, a mistake the writer of a show, especially the showrunner, shouldn't make.(continuity in some storylines has been an ongoing problem). This overreaction is out of character because Callen is not, and never has been, a "momma;s boy." Not even close to one.

There were wrap-up scenes between Kensi, Deeks, Fatima, and Rountree who are going to have dinner together with Rosa; one between Kilbride and Callen (where Kilbride is his usual snarky self); and one between Sam and his dad which showed a complex mix of emotions by both characters (Sam's dad is a great addition to the cast). 

All-in-all, the acting is still the strongest element of the show and the writing is still the weakest. I just hope the writing this season can recapture at least some of the creativity, complexity, and overall excellence of the early seasons.