Season 14, Episode 4 - "Dead Stick"
I'm not writing a full review of this episode because I think the name itself is a pretty good description of my opinion of it. Aside from the conversations between Sam, Aiden, and Raymond, the episode was pretty much a bore. It had the promise of being a good episode, but the writing--again--was the problem. I'm also beginning to wonder if the budget, along with the writing, may be contributing to the lackluster episodes. I'm wondering if there has been a significant budget cut which, in turn, means fewer scenes filmed on-location. This, in turn, means more scenes in the OSP building and the boatshed which makes scenes more static. And when you have scenes without action--where actors are essentially sitting or standing around--the writing has to be very, very good to make the scenes interesting, and the writing so far this season isn't. There's no question that there are some good dialogue scenes when actors are simply sitting or standing in a scene having a conversation, but the vast majority of the conversation scenes that are good involve the four core characters, either with one another or with a fellow team member or family member. In this episode, those scenes involved Sam, Raymond, and Aiden. There have been other such scenes that worked in earlier episodes, scenes between Kensi and Fatima, Callen and Anna, Sam and Raymond, Callen and Deeks, and Kensi, Deeks, and Rosa. (I didn't include the Fatima - Rountree scene because that scene didn't work, in my opinion, while they were supposed to be searching for witnesses and evidence. If that had occurred at OSP, it would've been better.)
Maybe Scott Gemmill, as the showrunner, had to make the decision between additional actors or money for on-location shooting, and made the choice to add more full-time cast members. If so, it wouldn't be the first questionable decision he's made, in my opinion. But having actors sit or stand around and talk through most of an hour-long drama isn't interesting to watch, especially when most of the cases are boring and simplistic. This is especially true when so much of the dialogue is about personal stuff that is either irrelevant or repetitious. (Is any viewer really interested in Shyla's divorce?) It also means that the Special Agents end up doing very little actual investigating. "Investigating" is an action verb, and action suggests more than talking. (Imagine Maggie and OA spending most of an episode in the FBI office talking to Jubal about a case or Hondo spending most of an episode figuring out a how a crime was committed by talking to his squad in the squad room. Unless the show's a comedy, it doesn't work.)
If it's a budget issue, viewers will probably be stuck with these kind of episodes: static, mostly dialogue, and little action for the entire season. Neither of the releases for the next two episodes scream "ACTION!" or even "DRAMA" (outside of personal drama). Hopefully the writers will squeeze in a few episodes out of the twenty-two this season that include action and interesting cases, but if there is a budget issue, the writers desperately need to make the cases more interesting. Which begs the question: Could this episode have been more interesting? Absolutely.
This is just one way the plot could've been written to make it more interesting while still keeping most of the Hanna family scenes.
- Get rid of the whole Shyla divorce story & have Rountree only talk about his LAPD experience briefly with Fatima;
- After the plane crash, have the Navy Maintenance Master Chief call NCIS because he wants to report something & asks an agent to meet him, but when Callen goes to meet him (Shyla stays in Ops), he finds the Master Chief dead;
- Now, the team (minus Sam who stays with Aiden & Raymond in the hospital) investigates the murder of the Master Chief AND how it relates to Aiden's crash.
Comments
Post a Comment