[S05.E22: Message Received]

I think this is one of their best episodes. Jay had a valid point about expanding horizons and I love how it became a family thing with Gloria and Manny as well.

 

Phil's joy at the thought of another baby was just beautiful as was the conversation between him and Claire later. It was nice to see both of them acknowledge their insecurities about getting married due to pregnancy. It struck me as very real.

 

I was very impressed with Mitch and Cam as well. They seem much more solid and less bicker-y. I'm so glad the wedding plotline didn't turn into them fighting all the time. I was especially impressed that their answer to paying for the wedding was to either scale back or sell something, not ask Jay for money.

 

The kids playing that trick was diabolical, as was their parents revenge. And fleeing in terror from the sound of the lock was priceless!

 

The look on Mitch's face as he was leaving Jay's house nearly broke my heart. He was right. If Claire hadn't done the courthouse thing Jay would have gone all out, even if he didn't like Phil that much. To still have this level of discomfort from his father must be killing Mitch right now. I did like that look Cam gave Jay as he was leaving, the 'you hurt him, I'm going to kill you look.'

 

I'm interested in seeing Claire's reaction to this next week. At this point, I can't see anyone in the family being okay with Jay and she is particularly close to Mitch. I thought it was telling that the next thing we heard was that supportive message from Mitchell about Claire being pregnant. Those siblings have each other's backs.

[Past Seasons 1-4: Sometimes A Boathouse Is Just A Boathouse]

I'll throw one out to get us started: Who was the nastier villain Sidarov or Janvier?

[S03.E05: Episode 5]

Okay, I'm sure I'm the odd man out here--my husband definitely thought I was overreacting--but I was very much bothered by the fact that Jacob was clearly of average IQ while Sally was clearly not. Sally was high-functioning but also very childlike, and she obviously didn't didn't understand that a baby was a possible outcome of having sex. To me that doesn't exactly translate to "consenting adult." He, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised to learn that Sally had become pregnant.

 

You are not the odd man out. My first thought was that CP does not affect cognitive abilities the way that Down's can. Jacob may have issues controlling his muscles but he is not intellectually impaired. Sally is. I didn't see that as a romantic story, I saw it as Sally being taken advantage of.

[S05.E22: One More Chance]

I really liked this one as well. It was a nice breather after what was quite frankly a bit a grind with the last 2 episodes.

 

I liked seeing our flirtatious Kensi-and-Deeks banter back in action. The look on Nell's face when she made that crack to Eric about notches in his bedpost was the funniest moment of the episode. Callen talking Sam down but trusting him was great. The only part that didn't fit (at least to me) was this connection Sam had the little girl. We've never heard of her before and if he was running security in Saudi Arabia recently enough that the child is close to him, shouldn't we have heard about it? He's been with NCSI (or at least partnered with Callen) for 7 years and the girl is 10.

 

LOVED the conversation between Kensi and Deeks about family and kids. Interesting to me that both of them seemed to have reversed positions about it. Deeks realizing how vulnerable a family can make a person and Kensi pointing out that family means people who are there for you always.

 

I don't care what the spoilers and hints from the producers have been about that DEA agent coming back in the finale and causing issues. I cannot see her coming between these two in anyway, unless she's offering Deeks some fantastic job. The closeness we saw between them in just this episode was palpable and quite frankly if that step back 2 weeks ago didn't mess it up, then I can't see Talia (is that her name?) doing so either.

[S03.E04: Episode 4]

The Jewish woman and her mother were in a ghetto, from which they escaped and remained hidden until the end of the war. It is entirely possible that a family friend held their photographs for them (as Miep Gies did for the Frank family, including Anne's diary after the arrest). And ghettos existed in more cities in Warsaw. Warsaw is simply the most well known. Just about every major Polish city ended with ghettos. While they mostly held Eastern European Jews, some Western European Jews spend time in them as well before being sent to the camps.

[S05.E21: Three Hearts]

The box showed  up in Season 4, episode Kill House. Another Kalstein ep, which is probably why it resurfaced now.  They do seem to be playing the long game here.

[S05.E20: Windfall]

I think I got my hopes up a little too high for this ep. It just felt like stuff was missing.

Like, we when Kensi was arguing about being kept in Ops-a line about how Nate had cleared her to work wouldn't have felt out of place and would have been nice continuity to when Deeks and Sam had to meet with him.

Or how about some awkwardness of trying to fit back in after five months away. Stuff happened. Callen has a girlfriend. Eric got arrested in his polar bear pajamas. Deeks broke out Sven again. Sam and Deeks actually gang up on Callen from time-to-time. Nell spent more time in the field and got jumped in the boatshed. I'd like to see Kensi trying to get caught up as it were and hearing about some of this stuff. Even it's just a 'what are you talking about' to some in-joke she hasn't heard yet.

And as many posters have stated, Hetty is the one who set this whole thing in motion. That has to be addressed, both with Kensi and the team as a whole. Callen, Sam and Granger were in honest-to-God combat trying to Kensi back and it was clear there was damn good chance they were going to die. Deeks broke his internal morals pretty good when he waterboarded a suspect for information.  Hetty set them all up and needs to apologize at the very least.

Keeping Kensi in Ops accomplished nothing. All it did was agitate her and drive Eric nuts, as well making him work double time. If Kensi has been cleared to work, then she has been cleared to work. She doesn't have the skills to work in Ops.

Liked seeing Nell's conflict at being sent into the field in Kensi's place. It was one thing while Kensi was out of the country but when now that she's back and Nell is clearly taking her place (however temporary it may be) it has to be very awkward. They're friends and of course Nell doesn't want to hurt her friend but she can't refuse orders either. Nicely played by Renee.

[S05.E19: Spoils of War]

She looked way more battered when she was "traded" than when she was saying goodbye to Saint Jack (bleh). At least I am hoping she was saying goodbye for good.

I would think she'd gotten cleaned up and seen by a doctor by the time she was saying goodbye Jack. She had clearly changed clothes at that point and so had the guys.

[S05.E18: Zero Days]

Good lord, if the any of the actors (Kensi/Deeks/Sam/Callen) leave the show, I will be ticked. off.

 

It would completely throw off the show chemistry.

Loving the new forum so far, since now we can have multiple and dedicated threads!