anna0852

I think the difference is that Sam a) deeply regretted and still regrets hurting Jada and b) he had that relationship in the effort to bring down a dangerous warlord. Joelle cannot say the same.

Until I'm proven otherwise, I'm still to my supposition that Rey is a Solo. The Jedi thing could come from Luke or Leia, while the Falcon skills and Shryriiwook fluency points towards Solo heritage. Narrative-wise I think making her Luke's child would take the story backwards. Aside from a retroactively icky crush on Leia, Luke has had no on-screen relationships with women. Making Rey his child means we have to establish who her mother is, how her relationship with Luke happened, how that relationship ended and how Rey ended up on Jakku. Making her a Solo child that was thought dead in the Jedi-school carnage however more easily moves the story forward. At least in my opinion.

I think it has potential. The title sucks but I like them using Jim for the narrator and I like that Jon Favereau is involved. He's a good director and tends to go for fun projects. Remember, he's the one behind the original Iron Man back in 2008 and without him we might not have the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

I'm going to back off the Deeks-is-in-it-now for now, because until we see what happens with Whiting's recovery there is no way to tell what is going to happen. Well, I mean we know what's going to happen since there is no word that ECO is leaving the show but still.... I'm not the biggest Anna fan but I actually dug her this week. I was glad to see the Callen clearly told her what happened with Joelle and that it's done a number on him. I thought it was very sweet that her response was that she got it and she could deal with him needing to deal. And that she's aware he doesn't trust easily and won't push. I did have to mute during the singing though. Bad voices coupled with music I hate was just too much!

I'm not condemning Deeks at all. Boyle had it coming. I'm just saying a court of law might not see it that way. Deeks took a big risk confessing to Whiting and it may come back to haunt him.

Deeks isn't risking perjury, Kensi would be if she lies under oath. And of course Deeks would confess if it came to that. No way he'd put her in that position of having to choose between lying under oath or testifying against him. I think the problem would be that Kensi is a law enforcement officer and has been aware of the true circumstances of Boyles death for over a year without doing anything.

Well color me surprised. I thought for sure that Whiting had died. Of course this now leaves a massive sword of Damoclese hanging over Deeks' head. In a perfect world Whiting will just let.it.go but if that were the case there would be no reason to bring up that she survived and that Deeks had confessed to Doyle's murder. My biggest concern here is that Deeks confessed to her, coupled with her threat to subpoena Kensi. We know Hetty was behind his being arrested again and that whatever she did to prompt it was probably false, the same as she did to Callen and Sam. The problem is that while Callen and Sam didn't commit the murders they were arrested for, Deeks did. So now Hetty's machinations have once again shined a light on that episode and because she didn't loop anyone in before she did it, Deeks really confessed. Even if the confession isn't enough to proceed with charges, that still leave Kensi under threat of subpoena and if she is subpoena'd she'll either have to lie under oath or testify against Deeks, since she is aware he committed the murder. Neither of which are really great options.

Sheldon didn't get pushed across the hall. When the whole 'live with Amy' thing came up, it was Sheldon's idea to use neutral territory rather than *his* or *hers* apartment. I'm guessing that since the cohabitation experiment was deemed successful Sheldon is fine staying there to keep the variables consistent. He and Amy seem fine in the space. And it looks like week to week that more of their *stuff* is being moved in. Bedroom really no longer looks like Penny lives there. Given that most of the socialization takes place at L and P's place, Sheldon may be more comfortable where he is now with only Amy and himself there most of the time.

If there is a backstory and Chin isn't already aware, his head will explode.

I think Raj's issue is not that he doesn't make money but he's apparently in a great deal of debt.

I don't care about the rest of them but I'd really like to see another crossover between NCIS:LA and Hawaii Five-0. I think Kono and Kensi would get along great. And I want to see the fomer SEALS Sam and Steve interact. It's been established that they know each other.

I'm drooling over Thor right now. Yummy!

You know I was wondering the same thing. Previously he's shown up in tee shirt and jeans. This time it's a dress shirt and tie. And a clearly reference to missing the gig!

Loved Kensi accusing Nate of being CIA. Nice nod to those of us who thought he was the mole. And his observation that *none* of them should be at work was surprisingly spot on. Also, while the fact that they *need* counseling isn't great, I'm delighted story-wise that Eric and Nell are both revealed to working with Nate. It's very believable that both of them would have trouble coming to terms with leaving Ops and starting to rack up body counts, along with being in physical danger.

Rickman and Bowie were both in last year's broadcast.

I wouldn't call it pining. He was he finacee and walked out with no further contact on freakin Christmas Eve. That's a huge unresolved issue for Kensi. But I do agree that Jack is a jerk.

For this specific show I think my favorite was always Ziva, mainly because we had her the longest and she was always a bit of a mystery. Just went you think had her figured out, something would change. Out of the whole NCIS universe however my absolute favorites are Kensi and Nell over on LA, followed by Kono on Hawaii Five-0

That's a quote from Family Guy actually. Stewie was talking to a hooker ?

I thought Jack was helping provide intel to the CIA, and they got ticked when he refused to go back to the US. The CIA targeted him because they thought he was a potential leak by staying. Kensi was told he was an American traitor but not his identity. Hetty was counting on her *not* taking the shot when she recognized Jack. Basically Hetty sent Kensi to ruin a CIA operation without fully briefing her and involving a very emotionally charged subject to boot. Apparently in the process (and off screen) Kensi injured Ferris and cost him his leg. Granger was there to quarterback the whole opp. The question of whether Granger A) knew Jack's real identity or just his code name (White Ghost) and B) knew about Jack's history with Kensi is up for debate. This whole 'White Ghost' thing is apparently was has cheesed off the CIA enough that a 'rogue' team was sent to take out the LA office. What I'm not clear on is if the agents were rogue or if it was a way for the CIA to take down an agency that was being annoying and getting in there way. Enough agents were involved that I'm inclined to think the take-down of OSP *isn't* rogue agents but more of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge from the brass. Yes, they could go through channels and contact SecNav/Director Vance to get the LA team to back off but that runs the risk of shining lights on CIA ops that they'd rather keep in the dark. What I'm finding amusing about the whole thing is that the Afghanistan storyline in Season Five only came up because DR got pregnant and they had to cover her maternity leave and that with her her second pregnancy now in Season Eight, they've managed to connect back to that first cover story, ie both pregnancies were covered by essentially the same story just three years apart. If she has a third kid I think the writers ought to just have Kensi get knocked-up instead of covering. It might be the end of the Office of Special Projects otherwise!

Hetty's 'spygames' (for lack of a better term) are really the heart of the issue here. All she had to do three years ago was say to Kensi that her former fiancee was being targeted by the CIA and that Hetty wants to prevent that. Can they quietly help him out? Maybe it's still awkward to see for Kensi to face the dude (I'm mean, he did run out on her) but there would be almost no chance at that point that Kensi walks unarmed into a bunch of Taliban in order to find out what's going on. And if that op doesn't go tits up the way it did, then maybe the CIA wouldn't coming after them now. Maybe Hetty says to Callen and Deeks and Sam that she's trying to lure some corrupt CIA officers into a trap and she needs them to appear unable able to help her instead of getting them locked up. I'm sure LAPD, DEA and ATF were just fine with being used and having their resources wasted. Maybe she tells Kensi what she's up to and Kensi stays at Ops and doesn't get kidnapped. Of course Kensi is trying to get the guys out, she doesn't have the info she needs to do otherwise! Maybe Hetty actually tells Eric that Chegwidden is on his way over and it's okay to let him in and get him up to speed. Then Eric isn't terrified and pulling his weapon on a potential ally. Maybe Hetty realizes that even if those rogue CIA folks are coming after her, setting them up to be assassinated still isn't legal! No wonder she wants Chegwidden around, she might need an attorney pretty soon! The bodies of Carl Brown and Sharov will have to be accounted for. She didn't shoot them in a firefight, she lured into a warehouse she had pre-rigged with explosives and triggered the bomb herself. Last I checked, that was not okay. Does she think the CIA is going to just shrug off the loss of their operatives, rogue or not? She's just put a target on the whole agency's back! Personally I don't think Deeks called her out hard enough.

They didn't call her phone, they called the phone that traced back to the church where they found Joelle. The phone belonged to Ferris.

I do really appreciate the show's efforts with this story. And kudos to the writers! If this arc hasn't been planned out for years (I'd love to find out if it was or wasn't) then they did a heck of a job going back through their established continuity and history to pull this off. The OSP team has massively overstepped bounds all over the place and for a long time now. I get that it's not out of malice but soon or later that was going to come back to bite them. I appreciate that fact being acknowledged. And really, who else but the CIA could muster these kinds of resources? I am choosing to believe that Joelle really didn't know what was going on, that she was just being used for information. And the girl has skills! Fooling Callen and the team for literally years is no small feat. I'm also snickering to myself that ultimately this all comes back to Daniela's first maternity leave back in Season 5, which is why Kensi was sent to Afghanistan in the first place. The direction of the show might have been very different otherwise. I'm really dreading that we have to lose Granger but bringing in Chegwidden is a stroke of brilliance. A great way to maintain the character balance (as said by @mtmjr above) and maintain connections to the bigger universe that started with JAG. Until I'm proven wrong I'm choosing to believe that Sabatino was really pulling the strings here and set this whole thing in motion. I think (with no proof, just a theory) that he blames the OSP team for getting his partner Snyder killed back in Season 4, Wanted.

I'm thinking Joelle was pretty backstopped. Probably legit trained as a teacher and recuited by the CIA after being hired at the school. Not something that's going to show up in a background check. And its not like Michelle knows every single agent. She left the Agency after having kids and she doesn't have reason to think her daughters teacher is an agent.

I don't think Joelle knew about the 'kill people' angle but was rather used for intel gathering on the team. Remember, she met Callen when Kensi was in Afghanistan and this whole mess was just starting. And her presence in the church was a delaying tactic. Now they have to figure out how she got there, how she ties in and if her cover is blown then that will cause even further delays. I did think it was interesting to Deeks go instantly from 'ready to kill' back to 'goofy surfer' the second Kensi was safe.

Thoughts, so many thoughts! Granger isn't dead! But we know it's coming. I got the sense that it was Renee talking in the hospital room tonight, not Nell. There seemed to be a finality to that scene and a definite sense of sadness from her. So the sawzall got put to good use after all! That's a unique form of therapy Callen found there. Wasn't expecting Joelle to turn out to be a CIA but it did make sense the way they wrote it. Monitoring the bigwigs kids at her school and then able to seize the opportunity to monitor Callen when it came along. No wonder she was hooking up with him after they officially broke up. I'm really wishing Aunjanue Ellis wasn't on Quantico at the moment, cause it would have made a hell of a lot of sense for her to be there. At the very least I'm betting Michelle and Sam had an immediate 'did you know' conversation when he got home! I was yelling a big 'hell yeah' at the screen when Deeks gave Hetty that well deserved Reason You Suck Speech. It's about time somebody outlined exactly how playing chess mistress was screwing with people's lives. I just wished she'd paid more attention. Deeks was definitely channeling his dark side tonight, even more than he did in Spoils of War back in Season Five. No hesitation on that double-tap at all. Plus wailing on Sabatino like that. Man, when he's pissed he's really pissed. Interesting that it's really only threatening Kensi that brings out that side of him. And Kensi shows that same streak when Deeks is threatened. So proud of Kensi for not being damsel in distress but actively working to rescue herself from the get-go. I forgot how good she is at playing head games. I think she's ready to return to field work now. A couple of loose ends though: what happened to Detective Whiting? Is she dead? And why did Sharov/Balinski turn on the OSP team so easily? They popped him out of Russian jail, I would think that was worth a little hesitation to turn on them. So Sabatino is loose again. They must really like having Erik Palladino around, given that he goes back to a one-off guest shot back in Season Three (Granger's introductory episode, actually). They've really been going to the well for that character. I'm guessing Hetty's job offer to Chegwidden is how they will ultimately fill Granger's slot. I'm not looking forward to when we have to lose him but I do think it's rather brilliant to bring a character not from the parent show but the *grandparent show*. It's so easy to forget that NCIS started as a spin-off of JAG. Forget trying to get LA to have more crossover's with the Mothership, they'll just mine the Grandmother ship instead! I really hope we see more of Chegwidden, even if it's a guest role rather than Granger's full time part. And props to Eric, for not only getting the drop on the Admiral with the gun but working that tablet one-handed to verify his identity and that neat kneel down he did to retrieve the ID. Kept the gun on him the whole time!