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123BP

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Everything posted by 123BP

  1. Interesting he said this in this interview because his answer on an interview on TVInsider was a little less clear about who wrote the letter: Nell used subterfuge to bring Sam and Callen to Morocco for the mission to rescue Hetty. Was the letter from Hetty but the “side project” bit from Nell, or was it all Nell? That was basically Nell’s way of getting our boys to Morocco to help Hetty because they had wanted to go earlier, but Kilbride [Gerald McRaney] had sort of put the kibosh on that. So the whole plan was, Nell sort of got them under some sort of a little bit of false pretenses because Hetty was theoretically in trouble, but it was also a good excuse to bring back Nell and Sabatino and Nate and the young man who was there was actually Chris O’Donnell’s real son. https://www.tvinsider.com/1093566/ncis-la-series-finale-kensi-pregnant-callen-sam-rescue-hetty-nell/ Maybe Gemmill didn't know who wrote the letter. It wouldn't be the first time there was confusion in one of the episodes. I find his explanation--Hetty leaving a note with Nell, who was in Japan last we knew--pretty far out there. If she was gonna leave a note, why not leave it at OSP or with Sam or Kilbride? No matter who wrote it, it was impersonal and not the kind of note a mother would write to her "son" on his wedding day imo.
  2. I found the finale meh. Too much time spent on the case nobody cared about. Switch and Mr. Carl should've gone undercover, not Switch with Nina--an unimportant character. Callen & Sam going undercover would've brought the show full circle--they went undercover in the very first episode. The letter wasn't from Hetty. It was from Nell (that's according to Gemmill), so the letter's message meant zilch. It was really impersonal anyway--a cliche statement about "family." The wedding was, like 3 minutes. All those scenes in earlier episodes about planning it were a waste (Gemmill planned on dragging the wedding planning stuff out in season 15--they weren't going to be married this season until the show was cancelled). OMG, and Arkady and Roberta would've been the worst! They would never be a couple, but Gemmill would do anything to make Arkady Deeks' father-in-law because there's no way he'd do any storylines about Callen and Arkady--even though Arkady is Callen's oldest friend and married to Arkady's daughter. (It seemed like Gemmill never liked Callen. That effort to make Pembrook into a guy who was sorry for what he did and suggested Sam as his partner was one of the the dumbest things ever.) Liked the characters, but the show's direction after season 8 has been way off.
  3. This review said pretty much what I thought and it made me wonder if the budget for the show has been cut. https://ncislarandomthoughts.blogspot.com/2022/10/season-14-episode-4-dead-stick.html
  4. Like last week's episode, not much of a case, but it mostly made sense. I miss having interesting cases, but there were some things I liked. What I liked most in this episode were the Callen & Anna scenes, especially the last one. They're good together. They seem very comfortable & natural as a couple imo. I hope that her mentioning Pembroke (and the earlier flashback) wasn't foreshadowing trouble for Callen down the line). Missed Sam, but like Callen & Deeks and Fatima & Kensi. Liked the action scenes, but wish the guys had had more to do than just talk. Everything & everyone still seems too casual to be working a case. There doesn't seem to be any urgency in their voices or body language. Didn't understand why Ladd was in this episode And who were the guys Fatima let out of the vault at the end? Next week those body stitchers are back. That was a creepy episode.
  5. Yikes! Having a boring premiere is never a good idea. I found this episode super boring. I didn't mind the short scene with Rosa or the one between Sam and his dad, but the scene between Callen and Fatima came off as forced. First, she was being nosy, and second, those wedding theme ideas were so, so, SO awful. Fairy tale? For Callen? OMG, she doesn't know Callen at all--or Anna. And the case was a snooze fest. Plus the sniper scene was stupid: Deeks turns his back to a suspect AND puts on noise reduction ear muffs? I also didn't get why the bad guys drove their van filled with explosives into a shipping container at the end. Wouldn't there be a better target on a military base? Still like the cast, but the writing sucks. I would've loved to see this. I also agree that the writers need to try and stop FORCING stuff on viewers--like different partner pairings--that viewers don't want. They should stick with the old adage: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
  6. I don't think that scene was about viewers believing Anna had been shot. I think it was about whether Callen believed Anna had been shot, and with all the deep fake stuff, it was a 50-50 chance that was the "real" Anna. I didn't think she'd been shot. The episode was awesome, maybe the best episode this season. I missed not having Eve Harlow as Katya, but it is what it is. Everybody else did a terrific job, especially O'Donnell and LL. They are really good partners. And Joelle was back and helped the team and took out Katya (karma). And Kilbride was so calm and didn't make have any sarcastic comments (maybe because Deeks was missing). I liked that he was in Guatemala and not at the courthouse. The only thing that I might have done differently was not have Katya use another shipping container as a prison, but other than that, I liked everything else. The deep fake stuff was weird and sort of creepy, but it's even creepier that it really exists. Not sure I believe this. Callen might've been playing her. After Callen marries Anna, I wonder if he'll still go after Pembrook.
  7. I'm in the minority here because I liked the Callen portion of this episode. It's different from the search for his family (that ended when he met Nikita, and then Alex and Jake). For the first time in awhile I'm interested in where a storyline goes. I hope the writers let him move ahead with Anna even if this Drona storyline goes into season 14. And I think the conversation (s) between Callen and Hetty once she returns to the show in season 14 could be really special. Loved seeing Nate again. This show really needs a resident operational psychiatrist. The scenes between Callen and Nate made the whole episode worthwhile. I hope he meets with Callen again because they have a great doctor-patient-friend vibe. Callen really started to loosen up and share things with Nate. And Chris O'Donnell was terrific. It's been too long since Callen's had scenes like this. Hope he has more scenes like these in season 14. The case with the Iranian scientist was boring. It seemed like it was a reason to bring Ali back (not interested in Fatima starting a relationship or Rountree). The writer moved the Densi adoption storyline forward (I think they're going to adopt her friend Pilar). The adoption stuff didn't interfere with the main storyline, so it wasn't as annoying as it has been in other episodes. I think the Sam-father storyline will be good, but to be honest I'm looking forward to the episode on May 15 that continues this Callen storyline.
  8. Switch is still a viable uc persona? In somebody's dreams. lol
  9. 😁 Callen is a character I found really interesting when I started watching the show in 2009. I thought the same, but then "Imposter Syndrome" was more than 10 episodes ago, and since then Callen's been focused on being Subject 17, finding Katya and Hetty, and trying to get information from other proteges of Hetty, so maybe Callen just forgot about the deep fake. Besides, in "Imposter" the deep fake was only being developed, it hadn't actually been used and Callen's voice hadn't been added to it. It seems this might have been the first time it's actually been used to impersonate Callen. He was but I still didn't like him, and it's not a shock for a good-looking (even a successful) guy to resort to sexual assault or rape in real life.
  10. I can see where you're confused if you've only started watching NCISLA recently. Callen's story was one of the things that attracted me to the series in the beginning. No, he doesn't have an evil twin. lol That's a computer-generated deep fake (introduced in "Imposter Syndrome" episode). His original backstory worked: he was born in Romania to an American mom & Russian dad, saw his mom murdered when he was 5 (about), sent to America with his older sister, they got separated & she drowned in an accident, he spent his youth in foster homes until he was 18, & later worked for the DEA, CIA, FBI, & finally NCIS. He was always a loner & moved around. He finally met his real dad & learned his name in season 7, & knows pretty much all about his family (he also has a half-sister & nephew). Anna, his girlfriend, is the daughter of one of Callen's oldest friends--an ex-KGB agent, Arkady Kolcheck, who's a womanizing charmer. Since Gemmill took over as showrunner, he's been making changes to Callen's backstory--and most of the changes have been pointless & some have been way out of character from the original character developed by Brennan. The latest change is that he learned in "Subject 17" that he was part of a CIA-funded program to identify children who might be useful as operatives, and that Hetty, his boss at NCIS, was involved in the program. This is a big deal because Hetty's always been like a mother to him (she was partly responsible for his mom's murder). Also, Katya is a Russian operative who's out to get revenge on Anna (& Callen, it seems) because Anna tricked her in an op back in season 10 or 11 ("The One That Got Away" was the episode with Katya & it was really good). This is probably more than you wanted to know. 😁
  11. Maybe, but if the project was being run by the CIA in the 1970s & 1980s, the planning for it would have been earlier. There's no telling what he knew or what Hetty told him before their mission to SE Asia which was probably in 1974 or even later since their mission was to rescue covert operators from Laos & Vietnam who were left behind when the US pulled out. The timeline is tight but possible.
  12. I actually enjoyed this episode more than most this season. Yes, there was STILL a baby story, but at least it wasn't the ONLY story. I'm more interested in who's behind the "deep fake" than in seeing Densi become parents because that story line's been dragged out since season 10 or 11. I'm so over it. Maybe they should just be happy with Monty. Anna has been with Callen all along. It's just the writers weren't interested in showing them together or any of their conversations after "Noble Maidens" which was really stupid. There have been comments about her and Callen made by some of the other characters (to let us know she was around), but TPTB made a big mistake imo by not having scenes between them. It's not surprising people wonder where she's been when her last appearance was almost a year ago. TPTB have a hard time with continuing story lines unless they're about a baby. One of the most important things said on their walk on the beach was when Anna asked Callen what made him feel safe and he said, "You do." I almost missed that. Liked that Nate was back and hope we see him again, next time with Callen. Dislike Kilbride a lot. His comments about the team are juvenile and sound like something you'd hear in middle school. Hetty might have been secretive, but she wasn't as petty or obnoxious as Kilbride. Won't see Anna or Nate in the next 3 episodes. Still wonder if Callen has the ring he bought for Anna back in season 12. Didn't miss Sam much. The case was so simple there wouldn't have been a lot for him to do. Like this review. https://ncislarandomthoughts.blogspot.com/2022/03/all-little-things-season-13-episode-11.html
  13. I like her in Ops. I also think it's amazing that she can do the work of BOTH Nell and Beale.
  14. The reason Callen and Rountree were absent was a joke: both agents just happen to need the same day off during the work week to talk to their sisters (who both live in L.A.) and Kilbride gives them the time because talking to their sisters after work or on the weekend just wouldn't work. And then he doesn't call either of them back in when Kensi goes missing? lol And Kensi was in danger--again--and of course, there was a heartwarming, emotional Densi reunion--again. Kilbride's attention to Fatima is sort of creepy.
  15. Disappointing episode. So much silliness when the episode subject matter--PTSD--is so serious (TVFanatic reviewer wrote about Deeks' buffoonery). What's the deal with Leah? Callen thinks she'll have more information about Hetty's "program"? Hetty's still in Syria? Her "assignment" is taking longer than she thought it would. And where is Anna? Is Katya still hunting her/them?
  16. There was a lot of action, but after watching it, lots didn't make sense. This episode really missed Beale and Nell because there should've been somebody in OPS watching the neighborhood and checking video or whatever they check for foreign agents. There was no intelligence by anyone in NCIS. It would've made more sense to have Fatima & Rountree in OPS doing that work and put Kensi & Deeks at the safe house with Callen & Sam. Why have two of your most experienced agents babysit? Somebody else mentioned the skylight. Woo boy, that was stupid. "Let's make the windows bulletproof, but don't bother with that skylight." lol That interrogator was way too polite and quiet, especially since he didn't know Laura was a traitor. A major source of intelligence has been killed while in protective custody and he cares about what she was drinking and wonders why some guy wasn't Fatima's "type"? Isn't his job to see who failed? And Kilbride. He was everything I don't like in a boss: snarky, rude, belligerent, and condescending. And no more slo-mo action scenes, PLEASE. Second this. I could care LESS about Kilbride's family OR his past There are already enough storylines on the table. The writers should finish at least one before they start another.
  17. Best scenes in this episode were the scenes between Callen & Angela, especially the first one. I miss Rose as the coroner (this guy is so annoying I can't believe anyone would marry him). Love it when Callen & Kensi work together, but wonder if anyone besides Sam will ever partner with Rountree (Does a black guy always have to be his partner? I'd really like to see Rountree with Deeks. lol I mean, Kensi partnered with Dom in season 1.) Couldn't figure out why Miriam would know who Callen & Kensi were at the funeral. What kind of undercover operation is that? Wasn't she still a suspect in her stepson's death? Kilbride is not witty or charming or professional; he's a cranky old man who doesn't treat any of these "elite" agents with an ounce of respect. He's a terrible replacement for Hetty (even worse than Mosley).
  18. What a complete mess. Military's writing has gone downhill so much since "Rage" and "Uncaged" it's hard to believe it's the same writer. The point of the undercover assignment was to get information on Meyer. TOTAL FAILURE. And how did Meyer, who controls Mia's life, even let her go to rehab alone? It's not like she couldn't just run away . . . oh, right, she did. lol And she trusts Kensi after a few conversations because they're both in rehab? Kensi didn't help her with her addiction, but she did give her the "courage" to kill her boyfriend, so maybe that'll help. And since Kensi isn't going to turn her in or tell the LAPD any details about her uc work, Mia will probably get away with killing Meyer. I understand he was a bad dude, but the team giving a thumbs up to another act of vigilantism is strange. Makes me wonder if the writers realize that NCIS is a law enforcement agency. Anyway, since only Kensi and Deeks knew about Mia's interest in having Meyer killed, she's probably not gonna be charged. Seems the only person on NCISLA who ever WAS charged for killing someone--a Russian mob boss--has been Anna. I didn't understand the point of the whole story about the illegal guns. We saw Collins once and Meyer at the very beginning (killing an ATF agent), so that couldn't have been the main story. Kilbride was a pain in the ass and I'm really tired of all the crap Callen gets because he's not a former SEAL (according to his paperwork, he IS a veteran). I'm also tired of Sam never speaking up for his partner. Callen has more years as a federal agent than anyone else on the team, but because he wasn't a SEAL, Kilbride thinks he's not "qualified" to interview Collins. I can't imagine Gibbs or Vance letting anyone tell them an NCIS agent isn't "qualified" to interview anyone, especially someone who's retired from the military. I'm thinking the writers and show runner don't really understand that NCIS is a civilian organization that "investigates" the Navy and Marines. It's getting harder to watch the show, but I really, really like the cast. I wish the writing was as good as it was the first 7 seasons.
  19. It wasn't perfect, but I actually liked this episode a lot more than most of the episodes in seasons 11 & 12. Can't say I understand why Gemmill wants to revise Callen's backstory again--or even that I like it--and not sure where it's going, BUT this was the Callen I remember from much earlier seasons when he didn't back down, got angry and yelled when he did, and took charge, sometimes ignoring authority. That part I liked a lot because Callen's been almost boring the last 2 seasons, and he's shown way too much concern about Joelle. She made her own mess. (I'm super tired of Joelle and would much rather see Anna. After all, Katya's supposedly after Anna, so she should be more in the picture than Joelle.) I did like Sam giving her a push and Callen threatening to tell her family and yelling at her in the Hellcat. That was much better than the care and friendliness they showed her last season. I was glad the baby/adoption talk was kept to a minimum. It's beyond boring at this point. Both of them talk way too much about personal stuff all the time. Kilbride isn't my favorite, but he had some good lines. I still don't get his role. What position does he hold? I like the way Hetty's character is being revealed. She hasn't been a "mother" to Callen since season 6, so it's about time to put that image of her to bed. She's a complex character. She's a manipulative, deceptive liar--but she's not all bad and she does care for her team. I think her scene with Callen was really powerful; both of them were hurt by what she'd done in the past. I'm interested to see where the writers take this.
  20. So, according to this article, Gemmill doesn't know what will happen to Callen and Anna (he's done a half ass job with this couple, imo), and Eric will write another episode. Writing is tough and I hope whatever he writes is better than "Mother" which was a pretty dismal rewrite of "Raven and Swans" from S4 with a little Bourne thrown in. Maybe he should rewatch earlier episodes to make sure he writes something more original. Dani will direct his episode. She did a good job with "Russia." https://tvline.com/2021/09/09/ncis-los-angeles-season-13-spoilers-callen-anna-eric-christian-olsen/
  21. The press release and promo pics are out for the season 13 premiere--and I'm disappointed to see Joelle as a guest star. What is it about her character that Gemmill and his writers love? The fact that she lied to and spied on Callen, deserted her husband and son, threatened Hetty, almost got Anna killed, screwed up Katya's "defectio"n & got two CIA officers killed? What do they find so appealing? Is it just to mess with Callanna fans? idk (I'll forgive them if they kill her off. lol) Am glad to see Hetty back & a scene between Hetty & Callen, but it doesn't look like a "happy" scene. Why would it? She just keeps lying to him. https://www.spoilertv.com/2021/09/ncis-los-angeles-episode-1301-subject.html
  22. I think Gemmill did intend this to be the series finale in case the show didn't get renewed, and not having a Hetty-Callen scene was shocking. I know he's been with the show forever, but he doesn't seem to really understand what makes the show tick and what made it unique. And then I watched the series finale of NCIS:NOLA and they had a BIG party scene. I don't understand why NCIS:LA couldn't have had at least a party/send off for Beale and Nell outdoors at the beach. I don't know what Gemmill was thinking with this mess of an episode (he and Harimoto wrote it), but he sure doesn't seem to do a very good job as the show runner.
  23. Wow! Underwhelming. I get that this is a TV show, but Gemmill should just call it a comedy instead of pretending to be about any kind of federal agency or law enforcement. It turns out Kirkin didn't give up his life of crime (what a shock especially after seeing his butt ugly attempts at "fashion"), but he did leave his gang and fashion business to Deeks. Kirkin could never run any criminal gang and definitely not a Russian gang, and no gang will accept an outsider as their "leader" just because the dead leader had the hots for him. And Kilbride's grumpy but not too bright because only Callen has a real personal connection to a Russian (if Kirkin had been Canadian, Deeks would have had a connection to a Canadian, so his connection is to a man, not a nationality). Nobody else on the team has any connection to a Russian or Russia. Fatima is just a pain in the ass--a whiny little rich girl and the dumbest character on the show (former TV actor, now intelligence officer with expertise on terrorists who's going to work "undercover," but can't keep her phone secure). Beale isn't Beale anymore--and it's not just the mustache and the ridiculous car--so I'm glad he's gone. I liked the "original" version a lot better: surfer/gamer nerd who wore shorts & flip flops (Deeks seems to absorb a lot of traits from other characters like a body snatcher). And why is Hetty back? The team operates okay without her. It's way past her retirement age and what operation has she planned that's been a success in the last 5-6 years? Nell leaving is okay even if her relationship with Beale was confusing this season (she didn't even know he wasn't working for NCIS anymore when the season started, so they patched that up). Noticed in Callen's recap that he didn't mention Anna, but he didn't mention Joelle either, so that's a plus. lol
  24. It doesn't seem as if the writers know what's happened between Callen and Joelle in past seasons. The Katya defection mess was the second time she almost got Anna killed, but Callen--who doesn't even discuss his personal feelings with Sam until Sam needles him and cajoles him--decides to share his feelings with Joelle? Good grief! And if this NCIS team is supposed to be "elite," why didn't Callen and Sam insist on verifying the identity of the "corpse" instead of accepting Joelle's word (the woman who's lied to them repeatedly)? They didn't need fingerprints; they could get a blood sample and take the body to the medical examiner. If she refused, that would have told them that something else was going on. As for Kensi and Deeks, I'm so tired of the "preganancy watch," and it's weird to see Kensi so depressed and anxious. The plot was way too complicated, and it was unbelievable that the NCIS agents would let Joelle lead them around like they did after their earlier experiences with her. Military made the NCIS team look stupid. And the CIA would not let Joelle--who made such a mess of the Katya defection (which ended with two CIA officers dead) and has such a bad history with the NCISLA office (she was part of the rogue CIA group) lead any operation tasked with including their agents. This season has been a snoozer for me. I wanted to see a conversation between Callen and Anna and don't understand why we didn't. Wouldn't that make more sense than conversations between Callen and Joelle? I don't understand the decisions being made by the writers. They've spent so much time of the "pregnancy watch" and let others things just . . . Agree 100%. lol
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