S12.E05: Raising the Dead

[thewhiteowl]

In order to get intel on a matter of national security, Kensi must come face-to-face with a sociopath who has been obsessed with her since she put him in jail years ago. Although Eric is desperate to keep Kensi safe, he is forced to leave NCIS.

[HurricaneVal]

This episode felt a little off to me. 

There were some things I liked:  I really liked the Roundtree/Sam scenes--especially the scene where they discussed the racist FBI guy, and worked together to find and apprehend the fugitive.  Those actors have a nice chemistry together, and it makes sense that their characters would interact the way they are.  I think the new guy is a good addition.  I like that Sam trusted him to flush the guy out of the cave with the flash-bang, instead of insisting the former Navy SEAL with more training should take on such a task.  I like that Sam asked why he didn't call out the FBI guy and tell him he was former FBI himself, and Roundtree was just all "not worth it, not my hill to die on, I'll pick my moment" and Sam totally respected that.

There were some things I didn't like: I've never liked the Callen/Anna thing, she's just there to give him angst.  I also thought Kensi being so tentative and fearful with the creepy psycho guy was against character.  Sure, the guy is horrific and creepy, but he's no Hannibal Lecter!  The plot twist was certainly telegraphed, but the actress playing the cocaine girlfriend did a nice job.

We'll see where this story arc goes.  So far the writers have been finding ways to keep all the actors COVIDly distanced with all the various pairings, which I assume are sub-bubbles within the overall show bubble, and plot points.  It hasn't been seamless, but I can see they're trying their best to make it logical.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I appreciate the effort.

[preeya]

I'm confused as to how Not-Hannibal Lecter was awarded freedom by the president.

WTF is up with Deeks?

I got the impression that Roundtree & Fatima will soon be hooking up.

[Aliconehead]

1 hour ago, preeya said:

I'm confused as to how Not-Hannibal Lecter was awarded freedom by the president.

WTF is up with Deeks?

I got the impression that Roundtree & Fatima will soon be hooking up.

Pretty sure NHL has some blackmail material on POTUS. 
 

is Eric Christian Olson leaving?  Honestly the liaison position was always weird to me. 
 

Same on Roundtree and Fátima.  I like their flirting. 

[Twilight Man]

NHL is Frank Military.

(That is an AWESOME name; I wonder if it IS his original real name)

He has been the executive producer (and co-executive producer) on this show for 120 episodes.

and he has written over 30 of these episodes as well.

I, obviously, have noticed his AWESOME name appearing during the credits of this show quite often.

He has been the producer on "Jericho", "The Unit", and original recipe NCIS,

and has been the writer on "Jericho", "The Unit", "NCIS", and "Miami Vice", 

I guess he just wanted to appear in front of the camera (again)

(He appears, once again, in one episode of "Miami Vice", "CSI", "ST:DS9", and "The X-Files").

[Maverick]

 He was in two episodes of DS9, which is where I remember him from.  Apparently he likes to play characters that aren't quite right in the head.  Since he's a producer on the show, I assume his character will be recurring throughout the season.  It's one way to handle the need to have a recurring actor during covid--pull from the production staff already there. 

 I assume Deeks is still employed by LAPD.   He mentioned he'd lose his pension if he quit and went to NCIS.  Which, I don't understand why he couldn't get a job there.  Is the age criteria just for new agents?  And even if it was, Hetty could definitely pull strings for that.  It's actually logical she has limited influence in LAPD but with Deeks' law enforcement experience and time with NCIS she should easily be able to get any prereqs waived.  It feels like this is Deeks' swan song, but they've been so screwy with who works there the past few years who knows.  I actually wouldn't be sad to see him go.  He my least fav of the main 4.  Just bring in Duchamp as his replacement.  Or Goldberg's agent character.  Both work really well as a partner for Kensi and the team as a whole. 

 

[Rambler]

6 hours ago, preeya said:

I'm confused as to how Not-Hannibal Lecter was awarded freedom by the president.

He probably told the president he would turn over evidence of election fraud. 😁

[anna0852]

So I guess in this universe Volde-trump isn't the president, cause there was reference to 'when he was a congressman.'

[crowsworks]

8 hours ago, preeya said:

 

WTF is up with Deeks?

I got the impression that Roundtree & Fatima will soon be hooking up.

The Deeks thing - gad I hope having a new baby at 40 doen't make you look like this. ECO looks rough. I think the losing his job - new money pit house - Kensi getting pregnant? - someone is manipulating stuff (Not the maybe baby) to make it look like he could break bad so he can go under cover somewhere. Whatever I hope they cut his hair - dirty blond strings just are making him look older now. Unless he's going UC as a hobo. I know the Actor hates it.

[CheshireCat]

I don't like these "let the crazy, obsessed criminal dictate the terms" episodes. Writers always seem to approach it with an "he's obsessed so we can do whatever we want" attitude.

I know it's a procedural but did they have to follow the playbook step by step? Criminal is obsessed with a character - preferrably female: check. Obsession is sexual: check. Criminal wants to kill character: check. Criminal gets out of jail so he can stalk the character: check. Girlfriend is in on it: check. Couldn't they have changed one of these things at least?

Since when do criminals get out of jail by executive order? Are they implying that the guy is safe from future prosecution and that's why he wasn't pardoned? But if that's the case, does a President even have the authority to decide who can't be prosecuted for future offenses? That sounds like something that could be challenged and won before the Supreme Court.
I get creative license but it sounds like there are a lot of holes in Kessler's plan and if there are so many questionmarks behind it, I'd appreciate if they gave a reason for their choices. (Or maybe the intention is that the President played Kessler?)

In what world do the characters live that they believe that the release of Kessler won't leak to the press? I don't know if Roundtree knows, I assume he does, so that makes at least 7 people who know in LA. An executive order is not prepared by the President, so, someone in the WH counsel office would know, too. And all calls are recorded and stored on a computer server, so even if it's stored on the classified server, there are at least two people outside the Oval Office who know.
If we add the Secret Service agent and the other guy, we have two more who could tip off the press to at least the phone call. That sounds like a scandal in the making but maybe that's the plan?

That said, the episode felt less disjointed than the last one. I liked the scenes between Sam and Roundtree and contrary to the previous episode, I thought that they found a good way to get two agents into the field without much action.

[mythoughtis]

In regards to the episode description.  Eric is the actor.  Marty Deeks is the character 

[threebluestars]

That episode description was the one used on my TV, I had to read it over because I couldn't figure out why Eric (Beale) was desperate to keep Kensi safe, then I realized that whoever is in charge of TV write-ups made a booboo lol.

[LittlePeas3]

This episode was distinctly better than the one immediately before it.  I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out.  It fit for the characters to be in different places, and it gives the writers time to work out what is happening with Deeks and LAPD and NCIS LA.  It also keeps him linked with NCIS LA too.

[123BP]

On 12/8/2020 at 10:12 PM, LittlePeas3 said:

This episode was distinctly better than the one immediately before it.  I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out.  It fit for the characters to be in different places, and it gives the writers time to work out what is happening with Deeks and LAPD and NCIS LA.  It also keeps him linked with NCIS LA too.

I've never been so bored with a bad guy. I 've never seen Military act, but this was almost painful imo. And the writing. I expect more from Military. I didn't buy any of the Kensi-Kessler scenes although I did like the Sam-Devin scenes, and the Callen-girlfriend scenes were okay. There was so much wrong with the plot and the ex-CIA guy was too stupid to be believable. Don't care where this goes. Tired of all the "Deeks fired" stuff, and what's with Nell getting all weepy? I guess she's not cut out for Hetty's job if that's how she handles someone leaving. Silly 👎

On 12/8/2020 at 12:25 AM, CheshireCat said:

I know it's a procedural but did they have to follow the playbook step by step? Criminal is obsessed with a character - preferrably female: check. Obsession is sexual: check. Criminal wants to kill character: check. Criminal gets out of jail so he can stalk the character: check. Girlfriend is in on it: check. Couldn't they have changed one of these things at least?

Agree 100% 👍