S12.E15: Imposter Syndrome

[thewhiteowl]

NCIS obtains a hard drive containing a realistic deep fake video of a deceased terrorist and must retrieve the dangerous technology behind it. However, when the team’s comms are highjacked during their mission, they find that one of their own has been a victim of its potential.

[Sweet Tooth]

Wow. That was creepy as hell.

And I knew that wasn't Fatima from the get-go. Seemed too convenient.

I was upset that the guy was evil. They seemed so cute together. But I loved when Fatima threw him down the stairs.

And it looks like Nell was raiding her grandmother's closet again. Good grief.

[Gramto6]

4 minutes ago, Sweet Tooth said:

Wow. That was creepy as hell.

And I knew that wasn't Fatima from the get-go. Seemed too convenient.

I was upset that the guy was evil. They seemed so cute together. But I loved when Fatima threw him down the stairs.

And it looks like Nell was raiding her grandmother's closet again. Good grief.

Totally fell asleep on this one...hope to find it online... 

[Sweet Tooth]

Just now, Gramto6 said:

Totally fell asleep on this one...hope to find it online... 

You can probably find it on the CBS site.

[Gramto6]

2 minutes ago, Sweet Tooth said:

You can probably find it on the CBS site.

Thanks...yes I'll check tomorrow....

[HurricaneVal]

Yeah, they were cute together, but how diabolical was it that he expertly played suspicious and paranoid Fatima like that?  He must have researched her thoroughly to figure out what would annoy her.  Then that little challenge where he references the aux cable.  That went *ding*ding*ding* in my head, and I'm amazed that Fatima casually hooked her phone up like that to an unknown electronic.

How creepy was it on the comms with all those creepy voices from the team?  Fake!Kensi in particular talking in an unemotional, measured, monotone to Sam when encouraging him to enter the rigged apartment.  That gave me the chills.  But it also should have registered on very experienced Sam, that "Kensi" was not her usual hyper operational self.  She should have sounded slightly winded--no matter how fit she is--after supposedly chasing someone to the roof.

Later on, when Deepfake!Fatima is talking to Roundtree in Ops, I thought he twigged that it wasn't really her when she didn't rise to the bait at his little "food truck" joke.  Then he just went ahead and did what she asked, and I'm thinking "Man, when was Roundtree ever stupid?  He's been in learning mode, sure, but he's never been stupid." 

I admit I did laugh out loud there when Sam and Fatima find that last bomb, and Fatima is all "You can fix this, right?" and Sam is all "Nope!" and then run like hell.

[Sweet Tooth]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

I admit I did laugh out loud there when Sam and Fatima find that last bomb, and Fatima is all "You can fix this, right?" and Sam is all "Nope!" and then run like hell.

That was such a nice change of pace, wasn't it? 

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

Later on, when Deepfake!Fatima is talking to Roundtree in Ops, I thought he twigged that it wasn't really her when she didn't rise to the bait at his little "food truck" joke.  Then he just went ahead and did what she asked, and I'm thinking "Man, when was Roundtree ever stupid?  He's been in learning mode, sure, but he's never been stupid." 

Yeah, I was glad when he wasn't.

I did like that she acted somewhat like Fatima, but there were little tells that it wasn't her if you were paying attention.

That little stunt would have never worked on me. I would have been rocking out with him to Tainted Love.

[secnarf]

I'm confused as to if it wasn't Fatima the entire time they were talking with her at the hospital, or just after when she came back on with Roundtree when it was extremely obvious it wasn't her.

The deep fake thing is so creepy. And the voices as well - I agreed Kensi sounded very monotone and out of character for her.

[mertensia]

I did love that the fight over the type of tea Hetty drinks convinced Nell.

I missed it - why did they want the flash drive info back so badly?

 

[LittlePeas3]

This episode was meh.  I could have fallen asleep watching if I was more comfortable.  There seems to be very little character interaction any more, I can't even put it down to Covid, as the mothership seems to be able to have interaction and action and go on like normal, just with masks when inside buildings other than their work space. 

NCIS LA seems to have lost the plot.  They no longer seem to address "Navy" issues, just random, totally unrelated, security stuff.  There is no more undercover either. While I am one who wants to see it out until it ends, I am fast losing interest.  Especially as there seems to be no direction and they have resigned for another season.  

[ymeagain]

A lot of potential to this story but crappy execution from the get go. Since when do Callen and Sam yell at a suspect when they're across the street? And what's happened to discipline? My god, if Fatima had made that bonehead move in one of the early season episodes, somebody would have had her head or she would have been gone. I get that this is an unorthodox team, but to not rip into her was ridiculous. I remember Callen and Sam both getting on Nate in "Head of the Snake" for taking such a risk (not because he made a mistake) and calling out Deeks for not "knowing the plan" in another episode. And who gives a rat's ass how she "feels"? None of these "elite" agents would last a week with Gibbs. The episodes are so erratic it pisses me off. This could have been really good, but the writing sucked. And the whole Densi "baby" storyline is boring. Have a kid or don't. Who cares?

Edited May 4, 2021 by ymeagain

[CheshireCat]

It would have been nice if the guy in the gym had not had an ulterior motive for a change and would have been legit. Not every date has to lead to romance but why do these pop-up love-interest characters always have to be so predictable?

When Nell told Sam and Callen where they need to go, I wondered when the person in Hetty's position started taking over Callen's job. Then again, the chain of command has been a mess as of late, so I guess, they wouldn't have considered it weird :-P

Let me get this straight, Nell had figured out the deep fake video capabilities and then she found out that she had been communicating with a fake team but it did not occur to her that Fatima may be a deek fake, too? Alrighty then. Is Hetty sure that Nell's suited for her job?

Uh, Deeks and Kensi, I can guarantee you one thing: the both of you are never ever going to get pregnant. What the both of you will do is expect a child but there will only be one of you who will be pregnant. That's a biological fact (at least for now).

So, am I correct to assume that Callen was suspicious of Fatima, too? He looked suspicious at the end of his communication with Fatima then he looked surprised when the gun was pointed at him but that was before the commercial break and they tend to do that for the "suspense". Because then he seemed to know that Deeks and Kensi would be there and it seemed like they had set it all up beforehand. I feel like we were missing a few pieces, like the above and also, where was Fatima this whole time and how did she end up with Sam? I'm assuming, Nell called him, authenticated him and he went to check if Fatima was home?

I thought it was an interesting subject, I don't think they used it as well as they could have, though. Maybe it would have been better to spread it out over two episodes or it could have been a season long arc, reappearing every now and then in certain episodes.

[Yuliya]

So how come there was nothing about the guy who got into Fatima's phone and all??? Was he another NCIS employee (wasn't she at the NCIS gym?)?? No backstory? They weren't concerned about where he came from, how he knew to target the team? 

[CheshireCat]

11 hours ago, Yuliya said:

So how come there was nothing about the guy who got into Fatima's phone and all??? Was he another NCIS employee (wasn't she at the NCIS gym?)?? No backstory? They weren't concerned about where he came from, how he knew to target the team? 

That was the guy behind the video who they arrested before the shed exploded.

Good point about the NCIS gym, though. It wasn't the NCIS gym, but why wasn't she at the NCIS gym? (She had to meet the guy, obviously, but it would have been nice if they'd told us why she chose to use that gym).