S02.E13: Misplaced Targets

[thewhiteowl]

Following a close call at a meth lab explosion, the NCIS team learns Kai is being targeted by his old friend-turned-criminal and must take him down. Meanwhile, Lucy gets her first big case aboard her aircraft carrier.

[dwmarch]

I like the NCIS: Hawaii team and I root for them but they are kind of the worst investigators. Like Kai being so sure that AJ blew up that meth lab and then finding out that no, it was actually someone with a totally different agenda. Kai really likes to build the narrative he prefers and then bend the facts to fit which as I understand is something you never, ever want a real cop to do. He does it a bunch of times in this episode and it's only because of plot armor that he ends up being mostly right. I guess those civilians in the diner were all enemies of AJ so none of them decided to broadcast this rogue Federal Agent assaulting a dude and I guess the public is also okay with NCIS sweating (and/or swatting) the wife to put the pressure on. The wife is guilty of the same thing Kai's father is guilty of: not reading the fine print.

Also in the "Rampart scandal in the making" file, Kai shot and possibly killed a bunch of people too. A cop murders a bunch of gangsters to protect his father who was involved with the gangsters. But it was self defense! Nothing to see here!

I knew everyone was going to split up and end up coming up dry on the search for AJ while Kai went to the one place he was bound to show up. If one other person had gone with Kai it would have been a much different confrontation!

Lucy's Carrier mini-case was kind of silly but I loved all of her outfits. Sometimes this show tries to squeeze her into tiny pants that are half a size too small for her. In this episode she was dressed in clothes that actually fit and she looked great!

Edited February 7, 2023 by dwmarch

[Raja]

7 hours ago, dwmarch said:

He does it a bunch of times in this episode and it's only because of plot armor that he ends up being mostly right. I guess those civilians in the diner were all enemies of AJ so none of them decided to broadcast this rogue Federal Agent assaulting a dude

I think it is more like the small town thing and everybody knew the cop and the hood and the relationships going back to childhood

 

7 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Lucy's Carrier mini-case was kind of silly but I loved all of her outfits.

I always wondered at what size a population, especially one with chain's of command that just about everyone falls under, how often does a full time detective get called in to do something. I guess she does cover the entire battle group and not just the aircraft carrier flagship.

[HurricaneVal]

I liked seeing Lucy in her "Agent Afloat" role.  It was also nice to see her in her long-distance relationships with Kate and Ernie.  They had their rocky start, and I suspect Lucy still has some personal growth to go through so far as being a live-in partner is concerned, but Kate's supportive "Tell me all about it!" in their last conversation was really a nice note.

[blackwing]

Color me shocked, but I thought the Lucy storyline was the best of the storylines this week.  I liked how she was in her role, I thought the conversations with Whistler on the phone were great and nothing like the endless neediness she has displayed in the past.  I liked how she videocalled with Ernie and Jesse got all jealous.  As for the case itself, Lucy was competent and solved it all on her own.

I really couldn't care less about Kai and his dad and AJ Hale, so hopefully that storyline is done.  I wanted AJ to get plugged, leaving him alive and in prison just gives the show the option to bring him back again and again.  He's definitely no Wo Fat, he's just irritatingly arrogant.

When Dahlia showed up in the opening, I didn't recognise her at all.  Then as the episode went on, I figured out she was Ernie's old girlfriend that was in an earlier episode.  I don't really care about Ernie's love life or lack of it.  When he was whining to Jesse about how he's jealous that Dahlia has somebody to go dancing with, the only thing I could think of was the Miley Cyrus "Flowers" song that is everywhere right now.  I half-expected Jesse to tell Ernie that Ernie can talk to himself for hours and hold his own hand.

Still waiting for the Jesse-centric story that reveals more about his "darkness".

[Andyourlittledog2]

I can't believe that I watched this at all but it's a slow week for scripted network tv. That said, I did start to watch it and the result was way different than I expected. The main case with most of the cast was so terrible that I wound up fast forwarding through it and only watched the Lucy parts. The Lucy parts!!! I cannot stand Lucy on a good day and hers were the only scenes that didn't annoy the hell outta me. She was good as agent afloat.  The rest of the team is insufferable and their plotlines stupid and repetitive. I don't even like Ernie any more.

I should not record this no matter how slow a week it is. It's too aggravating.

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Andyourlittledog2