S14.E19: The Reckoning

[thewhiteowl]

When four people, including a CIA officer, are shot and killed in broad daylight, the NCIS team suspects the attacks have something to do with DRONA. Also, Pembrook meets with Callen and gives more insight into his past.

[Kelda Feegle]

Redemption arc for a child abuser. Urghh.

[threebluestars]

This season is so weird. Where was Sam?!

There's been people missing from each episode way more than I remember.

Edited May 9, 2023 by threebluestars

[HawaiiTVGuy]

I was so lost...so Beltran and Leah were both working for Pembrook?  And the other Dronas wanted to sue Pembrook so Beltran was going after them to kill them, and Leah felt enough was enough so she was targeted too?

Wait so why did Beltran want to kill Pembrook now?  And was the reason he let Callen live was to lead him to Pembrook?  This whole ending storyline was a mess or I am just too slow to decipher it.

[MissLucas]

I'm so confused too. Hetty put Callen in the program, then had second thoughts because she realised it was based on abuse and torture, so she pulled him out but let the other kids rot there? Also Callen forgot all about it until his memories got triggered by the writers room? Pembrook did not stop but kept going and turned some of the kids into his black ops team (which later -surprise- turned rogue). Yet he felt guilty for years? Did he just feel guilty about Callen? No wonder some of the others turned in a fit of chopped liver against him. Nothing here adds up. This is Orphan Black levels of convoluted writing without Tatiana Maslany somehow still making it (almost) work.

[Ceindreadh]

On 5/9/2023 at 10:38 PM, threebluestars said:

This season is so weird. Where was Sam?!

There's been people missing from each episode way more than I remember.

It was a budgetary thing.  TPTB reduced the number of episodes each individual cast member would appear in in order to save money.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 5/11/2023 at 3:30 PM, MissLucas said:

I'm so confused too. Hetty put Callen in the program, then had second thoughts because she realised it was based on abuse and torture, so she pulled him out but let the other kids rot there? Also Callen forgot all about it until his memories got triggered by the writers room? Pembrook did not stop but kept going and turned some of the kids into his black ops team (which later -surprise- turned rogue). Yet he felt guilty for years? Did he just feel guilty about Callen? No wonder some of the others turned in a fit of chopped liver against him. Nothing here adds up. This is Orphan Black levels of convoluted writing without Tatiana Maslany somehow still making it (almost) work.

All these Callen/Hetty episodes over the years remain a mystery to me.  I still don't understand most of it and don't care.  Bad writing, and stretching it out for years.  Ugh. 

[MissLucas]

7 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

All these Callen/Hetty episodes over the years remain a mystery to me.  I still don't understand most of it and don't care.  Bad writing, and stretching it out for years.  Ugh. 

A bit like Ziva's backstory at the mothership got more and more convolute.

[EtheltoTillie]

6 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

A bit like Ziva's backstory at the mothership got more and more convolute.

Interesting. I don’t watch the mothership regularly , so I’m not familiar with it, as it turns out. I’ve watched a couple of episodes over the years but it’s never stuck. 

[ymeagain]

On 5/10/2023 at 1:04 AM, HawaiiTVGuy said:

I was so lost...so Beltran and Leah were both working for Pembrook?  And the other Dronas wanted to sue Pembrook so Beltran was going after them to kill them, and Leah felt enough was enough so she was targeted too?

Wait so why did Beltran want to kill Pembrook now?  And was the reason he let Callen live was to lead him to Pembrook?  This whole ending storyline was a mess or I am just too slow to decipher it.

You're not too slow; the writer was bad. I got that Pembrook had a black ops team that included Leah & Beltran, but Beltran & some others went rogue & Pembrook & the "good" black ops team members were trying to stop them & to stop them, they had to kill them. It was like a mini war & somehow Callen--who knew nothing about it--got mixed up in it because he's the only character in NCISLA who was in the program. That's the only reason he was involved. The whole thing was way too convoluted to make sense, but that's been a trademark lately with the show. Brennan kept story arcs simple; Gemmill throws logic & coherence out the door & the story's a mess.

On 5/14/2023 at 5:28 AM, MissLucas said:

All these Callen/Hetty episodes over the years remain a mystery to me.  I still don't understand most of it and don't care.  Bad writing, and stretching it out for years.  Ugh.

The problem is Gemmill. If you go back to season 7, Brennan answered all of Callen's questions by the end of that season: Callen knew what had happened to his mother, he learned about his sister, he met his father & finally found out his name. There were NO other questions until Gemmill took over & started rewriting stuff. He made everything a mess.

[ymeagain]

On 5/8/2023 at 8:09 PM, Kelda Feegle said:

Redemption arc for a child abuser. Urghh.

I hated that whole thing. There was no way Pembrook felt regret for what he'd done. If he had, he wouldn't have used his former pupils for black ops. That was ridiculous. And how stupid was it that he said, "I've been watching you for 35 years." Great! In other words, Pembrook watched Callen have a miserable childhood, being shuttled from foster home to foster home. That really showed he cared.

I did think Chris did a great job. I think he's done a really good job all along, especially considering the crappy writing he's gotten the past few seasons that's made Callen such a confusing & confused character. It seems like every few weeks, the writers change something from his past. lol

[catsitter]

Why didn't Callen ask Pembrook whether he also worked in Russia or not? I seem to remember he thought that Katya had been one of Pembrook's victims?