Season 2 Discussion

[Julia]

Oh, John Besh. Squee. 

[NYGirl]

Wow Merry that wasn't smart not to accept his ride to the airport.  Boy is he a hottie!!  ::whew:::

I love that this show goes off the rails in it's investigations.  Starts one place and ends up completely in a different place.

[BooksRule]

Quote

Oh, John Besh. Squee.

I know.  He'll definitely never win an Oscar for his acting (to be fair, I know I could never get in front of a camera so, good for him!), but his food always looks good. 

[laredhead]

Wow - Leah Chase, John Besh and Susan Spicer in the last scene.  I bet the cast and crew ate well after that scene was shot.  I'm a bit biased since I live in south Louisiana, but I enjoy seeing all of the familiar locales where they film this show.  

NYGirl, previews for next week's show indicate the Homeland Security guy is back and that he and Brody share a kiss.  Hope it doesn't end with him getting killed as so often happens in these shows.   

[Lizzing]

I thought it was cool Leah Chase was on, just one day after winning the James Beard Lifetime Achievement award.

Between the mothership and NOLA, it seems NCIS is chock full of moles!

[Slade347]

There's a mole on NCIS: LA too.

I'm just hoping Homeland Security guy doesn't turn out to be bad.

[buckboard]

Why wouldn't Brody ask for assistance from one of the DC agents and instead insist on working on her own?  Every time Gibbs and his people are working a case in NOLA, they ask for help from the New Orleans agents.  For that matter, whenever they are in any area that has an NCIS team, they contact the locals, who are likely to be more knowledgeable of local issues than agents dropped in to the situation.

[Prevailing Wind]

Danielle's in the hospital. Pride comes in, LaSalle says something to him, calling him "King."  Apparently, Danielle doesn't know Pride, because he introduces himself & shows her his ID/Badge.  Later in the conversation, she called him "King."  How did she know that?  From that throw-away comment of LaSalle's?  That's pretty presumptuous of her, isn't it?

[MyAimIsTrue]

There is no episode description available at this time.  If anyone finds one over the weekend feel free to add it to this thread!

[secnarf]

Promo with description:https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/video/ncis-orleans-third-man-preview-150031845.html

Quote

The NCIS team partners with Homeland Security after the murder of a Navy master diver is linked to chatter of a foreign attack on the city, on NCIS: New Orleans, Tuesday, May 10 at 9/8c.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Cool, thanks.  My go-to places (including CBS itself) didn't have a description yet.

[NYGirl]

Dammit!!!! I'm so angry now.  Why can't Merry have something nice?  Why are some federal agents bad guys?  It's not like that in real life.

[secnarf]

IMO, DHS guy has screamed "evil" since the first time he appeared on screen in that interrogation room. This was "confirmed" when he offered to work with Pride and share information, but I did start to second-guess myself when he saved Brody.

Brody just can't catch a break.

[BungalowSummer]

6 minutes ago, secnarf said:

IMO, DHS guy has screamed "evil" since the first time he appeared on screen in that interrogation room. This was "confirmed" when he offered to work with Pride and share information, but I did start to second-guess myself when he saved Brody.

Yes! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. If he had a mustache, he'd have been twirling it. I thought the way he showed up in the first place was a little "off". 

As for saving Brody, that was the smart call. He cements his position and he would probably have killed the guy if Pride hadn't done it first. Then he got rid of the guy's wife, the only other witness.

[MyAimIsTrue]

The NCIS team uncovers a mole in the ranks while working with the Department of Homeland Security to locate 900 missing pounds of explosives that pose an imminent threat to New Orleans.

[Trey]

I just knew Russo was going to be bad but I was still disappointed when it was confirmed. Pride apparently didn't trust him at all and he was right.

I thought it was so great that Pride hired Buckley to manage the restaurant.  What a difference in Buckley's personality when he had a purpose in life!

Anyhow, I did enjoy the episode and look forward to seeing how the storyline is wrapped up next week.

[neuromom]

 I admit I'm not one to guess the bad guy right off, but  OH BOY did Russo scream "villain" from his first scene! Kinda creepy I thought. But when Merry fell for him, I was hoping that I was wrong wrong wrong...

why can't Merry just have something nice in her life?

I also liked that Pride hired the Marine. He served his country..he was a war hero. And he's been suffering for it. Now he has some purpose in his life. At least HE can have nice things!

i don't know what the cliffhanger will be, but I'm hoping Russo isn't part of it. Just kill him off, or arrest him, before Merry gets too serious with him. 

Land when Loretta was telling Pride that his problem is that he wants to have control over everything, thus spreading himself too thin...totally the same convo I had with my mom this week (I am a lot like Pride) 

[MissLucas]

Here's my iron rule for any NCIS show - when you're going off-shore and when the Coast Guard shows up I want to see agent Borin, dammit!

And while I don't mind Brody falling for evil suave guy could we please stop the whole 'nerd falling awkwardly in love with woman way out of his league'-shtick with Sebastian? He's a valuable asset to the team who deserves better than being on the receiving end of cheap, tired jokes. Of course the nerd gets sea-sick in front of his lady, har har. They don't have to pair him with Brody (though I would really like a show for once go there instead but they'll probably give him a cute nerd-girl love-interest aka Nell 2.0). Just drop any hints he's in love with her, acting all twitchy and jealous whenever one of the Hollywood approved alpha males gets close to her while the rest of the team can barely contain their laughter.

Kudos for various people calling Pride out on the crazy scheme of running a bar on his own *coughChicagoFirecough*

[Bobbin]

I was suspicious of Russo when Brody met up with him in D.C., just knew something was off. And especially when he was so anxious to have the woman put in his custody. I wonder how he's going to explain her having access to a suicide pill while  in his custody, if that's really what he gave her. Or will he just say she was transferred to Gitmo?

Good for Buckley. Pride's *Lieutenant Dan.

So, which of the New Orleans landmarks that we never get to see is the bad guy's target to blow up?

*Thanks @HurricaneVal.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Bobbin
Corrected title of "Lt. Dan"

[HurricaneVal]

17 minutes ago, Bobbin said:

Good for Buckley. Pride's Major Lieutenant Dan.

My thoughts exactly!  (except for the edit).

Edited May 12, 2016 by HurricaneVal

[brgjoe]

Like many of you, I felt this guy had the words "I'm a dirty cop!" painted on his forehead from the very beginning.  Still, I had hoped I was wrong and it was going to be someone else who was the mole.  But nope!   So was very disappointed he turned out to be a baddie.  Poor Brody.  She'll probably never trust anybody until she's 50 now.  ;) 

And I also felt for sure that the new manager for the bar would turn out to be Pride's daughter.  I had thought perhaps they would say she was taking some restaurant/bar management courses on the side in anticipation of working for dear ol' dad.  But I am glad I was wrong about that one.  I like it that the veteran is getting a chance to work there.  And I hope we see him again down the line.

Generally liked the episode though.  Even though I am getting somewhat annoyed at some of these "To be continued..." type of shows.

[honeydo7]

neuromom: I had a bad feeling about that Russo character in last week's episode. When he showed up at Brody's DC hotel room, offering to drive her to the airport, I expected him to injure or kidnap her.  When Meredith learns he's really a bad guy, I hope she's the one who takes this traitor out.

[honeydo7]

I've been waiting to see real-life New Orleans celebrities  appear on the show since the first episode.  Seeing one of my favorite tv chef's, John Besh, in a couple of scenes was amazing!

[Julia]

1 hour ago, honeydo7 said:

I've been waiting to see real-life New Orleans celebrities  appear on the show since the first episode.  Seeing one of my favorite tv chef's, John Besh, in a couple of scenes was amazing!

I have a ridiculous chef crush on John Besh. He's just so laudable. 

[honeydo7]

 After meeting JB for the first time, Paula Deen said she would kick her husband Michael to the curb for Johnny Boy!  

[Julia]

He is yummy, and also, the hair, but then there's the whole father of four happy-looking kids still on his first wife who seems to have made it his personal mission to save the gulf coast, support sustainable farms and get local kids trained for restaurant careers who spent Katrina on a rowboat handing out rice and beans marine veteran thing. Which, I like that in a person.

[NYGirl]

Ugh...I'm still hating that they made Russo the bad guy.  Merry could have been happy, I could have been happy.  He could have had an office in NOLA.  But nooooo.

Ok I don't think Lasalle and Sonja have any chemistry together.  Where the hell did that come from?  But Sonja does kick ass.  She doesn't know how close she came to getting blown up.

I'm also wondering why Russo detonated the bomb while the guy was building it.  It didn't help his little plot there.

Edited May 18, 2016 by NYGirl

[laredhead]

I was so happy that the show ended w/o a cliff hanger.  I kept expecting something bad to happen to one of the characters at the end.  I think they did this last year and made some fans nervous in that episode, but the season ended on a high note.  Nice to have a story where the characters get to have fun and a normal life for a little while. 

[immortalfrieza]

They may or may not have chemistry, but I had Lasalle and Sonja pegged to become an item the moment Sonja joined the team. The two of them have had Belligerent Sexual Tension going just about every time they ever talked to each other.

1 hour ago, NYGirl said:

Ugh...I'm still hating that they made Russo the bad guy.  Merry could have been happy, I could have been happy.  He could have had an office in NOLA.  But nooooo.

 

Of course not, haven't you heard? Nobody in fiction may ever get into a simple healthy relationship with anyone, it must either crash and burn epically like it did here, or it has to be this constantly awkward and filled with really artificial friction, or worst of all be this "will they or won't they?" that goes back and forth forever The reason? Writers think that healthy relationships are really boring and that the audience won't like seeing a real relationship on screen.  Let's just spin the wheel of cliche fiction romances and see which one or even all will Sonja and Lasalle land on!

Okay, I'm glad Brody was the one who figured out Russo was scum and didn't spend half the episode in lust induced denial, but after that? Brody could NOT have been more obvious that she was on to Russo the whole time afterward. Acting all but openly hostile? Flinching at his touch? Pointing a gun at him? Then there's all the painfully obvious dismissing herself to take phone calls and everything despite the fact that they are supposed to both be working the same case and thus would have no reason to keep anything from him. Russo would have had to be a total moron not to figure it out. Brody should have just done the phone cloning and then made some excuse that there was some new evidence waiting back at the office or something and bailed.

Edited May 18, 2016 by immortalfrieza

[secnarf]

I agree! I'm glad she figured it out and figured it out fast, but Brody is definitely not cut out for undercover work. She doesn't lie very well. 

I thought Ivan Sergei was pretty good as evil though- all those dead stares were creeping me out. 

[threebluestars]

I LOVED that Brody was suspicious of him from the moment she saw him on that phone on the balcony. So nice to see a character smartly catching those little things.

I also have thought Sonya and LaSalle had a ton of Belligerent Sexual Tension. I love her "yeah, okay cool, see ya later" walk out with the "WTF face lol.

[Bobbin]

Sonja and LaSalle referring to each other as country mouse and city mouse showed there was a relationship brewing. But not a romantic one. More brother-sister. It is annoying when female characters are excessively hostile that anyone cares about them. I know some people are really like that. I hope Sonja gets over it.

The other fate of a principle character's love interest sometimes is that they get killed. Like Russo. Or Fornell's and Vance's wives.

Russo was apparently eliminating anyone who could identify him as the mole. Including everyone on the boat (what did the gunmen think their fate was going to be when the explosives went off, I wonder).

Two more tired gimmicks: turning your back on the  bad guy while you make a revealing phone call, and not making sure he is truly out of commission before you do anything else.

[honeydo7]

When bad-guy Russo called himself a "patriot," was he an agent of a foreign government or a member of an American extremist group trying to overthrow the U.S. government?

[piedmontgirl]

Sorry, I just asked the same question as honeydo7, so never mind.

Edited May 18, 2016 by piedmontgirl
duplicate question

[Trey]

5 hours ago, honeydo7 said:

When bad-guy Russo called himself a "patriot," was he an agent of a foreign government or a member of an American extremist group trying to overthrow the U.S. government?

He never did explain what he meant about being a patriot.  I thought he was just out to make money running drugs for the cartel.

Is Sonja's and LaSalle's relationship supposed to be romantic?  It sure doesn't feel romantic to me, just good friends.  Or maybe it's just romantic on LaSalle's part?

And Sebastian has a crush on Merry.  Did she even realize it?  I'm glad she got to use the pen stun gun.

It was nice to see Buckley again.

[nurse1]

Trey:

Quote

Is Sonja's and LaSalle's relationship supposed to be romantic?  It sure doesn't feel romantic to me, just good friends.  Or maybe it's just romantic on LaSalle's part?

I think that those two always had chemistry..even if it was more brother and sister, but after that HUG...man, I see some sexual tension on both sides! So, let's see what happens in the next season.

This was a very good episode...it kept my attention and was smart and interesting. Think I might watch this show more often next season.

[Moose135]

43 minutes ago, nurse1 said:

This was a very good episode...it kept my attention and was smart and interesting. Think I might watch this show more often next season.

I catch the show infrequently myself, and really enjoyed this one - I may have to tune in more next season as well.

[neuromom]

Hell yes, Merry! One smart, intuitive cookie! Loved that she figured it out so quickly! The "heroes" on my "other" show (Grimm) could use some of Merrry's smarts.

Percy and LaSalle..I was so worried they'd end up in a kiss.  But like others have said I think it's more of a brother sister type dynamic. But when  LaSalle pulled her close into a hug I almost thought he was going to kiss her. I honestly can't tell if either one has feelings for the other but I could imagine that they were a little creeped out by the hug. I prefer them as friends. 

 And good for the show for ending on a high note ! I'll never understand the need for cliffhangers to make people come back for the next season. It honestly just makes me annoyed.  I'd rather have a good solid episode that I enjoyed, and I'll tune in next season for more of those.

Edited May 18, 2016 by neuromom

[Callietwo]

1 hour ago, neuromom said:

Percy and LaSalle..I was so worried they'd end up in a kiss.  But like others have said I think it's more of a brother sis type dynamic.

I cringed when it seemed LaSalle was going to kiss Percy... seriously cringed it made me so uncomfortable.  

This isn't a regular show for me but I watch enough to know the characters.  I missed the last episode, so I was glad they gave a decent "previouslies" recap.  

1 hour ago, neuromom said:

And good for the show for ending on a high note ! I'll never understand the need for cliffhangers to make people come back for the next season. It honestly just makes me annoyed.  I'd rather have a good solid episode that I enjoyed, and I'll tune in next season for more of those.

Yes, thank goodness.  This season finale was one of the better ones so far, after GoodWife, Castle and NCIS:mothership.  Though I do wish they'd explored that I am the real patriot thing, and I truly wish they'd avoid the soap opera-isn writing that had Merry step out but had her back turned so she missed that he was behind that corner.  Merry, as written thus far, would've been more careful than that.  

[Raja]

22 hours ago, NYGirl said:

 

Ok I don't think Lasalle and Sonja have any chemistry together.  Where the hell did that come from? 

 

Captain Crane and Leftenant Mills

[crazycatlady58]

5 minutes ago, Raja said:

Captain Crane and Leftenant Mills

Not even close.

[UncleChuck]

I liked the ending.  Even though the Suits in Washington DC acknowledged that the NCIS unit was highly instrumental in resolving the situation and the mole would have succeeded without them, they were still placed on a 2 week suspension until all the confusing details could be sorted out.  NOT a punishment, but just a few weeks to clear up some facts since so many different agencies were involved.

Some of the other NCIS units (mothership and L.A.) would likely have thrown a hissy-fit of nuclear proportions if told to "stand down" for a few weeks, but Pride and his group just welcomed the "vacation" and made other plans.  Good for them.

[JessDVD]

That was some pretty spectacularly bad acting/directing as far as Meri once she was on to Russo. I could roll with Sebastian and Meri as long as they stop writing Sebastian with the same playbook as the people who write Eric on LA. Percy/LaSalle - Eh. I hope they don't go anywhere with that next season but I could really live with almost any romantic pairing as long as they are stable and normal and not bitter TV people and I wouldn't mind if it didn't take over the show.

I continue to enjoy all of the characters on NOLA. Kind of a long list from the get-go, plus having Sonja on there now but they all are engaging characters that bring something to the show. The core four is good and I also really like Sebastian, Loretta, and Patton. (I just realized halfway through this season that the actor who plays Patton was the English teacher in 10 Things I Hate About You, which I really should have figured out sooner)

[stuckin60s]

I do not like the Sonja character.  They have her as being such a tough cookie, and yet she doesn't carry it off.

I hope, hope, hope they do not have the love connection for LaSalle and Percy, would ruin the show.  Look at history

would like to see one of the main characters with a side character loving interest.  Don't show too much, just enough to remind us the do have a life

Also getting very tired of so many of the programs with one person being the all knowing, wisest of the wise scientist type - Abby, Garcia etc.  also as a side line those to women need to grow to be women and not still young ladies

[Misslindsey]

I will be at my table for one with liking Percy and Lasalle. I thought they had chemistry when Sonja first arrived at the end of season one. I am surprised that I like them ( and the possibility of Sebastian and Meri as well) since I have never been a fan of any of the other NCIS/LA pairings or ships. I would like them together, but would be fine if they do not get together as well.

I have been preferring the New Orleans franchise better than the original and LA versions. I like all the NOLA characters and no one annoys me. Also, I find them all less sanctimonious than the other franchises.

I did enjoy this season finale as well. So many of the other shows I watch have had such disappointing season finales that my bar might have been pretty low, but I did enjoy it.

[MissLucas]

I laughed out loud when Russo took out Brody after her secretive phone call in the hallway - it was such a Wile E. Coyote moment. Brody should never ever go undercover again. Also she has no manners - no thank you for Sebastian playing an adorable Q to her pseudo-Bond? That stun pen probably saved her life. Instead she lets other team members know that she's off to Keyes. And yes, Sebastian gets the same derisive treatment by the writers as Eric does on NCIS LA - it's getting tiresome.

I don't mind Lassalle and Percy - it was telegraphed a while ago. The best thing about this episode was how smashing fabulous CCH Pounder looked in the final scene. That necklace was quite something.

[CooperTV]

Sonya and Christopher do NOT have a brother/sister chemistry, IMO. They're close friends, of course, and they're great partners. But Chris was actually able to bring Sonya out of her Conceal don't feel demeanor and Sonya calls out him on his tough guy BS. I don't know what the show is planning for them in the future, though. My guess would never-ending stupid angst how they could never be together because of their work and later breaking them up because reasons. But I'm all for this ship because tv doesn't have enough of that, and Sonya is amazing character and deserves great relationships and good things

[catray]

I am super behind and slowly catching up-- I agree that was this kind of a weird episode, with the kidnapping against the backdrop of Mardi Gras. I mean, I actually like Pride and the mayor being kidnapped and getting some more background/history with them but I'm not really sure we needed the Mardi Gras setting aside from the artificial time limit. But whatever. This episode was also a little predictable-- it was one of the mayor's friends that was the actual murderer and in the end the "bad guy" died even thought he was misguidedly trying to do the right thing. 

[catray]

This was a great episode, but I really like the addition of Sonja to the team so I'm happy to have an episode focusing on her! I agree that I don't want Pride's distrust of Sonja to surface in every episode, but I think it was warranted her, given her actions. Hopefully with the closure she got from helping Marion she can fully invest herself in the NCIS team. Time will tell, I guess!

[catray]

The wife's reaction to the whole thing felt so hinky from the beginning I knew something was up! It was nice to get a little more background on Patton as well.

I loved Pride and Laurel playing Under Pressure at the end. Like it was mentioned above, I think Bakula plays the "dad" role perfectly and as a parent myself, I loved him tell her she couldn't just quit, because she had made a commitment (and staying doesn't appear to jeopardize her health/well-being in the show universe) and they would revisit the discussion at the end of the semester. As I'm catching up on the season I'll be curious to see if this actually does come up again as an ongoing subplot.