S07.E24: Talion

[MostlyC]

When Sam gets a distress code from his sone Aiden saying his school is being taken over by an extremist group, the team rushes to San Francisco to free the hostages and protect Aiden

 

New Forums just in time for the season finale!

[friendperidot]

I haven't been watching this show except occasionally. But I think I remember several years ago when it was brought up that Sam had a family, that he had one child, a daughter. Did they change it to a son? Or, have they changed it to more than one child? And since apparently he has a son, how did he get to be this old? They grow up so fast. Maybe the son was SORASed (Soap Opera Rapid Aging, I think it is, it's been a while since I paid attention to soap operas also)?

[MostlyC]

The adult son is from a previous relationship.  His daughter is still young and like hot chocolate.  I think the audience first meets the adult son at a christmas episode a few seasons back.  Other more knowledgeable posters can probably be more accurate than I. @anna0852 @betsyboo @Trini - what's your take?

I thought they ended the season in a nice way:  glass of something strong and ignoring the ringing Phone-of-Probable-Catastrophe.

[friendperidot]

thank you.

[anna0852]

Wow I got mentioned by name!

Strong episode. Was nice to not end the season on a cliffhanger. Kind of weak explanation for Michelle's absence but since her actress is a regular on Quantico, I doubt we'll see her again anytime soon unless they re-cast.

As far as Aiden's age goes, it feels about right. We didn't see him in the flesh until Humbug in Season 6 and he was a teenager at that point, already attending the military school. However this was the first concrete confirmation we've had that he is Michelle's child. Up until now they've been a little vague about that, especially given the age different between him and Kam (the younger daughter). I had assumed that Aiden was Sam's child from a previous relationship. It's only been in the last couple of season that the show has solidified how many children Sam has, along with their ages and names.

[mtmjr]

Good episode.  Hard to go wrong with a nice, tense, everyone-sneaking-around-and-outwitting-the-bad-guys-one-by-one plot.   I get that Sam didn't want to butcher Tahir in front of his son, but letting him live just so he could administer a nice long beatdown seems a pretty big mistake in retrospect.  Should have shot him, or let Callen shoot him, right when they found him.  Still, I guess it's always good to preserve an evil, sneaky enemy for later episodes (I'm still looking forward to the return of Janvier).

As for the status of Michelle and Aiden's relationship, I still refuse to believe that she's his biological son.  It makes no sense whatsoever with everything we know about the timeline of her and Sam's relationship.  Until the show tells me otherwise, I'm going to assume that Aiden was about 5 when Sam and Michelle got together, and that she has raised him as her own ever since.  You don't have to have given birth to a kid to be his mother, after all.

One thing that surprised me was the lack of any hint of Kensi being pregnant.  I assumed that a lot of the work they've been doing on building up Kensi and Deeks' relationship this season, including explicit discussions of parenthood, was a hedge against having to write around another Daniela Ruah pregnancy.  I figured they would let the character be pregnant this time, and I admit, I was kind of looking forward to it.  If that's the case, then it's gonna be kind of weird when she shows up in the first episode of next season with a six or seven month baby bump, after nary a previous mention.  

[Jillibean]

Quote

As for the status of Michelle and Aiden's relationship, I still refuse to believe that she's his biological son.  It makes no sense whatsoever with everything we know about the timeline of her and Sam's relationship.  Until the show tells me otherwise, I'm going to assume that Aiden was about 5 when Sam and Michelle got together, and that she has raised him as her own ever since.  You don't have to have given birth to a kid to be his mother, after all.

One thing that surprised me was the lack of any hint of Kensi being pregnant.  I assumed that a lot of the work they've been doing on building up Kensi and Deeks' relationship this season, including explicit discussions of parenthood, was a hedge against having to write around another Daniela Ruah pregnancy.  I figured they would let the character be pregnant this time, and I admit, I was kind of looking forward to it.  If that's the case, then it's gonna be kind of weird when she shows up in the first episode of next season with a six or seven month baby bump, after nary a previous mention.  

Agreed on both counts! Aiden has to be Sam's child from a previous relationship. The timing simply makes no sense otherwise. I believe it was stated when she was introduced in season five that she and Sam had met eight years before, which means at this point they have known each other for no longer than ten years. And Aiden is clearly older than that by quite a few years. 

I was also surprised, though not necessarily disappointed, that there was no pregnancy announcement. It seems like it would be too late to introduce the storyline when they come back to start filming season eight since Daniela will likely be noticeably pregnant. Maybe they don't think the show is ready for a Densi pregnancy yet and really are going to work around it again. I wouldn't mind at all, as long as they find a way to do it that makes sense, and I have more confidence in these showrunners than most when it comes to that. My mother, an avid viewer, was shocked when I told her that Daniela had been pregnant on the show before. And clearly they had her doing hand-to-hand in last night's episode (probably through the magic of stunt doubles) even though she was pregnant when they filmed that episode. 

I couldn't decide if I was supposed to think Sam and Michelle were having marital problems. I know they had to cover for the fact that the actress is unavailable, but the way they did it seemed to indicate tension. If so, I'm not sure why they would introduce that potential conflict when half of the relationship is under contract to a different network. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Jillibean

[anna0852]

I thought for sure the show would end with Kensi being revealed as pregnant. But I do think it could still happen. They usually shoot a couple of shows for the new season while wrapping the old one and an announcement could easily be worked into next season premiere. The second episode of the season usually involves at least a slight time skip. This could account for her suddenly showing a lot more and have the baby show up in time for November sweeps. As well as accounting for real life leave needed by the actress.

[betsyboo]

I too agree that Aiden has to belong to someone else. I'm guessing they will never confirm it for us.

I know we've discussed it before, but I love that this team has no issues depending on Kensi to have their backs. There is zero mention/issue that she's a woman with the sniper training. And no worrying about her being able to take care of herself. And it's been like that since the first ep. I feel like in some other police shows I watch, the male cops are always looking out for the female cops - whether written intentionally or just how the actor plays it. 

I did NOT need to hear about Eric's jam sandwich. And I didn't need to see Kensi wipe her nose on Deeks shirt. SO GROSS. That was such a brother/sister move. Blech.

It was a good finale - lots of action. I like that Sam and Aiden absolutely believed they knew how the other would react/respond. I kept waiting for a shoe to drop tho - Hetty going down at the desk or Granger having a heart attack. 

I do love Callen's calm head in a crisis.

Edited May 3, 2016 by betsyboo

[pally]

I wonder if there was no mention of a pregnancy simply because they haven't decided what they are going to do about it yet.  The renewal for next season was announced in late March, does anyone know when they wrapped filming.  I'm thinking they left everyone is a happy place because they didn't know the future of the show.  

Tye White was a good choice to play Aiden. It is easy to picture him as Sam's son.  

[SoapDoc]

Quote

As for the status of Michelle and Aiden's relationship, I still refuse to believe that she's his biological son.  It makes no sense whatsoever with everything we know about the timeline of her and Sam's relationship.  Until the show tells me otherwise, I'm going to assume that Aiden was about 5 when Sam and Michelle got together, and that she has raised him as her own ever since.  You don't have to have given birth to a kid to be his mother, after all.

Thank you! I like your scenario because it makes way more sense -- not just for their relationship but also for Michelle's career. If she hadn't really worked for the CIA since Aiden's birth, why would Sideroff still be so willing to work with her? She had been staying in touch for 15 years? Since the Hannas relationship was based on her stopping work once they got married and had kids, it doesn't make sense.

This is a case of adding a child that they had not originally planned for and trying to work his existence in with the established narrative. I am not mad at them -- Aiden seems to be cool.

[DeLurker]

2 hours ago, betsyboo said:

I did NOT need to hear about Eric's jam sandwich. And I didn't need to see Kensi wipe her nose on Deeks shirt. SO GROSS. That was such a brother/sister move. Blech.

 

Yep - don't care about Eric's sandwich.  I found it funny that Deeks tells her she has a "bat in the cave", but the nose wiping was too siblingesque.

[Trey]

I was hoping that the girl (forgot her name already) who was going to leave the academy decided to change her mind after helping Aiden and seeing how cool it was to be an NCIS agent.

[Jaybird]

The nose-wiping was pretty juvenile.  I don't know whether it was somebody's idea to improvise it, or if it was somebody's idea to script it.  Either way, not a good idea.

 

The rest of the ep was okay.  Good team action, everyone pulling together to help one of their own.  I wish Sam and Callen had shown that much support for Deeks in Internal Affairs.  I hope this wraps up the Tahir storyline.  I like Sam, but it's time to move on.

[anna0852]

14 minutes ago, Jaybird said:

 I wish Sam and Callen had shown that much support for Deeks in Internal Affairs.  I hope this wraps up the Tahir storyline.  I like Sam, but it's time to move on.

I know, right? 

[MissLucas]

I didn't like this at all. The sadistic African terrorist cliché is getting tired and a tad worrisome. Not to mention that Tahir's plot made zero sense. He wasted money, manpower and resources on a personal vendetta without ever trying to make a bigger statement - which he could have done considering how many of those hostages were presumably kids of major power-players.

That said TPTB should come down hard on Hetty and Granger for letting Super Seal Sam & Co handle this situation on their own. That was a gamble with stakes way too high for them to take. Buit it looks like the only one getting into trouble here will be Sam because Michelle will have a thing or two to say about being left in the dark.

The best thing was Deeks in combat gear reassuring the student and her calling him 'Sir' - at least one person showing some respect for the guy.

[Trini]

As mentioned already, it was nice to not have a cliffhanger ending. But there was a lot of nonsensical things going on. Like not calling in local authorities, and not calling Sam's wife. (I stopped watching Quantico, so I'd forgotten the actress is over there.) And the Bad Guys were dumb, too.

As far as I remember, when the writers finally decided that Sam should have a family it was kinda vague (wife + 2 kids); then they flashed it out bit by bit over a few seasons.

[betsyboo]

Just raising here for those who don't watch the mothership - there's a mole there too. I'm thinking they have to be connected.

[anna0852]

If they aren't connected, then Director  Vance should be removed. There are some serious security issues under his watch.

[Maverick]

Is there one in New Orleans too?   I bet there's a mole on Red team too.

[misstwpherecool]

Pffffffttttttttttttttttttt

Has gone from over intense cartoonish action and light humor to stupid juvenile improvised pranks.

It's also promoting drinking in the workplace along with drinking before driving. The whole show is nothing but an over used cliche.

And enough with the shipper stuff. Who cares. It's unprofessional to say the least.

[dirtydi]

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 6:40 PM, Maverick said:

Is there one in New Orleans too?   I bet there's a mole on Red team too.

It would be cool to do a cross over with all 3.  May help ratings.

[Lebanna]

I like to think that the reason we never saw anymore of the Red team was that they all turned out to be moles. 

[Trey]

19 hours ago, Lebanna said:

I like to think that the reason we never saw anymore of the Red team was that they all turned out to be moles. 

What?? Not Scott Grimes!!

[dirtydi]

Hated Paris.  She's the mole!!!!

Edited May 9, 2016 by dirtydi

[torqy]

I would have bet $10 that the phone call when Hetty and Granger were sipping single malt was a heads-up that Tahir had escaped from transport.

Set up a perimeter!! There's a mole in CTU!!

[anna0852]

On Tue May 03 2016 at 4:55 AM, mtmjr said:

Good episode.  Hard to go wrong with a nice, tense, everyone-sneaking-around-and-outwitting-the-bad-guys-one-by-one plot.   I get that Sam didn't want to butcher Tahir in front of his son, but letting him live just so he could administer a nice long beatdown seems a pretty big mistake in retrospect.  Should have shot him, or let Callen shoot him, right when they found him.   

Boy did you call it being a mistake to leave Tahir alive!

[mtmjr]

6 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Boy did you call it being a mistake to leave Tahir alive!

OMG I had this exact same thought!  I'm terrible at predicting how shows will play out (I really thought Michelle's death was a big old fake out), but I remembered that I called this.  I'll be interested to see if this particular decision has any repercussions for Sam's character and his mental state going forward.