No need for blonde wigs...
Oct. 11th, 2017 06:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessNCIS: LA 4.17 Wanted
I groused ‘about time’ when the previously bit informed us that this was picking up Michelle-as-Quinn and all those Russians with the nuclear weapons. Well, the one Russian with the nukes. And as things with that plot were left open-ended, who knows when the show will pick it up next. Like the team, when Erik Palladino turned up, I knew I vaguely remembered his being on the show. So, I wouldn’t say that was satisfactory.
But the ep turned out to have emotional punch because of Sam/Michelle, the question of partners being more as addressed by Kensi/Deeks mainly, via the CIA agents, and Eric/Nell glancingly. Add to that the Callen-Sam dynamic, Callen trying not to get in the way of the marriage, not to mention Hetty and Callen and Hetty being righteously irked with Sam, even though he will never apologise for stopping someone from killing his wife. Plenty to chew over.
I chuckled at the questionnaire being passed on to Nell, who of course knew half Eric’s answers. Also, Sam tackling the guy hugging his wife. Yes, it was cavemanish, but the visual was hilarious, and Kensi and Deeks being asked to stall Agent Whatever His Name Was He Died and banter obnoxiously, which they could do all episode long. Except no, the CIA agents picked up on their vulnerability – their feelings for each other – and started playing back. I thought this was going to lead to bad things, but it mainly led to Deeks, at least, facing his feelings. In a Deeks-ish way after turning up jealous to relay the message he could have texted.
Watching him be the bait among chubby middle aged Russians was hilarious. I shared Kensi’s amusement at the table-turning. I think part of the later hug was wanting something after being objectified and leered at (and nearly drowned), but the big, broad, cheeky wink to his “rival” and then defusing it by pretending to be a dog (don’t drink every time Deeks defuses a situation with humour on this show) was a joy.
Also, ECO looked yummy as a waiter.
As for Kensi, well, she did start going through the questionnaire with Deeks, which means something. The worry when they lost communication was within usual parameters, but her reaction to Agent Whatever’s death showed a lot about how much Deeks means to her. And after saying okay, he wouldn’t die, he both admitted it’s a promise he can’t keep while making yet another joke of it, giving her time to recover from having showed so much emotion. Because Kensi would hate extending that moment.
And then, he answered one of the more personal questions beautifully (surely at least one person went off to do a fanmix called Sunshine and Gunpowder), and to top it all, the way Olsen played Deeks’s reaction to what he’d just said – admitting what it (and all the other stuff that had happened during the case) meant - was perfect.
Speaking of acting, how can Chris O’Donnell banter away so well, but not do anything much else as well? Whereas LL Cool J – well, I believed I was watching a marriage of many years’ standing in the fighting, the flirting, the moving together (this show is good at movement).
Having said that, I shouldn’t be mean, O’Donnell directed the episode, apparently.
There is something to be said about the depiction of male-female relationships, mainly romantic, but also between Hetty and her team members, and the limited granting of dominance, but I'm not the one to put it together at this time of day, if ever.
I groused ‘about time’ when the previously bit informed us that this was picking up Michelle-as-Quinn and all those Russians with the nuclear weapons. Well, the one Russian with the nukes. And as things with that plot were left open-ended, who knows when the show will pick it up next. Like the team, when Erik Palladino turned up, I knew I vaguely remembered his being on the show. So, I wouldn’t say that was satisfactory.
But the ep turned out to have emotional punch because of Sam/Michelle, the question of partners being more as addressed by Kensi/Deeks mainly, via the CIA agents, and Eric/Nell glancingly. Add to that the Callen-Sam dynamic, Callen trying not to get in the way of the marriage, not to mention Hetty and Callen and Hetty being righteously irked with Sam, even though he will never apologise for stopping someone from killing his wife. Plenty to chew over.
I chuckled at the questionnaire being passed on to Nell, who of course knew half Eric’s answers. Also, Sam tackling the guy hugging his wife. Yes, it was cavemanish, but the visual was hilarious, and Kensi and Deeks being asked to stall Agent Whatever His Name Was He Died and banter obnoxiously, which they could do all episode long. Except no, the CIA agents picked up on their vulnerability – their feelings for each other – and started playing back. I thought this was going to lead to bad things, but it mainly led to Deeks, at least, facing his feelings. In a Deeks-ish way after turning up jealous to relay the message he could have texted.
Watching him be the bait among chubby middle aged Russians was hilarious. I shared Kensi’s amusement at the table-turning. I think part of the later hug was wanting something after being objectified and leered at (and nearly drowned), but the big, broad, cheeky wink to his “rival” and then defusing it by pretending to be a dog (don’t drink every time Deeks defuses a situation with humour on this show) was a joy.
Also, ECO looked yummy as a waiter.
As for Kensi, well, she did start going through the questionnaire with Deeks, which means something. The worry when they lost communication was within usual parameters, but her reaction to Agent Whatever’s death showed a lot about how much Deeks means to her. And after saying okay, he wouldn’t die, he both admitted it’s a promise he can’t keep while making yet another joke of it, giving her time to recover from having showed so much emotion. Because Kensi would hate extending that moment.
And then, he answered one of the more personal questions beautifully (surely at least one person went off to do a fanmix called Sunshine and Gunpowder), and to top it all, the way Olsen played Deeks’s reaction to what he’d just said – admitting what it (and all the other stuff that had happened during the case) meant - was perfect.
Speaking of acting, how can Chris O’Donnell banter away so well, but not do anything much else as well? Whereas LL Cool J – well, I believed I was watching a marriage of many years’ standing in the fighting, the flirting, the moving together (this show is good at movement).
Having said that, I shouldn’t be mean, O’Donnell directed the episode, apparently.
There is something to be said about the depiction of male-female relationships, mainly romantic, but also between Hetty and her team members, and the limited granting of dominance, but I'm not the one to put it together at this time of day, if ever.
