S08E24 Unleashed

 

Last week’s ‘Uncaged’ was a beast of an episode.  It brutally demonstrated the dark side of NCIS and how far the super-villains or a character’s nemesis will go to exact revenge.  Sam watched his wife suffocate and cradled her dead body in his arms.  It is somewhat of a relief that the blackness of ‘Uncaged’ is not repeated in the closing part of the season finale.  Morning has dawned at the crime scene and the tone has also altered.  The frantic search for Michelle is over and ‘Unleashed’ follows the aftermath with Sam single-minded in his desire for revenge and arch-nemesis Tahir Khaled is ready to unleash the second phase of his horror. 

S08E23 Uncaged

An episode written by Frank Military is characterised by dark, in-depth character stories that are worth numerous rewatches. In S2 Little Angels, a girl was buried alive, causing Sam to relive the time he was buried alive during a SEAL mission. In S3 The Job, he blew up Kensi and introduced Callen’s nemesis Janvier in Crimeleon. He tortured both Sam and Deeks in the Sidorov / nuclear arms deal arc and in S5, had Deeks visit his dark side when he waterboarded an Afghan cleric to find Kensi.  In S6 he sent Callen undercover with white supremacists and touched on Callen’s self destructive youth, and in S7 almost had Kensi sexually assaulted and blew up a child suicide bomber. Frank Military penned episodes take the audience to places where they feel uncomfortable; the lighthearted core of the show is called in to question and so his reality hits hard; life as an agent is not all sunshine and laughter.  It is not only the bad guys who die.

S08E20 From Havana With Love

Sometimes it is not always appropriate to view a TV show as nothing more than pure entertainment, and some episodes are specifically designed for the enjoyment of the audience on a ‘pop corn’ level.  This is exactly how ‘From Havana With Love’ should be viewed.  There is nothing particularly taxing about the case of the week, doesn’t rely on continuing previous storylines and does little to progress characters journeys.  Instead the pure entertainment value is garnered by character affirmation, oodles of fun and an engaging plot.

S08E19 767

As season 8 begins to draw to a close, the most recent episode brings immense satisfaction by bringing the show back to it’s lovable basics.  No matter how interesting partnership shake ups can be with the utilisation of existing and recurring characters, 767 had everyone back where they belong and where they perform best.  Nell and Eric are firmly kept in the environs of ops, the field agents are out in the field solving crime and risking their lives and Hetty is keeping an eye on things, as always.  

S08E18 Getaway

The trend of season eight has been to shake up the partnerships, to bring back characters from previous seasons and to allow Nell and Eric the opportunity to develop outside the safety of the ops centre.  Much of this has been due to Daniela Ruah’s pregnancy  and the influence of new showrunner Scott Gemmill, and the result has reinvigorated the show. Getaway not only sees the return of Anna, but also reintroduces NCIS Agent Dave Flynn, last seen in season four’s failed backdoor pilot of NCIS Red.  Dave is now with the Cyber Division in San Diego and Hetty ‘borrows’ him to run ops, which allows Nell and Eric to work together on their first undercover assignment – as a couple.

S08E17 Queen Pin

It seems to be a common trend that whilst Sam is always present and quite often a force to be reckoned with in each episode, he rarely gets a chance to shine.  When he has, his integrity has been called in to question.  Think of the episodes involving Jada Khaled, his former NCIS partner (pre-Callen) and even when he was framed for murder.  Queen Pin is Sam’s turn to demonstrate his undercover skills and importantly, he gets to do that without Callen present and without doubting his honour.   

S08E16 Old Tricks

Season 8 has been fairly serious.  Kensi has fought her way back to full fitness, Deeks has struggled at times to support her, Callen was forced to confront the reality of his father’s abandonment and Granger’s deterioration has been heartbreaking.  It was only fitting that after the intensity of the three episode mole arc, that Old Tricks should be heavy with amusement.  It’s such a shame that this fails to live up to its potential, a rarity for writer Andrew Bartels who has created gems such as Allegiance (S5), The Grey Man, Humbug (S6), Angels & Daemon (S7) and this season’s Glasnost, which reunited Callen with his newly found father.  It has frequently been proven that the case becomes irrelevant when the focus is on character development.  But here the case is not particularly interesting, and on the surface at least, is in no way connected to the development of Callen or the exploration of Nell and Eric’s relationship, or even the psychological impact their work.

S08E13 Hot Water

Hetty’s self-imposed deadline for a successful mole hunt has just expired and Under Secretary of Defence Duggan arrives at NCIS to accept her resignation.  But it seems that the mole is also aware of the deadline as bang on the ninety days, the team is sent in to disarray when Granger, Sam, Deeks and Callen are all arrested by different agencies and for different crimes.

S08E12 Kulinda

The case of the week sees the team investigate a private security firm who are under suspicion of being in cohorts with criminal gangs, and Sam is sent undercover as himself, to investigate the security firm, ‘Kulinda’, from the inside.  

S08E11 Tidings We Bring

This year’s festive offering centres around the search for a missing Navy Lieutenant who’s been working with the NSA on cyber threats.  The team discover her boyfriend is missing too, and make the connection that she has been kidnapped due to his journalistic involvement with drug cartels.  

The case itself is not particularly memorable; what does make this episode is the discussion of Christmas traditions between the characters, and they are each given their chance to shine.  The notable exception is Assistant Director Granger who is absent throughout. Hetty puts in an appearance at the start and close, bracketing the episode as she and Callen discuss the thirty day countdown to D-day in the mole investigation, and finally by wishing everyone a merry Christmas.