Review: NCISLA “Chernoff, K.” (S6E24)
As season six comes to an end, we get to look back over the last 24 episodes to reveal a year in which Densi became much more than partners, family members were revealed and in Callen’s case, others still missing. The last time we left our intrepid heroes, they were on their way to Mother Russia to continue their chase after the stolen oil and to find and rescue Arkady’s daughter, Anna. Veteran showrunners, Kyle Harimoto and JP Kousakis have the honors of wrapping this season up before we break for summer hiatus and you know they are going to do their best to keep us on the edge of our seats.
The episode started off with an exciting chase sequence, and the action had its moments throughout the program until it was mysteriously missing from the last ten minutes. No cliffhanger really, just a subtle finale of possible things to come? It turned out to be a simple story unlike some of the other episodes in the past where you needed the Cliff Notes to follow along. This tale was really a vehicle to find out more about G Callen and his Russian background, and we finally discover why Arkady has a soft spot for the NCIS agent and the connection he has to his father. With Hetty’s help Callen learns more about how his parent escaped from the Gulag and helped many people escape from Russia, but he is devastated to find out he died just a short time ago. We are still left with so many unanswered questions. Callen visiting his father’s gravesite was particularly heartbreaking. We had been hoping since he first discovered more about his father that the two would eventually be able to reunite someday but that seems impossible now…..or is it?
I was certainly shocked that there was no real nail biting cliff-hanger to this final episode of Season 6. Is that a good or bad thing? I’m not sure. After I had a chance to think about it, I realized I preferred it to the lame ending we were given last season. This at least gives us more to think about and how it could affect the rest of the series. I feel we may be getting closer to the final season for NCIS:LA. As Callen starts to unravel his past and we get closer to finding out what happened to the young boy who watched his mother gunned down, I think we are also getting closer to seeing the show come to an end. I hope I’m wrong. Because I’m concerned if that’s the case, we may never get to find out more about Deeks’ backstory and that would be a crime. We finally had our prayers answered when Densi fell in love this season. So now we can only wait patiently and hope that the showrunners will grant us this last request so we can get to know more about Marty Deeks and what makes him tick. Let’s cross our fingers and expect great reveals to come out of Season 7!
Memorable Moments
• Hetty and Arkady! A new comedy act? It was fun to see them sparring with each other throughout the episode. (Hetty: I was the queen of the prom, sweetheart!)
• Granger turning over Beale to the Russians?… no pressure Eric!
• Anna is a chip off the old block! No love lost there!
• So much for a formidable villain! Karposev didn’t live long enough to pose a threat, did he?
• I think this is the first time we’ve heard Kensi speak Russian. The girl is sexy in any language.
• Enjoyed the storming of the hotel rooms to disrupt the auction. Each member of the crew was a one man (woman) destruction team!
• Vyto Ruginis is so much fun to watch. Not sure what all the singing was about but it was one of the highlights of the show. So shocked to see him gunned down. Glad he survived to tell the tale, but will he return again next season?
• Hetty married? At least we found out a little bit more about Hetty’s undercover past.
Densi Moments
• Kensi still hates when Deeks is over protective. You’d think she would be used to it by now! (Deeks: Again. You’re welcome!)
One more season in the can! We will wrap up this week as always, with Deeks’ Surf Log and Kensi’s Journal. Find out what they are feeling about their undercover mission in Russia. We have more drawings and auctions for Pets of the Homeless (please help us support this wonderful charity!) over the summer and of course we will return with a new FanFic Relay! So enjoy your holidays and time off and we will see you back here in the fall for Season 7!
Episode: “Chernoff, K.”
Writer: Kyle Harimoto
Director: John Peter Kousakis
Original Air Date: May 11, 2015
Diane Volpe is a Contributing Editor at wikiDeeks.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @phillydi
wikiDeeks | Marty Deeks | NCISLA 
Good review, Diane. But nothing unexpected in the episode… being male, the scene in the church and at the graveyard was somewhat maudlin. I don’t see Callen as doing more than regretting that he didn’t meet his father, not grieving… and then the final scene in the cafe clearly implies that his father has created another persona, or else someone else was involved in the refugee smuggling operation. We’re not done with that. Was very glad that they didn’t try to shoehorn the IA into this show…
I don’t think his finding the final truth (is there such a thing?) presages the end of the show… rather it could move the story line to Callen becoming a real man instead of a driven, edgy, bitter grey man (Sam warned him about that possibility). Might have to get some new writers, though. Perhaps some of the current ones will go to SB’s new project.
Actually, something was unexpected – where the heck did Kensi learn perfect colloquial Russian? My Russian is very rusty, but she, Hetty, and the hotel staff were really speaking Russian. So was the limo driver – and “bunny” has a connotation in Russian something like “babe” only more crude.
No Densi. 😦
Overall I rated the show a high like for the action, which reminded me a lot of the old “Mission Impossible” TV show.
I hope the production team takes the time to really look at the opportunities they had and blew in several shows, as well as the ones they just blew period. My favorites remain Humbug as a perfect holiday fluff piece that should have led to development of the Callen/Jo and Densi relationships, Grey Man in which Kensi finally admits to her earlier life on the streets, and Expiration Date which gave us a chance to see the Domestic Densi (but if the writers thought that was a fight, they have perfect relationships at home!). Absolute dead low for the season and for all 6 seasons was Rage. ‘Nuff said about that one.
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I am not male – and also found the graveyard scene rather maudlin. 😉
I don’t speak Russian, but I know enough Ukrainian that I recognize certain similar words and can sometimes get the gist of what is being said. I agree they were all actually speaking Russian, but there was a clear difference in the quality of the accents. Dani apologized for her Russian on Twitter and I would argue that hers was the least authentic. She may have said the correct words, but it sounded like her Russian was influenced by her Portuguese and did not have the proper accent. The hotel staff, Ana, Arkady and Callen were the most convincing to me when they were speaking Russian (in that order). I also wasn’t impressed by Sam’s French accent. I had no idea what accent he was going for until he said “Merci.” The hotel person Sam was speaking with had a perfect French response, on the other hand. I know it’s a small detail, but if you have a worldwide audience it seems silly to do multiple accents like that if you’re not going to get it right. I found it distracting to the storyline.
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It’s been long ago and far away as they say since I spoke Russian frequently. Mnogo let tomy nazad (no Cyrillic keyboard). While she had obviously just memorized a string of Russian words, they were as understandable as many of my classmates in military language school. Luckily for me, Russian is basically guttural. I can’t hear high notes any more so sometimes have trouble with a woman’s voice. Russian is also spoken exactly as written, no slurring as we do with English, but there are dialects… speaking at a distance at night to an unsophisticated driver, yeah she could pass for a quick exchange. If COD doesn’t actually speak Russian, he does a great job as does Hetty. Arkady’s accent sounds like a second language, but worked for the story line such as it was.
I liked Black Wind for the scenes you mention… I loved Deeks and Kensi in the tunnel, Deeks with the little boy, and the cactus story… the rest of that show was just another another Sam and Callen save the world – one we have seen often for six years.
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Brenda I thought Sam was supposed to be from Cameroon, where I believe they speak English and French. However, I am too unmotivated to double check!
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Karen,
Yes, it was Cameroon they referenced and it is French/English bilingual, just like here. We also get many immigrants from African countries that are French-speaking because we are bilingual. I don’t speak French but have been surrounded by it my entire life and Sam’s accent didn’t sound like anything I’ve heard from either Canadians or African immigrants.
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Totally agree Sam didn’t have a French accent of any sort. It reminded me of the accent of a co-worker from Ghana, who almost sounds Jamaican. Since both Ghana and Cameroon include English as an official language, I thought perhaps their accents when speaking English might be similar?
And I find it hilarious, and indicative of the quality of the Deeks/Densi content, that we have at least as many comments discussing the finer points of foreign languages as we do discussing the actual episode!
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Good review to close out the season, but then you had to go and scare me by predicting the show may be winding down. Now I have the chills. I didn’t particularly like this season, but surely there is a lot more ground to be covered even if Callen does find his father. I can’t believe they would hire Daniel Travanti to play just that last scene. And what’s to say Callen gets on that plane back to the states?? Another interesting question is…was Hetty lying about his father’s death? Or was she fooled like everyone else? Callen’s daddy is the ultimate lone wolf.
One final comment…hated Anna. I didn’t get her character at all or why she was there other than as an excuse to go to Russia.
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Other than as a reason for travel, the only thing I can think of is the producers were auditioning her for a slot on the team in the future; that would explain Hetty offering her a job. Not sure how I feel about that happening… she would make the team unbalanced… also, the actress did not do a good job of presenting the part.
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I can’t see her as part of the team, unless someone is leaving or they are going to use her in case Deeks goes back to LAPD. She was so irritating and she garbled her accent so she was a bit hard to understand. Hate her…sorry…but it’s only TV hate…she may be a lovely person in real life.
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I was wondering about her accent because it seemed to fluctuate so I looked her up. She’s Russian-born and moved to Israel when she was 7 so she I would think she would still be able to speak with a Russian accent. I can still properly affect the accent of my first language, as well as my husband’s first language, which I only learned later in life. Not sure what was going on there.
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One of the things that left me hanging was the Internal Affairs investigation of Deeks. That was brought to light, talked about a bit, and then shoved under the carpet for a later time. Maybe the writers don’t know where it will eventually lead?
The other thing I’ve puzzled about is the lack of recurring NCIS characters making an appearance on NCIS-LA. Why haven’t we seen the likes of Abigail Borin (Diane Neal) or Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano) with this team, at least in some capacity? I would especially like to see how Borin and Deeks would interact.
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This! Both parts! Just a MENTION of the IA investigation, something so we know it’s still going on. Maybe Deeks gets a phone call from LAPD and it ends before he takes it, or they show up at OSP and the IA detective is there. Something to show that it’ll be back next season. I hate that they started that story line, we barely heard anything about it, and then it just…went away at the end of the semester. Ugh. I was really hoping we’d get Deeks resigning from LAPD and joining NCIS as the finale. *grump*
Also, I’ve wondered that very thing about recurring NCIS characters! We’ve seen Borin on NCIS: NOLA. I think it would be a lot of fun to see her on LA too!
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I was really confused by that also, as the earlier spoilers seemed to imply that this was going to be a significant thread, leading to some end of season developments that would have significant ramifications. Unless I misunderstood the spoilers, it seemed like that just did not evolve as they hinted. Not the first time that’s happened.
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Great review Di.
This was a great season and I liked every episode. Well Rage was a little ugh, but Deeks’ face when the FBI agent shot Charlie was priceless.
I liked the action scenes. They played that well. Hetty and Kensi speaking Russian. When did Dani learned Russian? She has a potential.
That guy calling her bunny. I think Deeks would’ve thrown off some of his smart-ass remarks about that, but nothing came out of him.
And about the scene in the woods, I thought Kensi would trust Deeks more by now and at least say thanks. Three times in the last ep, once in this ep. The guy is her life’s savior. Her guardian angel.
The scene in the church was hillarious. Hetty married? I thought we saw everything from Ms. Lange.
Callen visiting his father’s grave was a very sad scene.
But, I think that his father is alive. You saw Daniel J. Travanti, taking his cup of espresso and flipping the coin. Looks like Mr. Konstantin Chernoff is very much alive, but under another alias.
The scene where Arkady was singin. I can’t stop laughing about it. When I think of the way he was singing, I think it was a good decision we changed our windows last year. Otherwise they would’ve broken under the pressure of Arkady’s voice.
On the other side we need Deeks to sing us something. Me, and my instabuds found a video from Community where Eric sung and shaked his hips… Amazing. He has a great voice. We heard him briefly sing in earlier seasons, but we need more.
And now my review of the season overall.
I loved every Densi scene especially the Christmas kiss.
My favorite episode of the season is Black Wind. I know that to most of you is either Expiration Date or Humbug, but mine is BW. Since I saw the sneak peeks I knew the ep would be great.
The cactus carma, Deeks interacting with Thomas, Hetty telling the story of the two young lovers. She ships Densi too.
Granger softened a lot this season and I kinda like the guy now. Maybe near death experience made him reconsider his Grinch character.
I’m actually rewatching season 3 and he was a pain in the ass from the start.
I will metion again that Arkady is my favorite reccuring character. And the funniest.
Eric Christian Olsen is definitely my favorite actor. He played this season very well. The emotions were shown with such an intensity that for a moment that happens for real. At the same moment he is goofy, he jokes around. And you gotta admit Deeks/Eric in suit is very good looking and gorgeous. The man indeed has its moments.
Now, we have three and a half months to prepare ourselves for S7. What will I do till September?
I’m waiting for the multi chapter fan fic you prepared for us.
Till next time.
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Deeks doesn’t speak Russian, or he probably would have slugged the guy!
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I know I would have if I were Deeks. How he dares to call his ladybird bunny?
They should’ve teached him though. I want to learn Russianone day. It seems interesting. And one of my friend has been watching Russian movies recently and when we are on faculty he always mixes up some phrase or word in Russian. I gotta admit he has an accent.
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Bunny is a literal translation; Just as in English, there are a lot of coarse or worse euphemisms…. without any context, I can’t be certain exactly what he intended, but “babe” seems to be close…
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I’m Macedonian, and we use the same cyrilic alphabet with the Russian ls, but they have few different words than us.
About зајка I don’t know if the bunny was the exact translation, but I know that зајец is rabbit. Tell me if I’m wrong
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I meant letters, not words
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Russian cyrillic has 32 characters as I recall, including the two stress characters. Makes sense that Macedonia uses a version of cyrillic since Cyril, the monk who developed the written version of Russian was Greek/Macedonian…
Now: The Russian word for Rabbit is Kroluk (male) and Krolchyuna (female). I’m transliterating, so don’t yell at me. Bunny is usually translated as Kolchika, but that also means cookie, hottie, etc. I went back and used the instant repeat function on my DVR; sounds to me like she is saying Zaika but he is saying Zhaika… neither of which is in my Russian/English dictionary, nor could I find it in the slang dictionary. I bet it is the equivalent of sweetie or honey.
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Yes Cyril and his brother were born in Thesaloniki, Greece, but they were Macedonian.
We have 31 characters.
Rabbit in our language is зајак abd bunny зајачица.
Interesting word for rabbit, though 🙂
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That’s true… perhaps there is someone out there in fandom who knows the Russian language more thoroughly than I used to. I don’t believe they made the Zhaika/Zaika up – the sounds are just too non-English. May be just one of those mysteries… unless I get somewhere with an unabridged Russian-English dictionary…. HMMM, there is a university just a few miles away… will let you all know if I find anything.
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Okay 🙂
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After a week of watching finales I was bracing for something terrible (especially given my assumptions re: the IA investigation as per my above comments) so I also wasn’t initially sure what to make of the ending. However, upon reflection I decided I was quite fine with it, both on it’s own and relative to other finales in the past week.
There was no flash/bang (or BOOM!) but there were a lot of very important questions left hanging at the end of that episode. Hetty always knows everything – and she “moves the board” – so did she deliberately deceive Callen re: his father’s death? I’ve forgiven her but I still don’t trust her. She seems to always know everything so why not this info before this period of time i.e why did she not know/tell Callen about his father in 2008 when he was in Russia? The clear implication of the final scene is that Callen’s father IS still alive, so why doesn’t Hetty know that? Important questions with far-reaching implications. And some interesting set-up for the future. Unless they also go all “IA fizzle” with that too. Of course, next season might have the IA answers that we don’t have now – another loose end with more questions than answers.
Comparatively, I wasn’t a fan of the last couple of episodes of NCIS (child terrorists) and hated the ending where Gibbs was shot/bleeding. Are we to spend the summer wondering if he will be killed off for real? Not. The Good Wife seemed to be atypically mired in excessive, circuitous drama the last few weeks so I was exhausted with their plots by the end of the season and glad it was done. Grey’s Anatomy, which has always been characterized by excessive, circuitous drama, took a turn toward complete absurdity and near-apocalyptic annihilation of characters and relationships this season, right down to the finale.
I thought the NCIS:NOLA finale was well done – definitely liked that. And Big Bang Theory was exactly what I love it for. So out of the shows I watch (which by that list is clearly too much TV – thank goodness for PVRs), I really felt like NCIS:LA was among the best in staying true to characters and storylines for the most part while leaving some important questions hanging for next season. I also think it’s OK to not have a finale like Season 4 every year as that eventually becomes implausible if each year has to be bigger/worse. I would have liked a little more Densi at the end. However, I am also very happy that they have not brought them together only to have their relationship be a source of drama. I was very worried after Humbug that there would soon be break-up talk. I’m quite happy that this has not been the case.
Will leave it at that – haven’t commented in a while as all my writing was going into school papers. Sorry this is so long!
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Not at all sorry; mine are too. I really haven’t gotten into NOLA; have seen several but the plots and characters just haven’t jelled with me, nor have the premises… his town, the Yankee agent, etc. Don’t watch the others.
I also did NOT like the child terrorists; while I accept that there are child soldiers in the 3rd world countries and that is a horrible fact, using kids in this country crosses a line. I also just cannot see a 25 year old washed up DJ from London being able to set up an organization like that. A Harper Dearing, yes. I also get a little creeped out when Gibbs sees and talks to all those ghosts of friends who have died on his watch. If he got to a hospital quickly he should be ok for season what is it 14? Maybe he will be haunting Tony next season!
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I enjoyed reading all your comments. It’s been a mixed bag across the fandom. Some hating it and some ok with it. Not sure if anybody actually loved it but I still liked it better than last year.
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Nice season-ending review Di. You definitely put a better spin on this episode that I could have. So in an effort to end the season on a positive note, I’m not going to say anything about last night’s episode. I’ll just thank everyone who read our reviews all season long, and especially those who participated in discussing them. It was really fun and always entertaining to hear everyone’s perspectives.
Looking forward to the Season 6 roundtable!
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I’m afraid I see a strategy here: to make the show die a slow natural death. Lack of ideas, boring developments and an impending sense of déjà vu will condemn NCIS LA to a premature end and viewers to change channel.
I say premature because I thought the show could go for many more seasons but as things stand, it might become hard if not impossible. I always have a feeling that some ideas would have worked (Deeks goes back to LAPD, for instance) but they didn’t for lack of sparks. Am I the only one who thinks the authors are the first who don’t seem as excited as they used to be in writing these plots? Or that they are scared to dare? Or that they have ideas but then are not sure how to develop them in the long run?
I can be ok if a season doesn’t end with a cliffhanger but after the breathtaking endings of season 3 and 4, it’s not easy to accept what we got this year, not to mention last year. Season 3 and 4 finales were the ones I definitely liked the most, those that made me wonder all the summer what would happen to our characters, those that made me want more, look for more and feel the need to continue watching the following September. Now I’m wondering if I still have the same need.
What I know for sure is that now I need some good fanfiction that can fix the lame plots and loose ends. But if our only way out from frustration is the fanfiction world, something is definitely NOT working with the show.
This is the last review of the season and I want to thank you all for your good job and dedication and for giving us a space where we can share our ideas in a civil way. Many many thanks.
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I didn’t read through the comments so I may repeat things the others already said. I will most likely do it because I bet we all have the same issues with the season finale.
JPK teased that the finale will be awesome and always used the hashtag #neverdisappoint but I’m very, very disappointed with the season finale!
Good things first:
– No cliffhanger. I think it’s okay. The last few season we always had huge cliffhangers and were worried about our favorite characters. This time we’re only curious who this man on the table is (Callen’s father or someone else).
– No one died. Arkady is still alive and this means he maybe returns next season! He’s a really funny guy and I love his character. His casting in the hotel was hilarious.
Now to the things I didn’t like:
– Hetty. What is up with her? She’s (repeatingly) lying to Callen and even the team I guess. I’m seriously developing an issue with her.
– NO DENSI! I knew this was an episode about Callen’s background story but they could have giving use at least a little bit, not just Kensi being mad at Deeks for nothing!
– Callen’s background story. It’s getting boring. We know more about him than about anyone else. Althrough we don’t know much at all. We had like 2 or 3 Callen eps, right? They should have giving us more than just his fathers name. Why not digging further into Kensi, or Deeks. We know nearly nothing about him and it would be interesting to know about his childhood (if the story is well scripted).
I think that’s all for now, I was really not happy with the finale! I’m glad I didn’t watch it at 5 am in the morning because I would have been really rude to everyone because I wasted sleeping hours for such an ep.
The good thing is that we get a seventh season and hopefully! the stories will be a lot better and we hopefully learn more about the whole team.
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Agree with all your comments. Actually we know more about Callen than we do any of the others: Father Nikita Alexander Resnikov, KGB Major. Mother Klara (Romanian maiden name not known). Klara shot by Comescu’s when Callen was about 5. Father arrested for treason by KGB and sent to gulag. Escaped and spent years running an escape organization. Died in 2008 (did he or is Hetty lying again – I opt for the lie); may still be alive. Callen had one sister Amy (amazing she had a first name but Callen doesn’t). Sister may have died in early teen years… or may not. Callen raised in number of foster homes, in trouble with the law, some time in jail as a juvenile. Big gap between juvenile court and becoming an NCIS agent, although he mentioned in Standoff that he had worked with the CIA and DEA. Pretty full history except for a couple of questions… we think. One of Hetty’s kids.
We know quite a bit about Kensi’s background. Father killed by rogue team leader, Marine. Mother divorced father due to sniper duties (legal assassination). Kensi ran away after father’s death and lived on streets for a year. Big gap between teen on the street and agent never resolved. Deeks knows about her living on the street, but no clue as to what else he knows about her. She alluded to attending college in one episode. My bet is that she is one of Hetty’s kids and doesn’t know it.
All we know about Deeks is that he had an abusive father and shot him at age 11. Father died in car wreck after several years in prison (or did he? Do we trust the NCIS background investigation on Deeks or the info Nell dug up? Was his death faked?). Deeks skated through HS, more intent on girls, surfing, and band than studying. Went to college and worked as a male stripper to support law school. Passed the bar, worked as a public defender for some time; joined LAPD at some point. /Blank until he made detective; somehow lost his female partner and swore off them until he met Kensi. Worked as a lone wolf undercover detective for some period of time. Became LAPD liaison to NCIS LA in season 1. Large blanks which the IA investigation may fill. Kensi may know more, but not all about him… he’s protecting something or someone. I think he is also one of Hetty’s kids. After actively trying to discourage Densi relationship for several years Hetty has now accepted it. I think she wanted it all along and just made them work for it.Hetty and NCIS are protecting Deeks during the IA investigation for some undisclosed reason. Given her mini-Machiavelli bent, can’t believe it is altruism.
Sam is military kid; father Marine officer now retired. Sam spent career in Navy SEALs. Came to NCIS after retirement. Married to ex/inactive CIA officer. Two children.
So we have a few missing facts re Callen which could be resolved in season 7. Major missing facts and situations re Deeks. Who is trying to ruin him and why? Who is the mysterious Aunt Barbara? (Gayle knows but has promised not to tell). What happened to his mother if his father is really dead. Perhaps to be resolved in season 7. Maybe.
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Wow, your comment makes me think of what would possibly be the issue with the IA investigation again after almost a month without thinking
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I suspect he is protecting someone, and that may be Ray. Ray was not only his best friend, but also his snitch… Some one is out to get Deeks and has found something. It can’t be a kid, because LAPD would have no interest in domestic happenings unless it involved official misconduct. hope that is the plot line for the Season 7 Densi
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I guess we’ll have to wait till the start of S7.
It’s either Ray or something from an undercover work he did for LAPD. Maybe they think he did something dirty and they want to nail him for that. That’s why they were following him, so they can see his weakness, that being Kensi so they can use her against him.
Frankly I ran out of scenarios, I don’t know what to think anymore…
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I doubt he did anything dirty, that is just not his style. While he lied to and taunted the skinhead in submarine, part 2, he didn’t do anything outside the lines of discretion for a cop. They are allowed to lie to a suspect. The only time he did something beyond the pale was in Spoils of War and that was a emotional response to his thinking Kensi had been killed… and he was really broken up about the waterboarding of the cleric. He attacked a dirty cop once after his handler/partner(?) was killed. That would get him a reprimand should it be known, not an IA investigation. He’s had to do a lot of dodgy things while undercover as Max, but all those should have been in his post-operation reports. After he first joined NCIS, none of the LAPD cops would work with him- Kensi had to smooth the way. In the last couple of interactions between Deeks and LAPD street officers, it looked like they were on friendly terms… I’m leaning toward his being framed and perhaps he isn’t the real target, the NCIS team is. Whatever it is, I think Hetty and Granger know and they are bringing in an outside agent to serve as a “disinterested” case manager. Everyone in the LA OSP is too close to the situation. In this scenario, the serious relationshop between Deeks and Kensi gives LAPD the wedge to get at OSP. Is this where the followup to the mole comes back? The mole’s boss is behind this? Other than gaining information, we never did find out why the mole was there, how he passed his background check, or anything else… the whole incident was dropped after he was captured in the basement
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Lots of questions, I hope there will be answers in S7.
I don’t think Deeks is dirty.
Thorough thinking, though.
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I like and enjoy all of the NCIS-LA characters; there are relationships (good ones for the most part) between all of the characters on varying levels, something that the NCIS writers have been able to craft very well into all three shows.
The thing that I find most tedious (for lack of a better word) is the heavy focus upon Callen & Sam (Callen especially) almost at the exclusion of everybody else. I think both Chris O. and LL are great actors, and their characters are top-notch. But enough is enough. What is going on with Eric & Nell? Did their relationship die in “that old building,” or is it just simmering under the surface in ops? Remember that Eric went home with Nell for Christmas as her “boyfriend.” And then there’s “Densi” of course; there’s a lot of stuff with Deeks & Kensi individually that warrants a deeper story line, as well as what’s happening with them as a couple. And what about Joelle? All we know is that she’s “great” according to Callen, but little else; “Humbug” made it clear that they were going to work through everything, which appears to be happening, but that’s where things just sort of trailed off. We’ve even seen that Granger has a love interest of sorts from the one bedroom scene; that could use some attention as well. I’ll skip over Hetty for now.
On the other hand, Sam’s family has received good coverage. We know about Sam’s daughter Kam, and his son Aiden, and his wife Michelle. I think the other characters deserve at least that much attention.
And what about Nate Getz? Yeah, good old Nate; I’m not sure of the underlying details, but I thought it was a bad deal that Peter Cambor was relegated to a recurring role. His affable deportment and his friendship with the team is good fodder for future episodes in his current role. His appearances have been well-placed; but I still wonder why he was strangely and noticeably absent when Kensi returned from Afghanistan?
I am looking forward to the next season. I just hope the writers take the time to read some of the fan posts.
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Thank you for the reviews this season. I look forward to them. Not sure I can add more than what has already been said. I look forward to next season and great fanfiction over the break.
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Just wanted to say that that I have just found your website and love it! I enjoy watching NCIS LA but only because of Eric Christian Olsen( and Deeks & Kens). I am in Australia so we are a few episodes behind the USA. Lets hope for more of Deeks in Season 7. At least we finally got our wish with Deeks & Kensi finally falling into a relationship together.
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Welcome Donna Marie! Glad you’re enjoying the site.
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Di, thank you for all the wonderful reviews all season. Your comment “As Callen starts to unravel his past…I think we are also getting closer to seeing the show come to an end” stopped me in my tracks..
Do you know something we don’t?!? I certainly hope NCISLA is on a run to rival the original NCIS.
Thanks for a great season of reviews. And Thank You, Karen (anonkp) for filling in with awesome reviews as well throughout.
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Thanks Reader for all your fabulous comments! We appreciate your support.
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Thank you for the reviews all season. I confess that I haven’t watched the finale, and based on what I’ve seen here and on other sites, I might not bother. What a change from when I used to be so passionate about this show and it was appointment viewing (and re-viewing.) I hope that there will be a return to a more balanced ensemble cast in season 7. Given the distinct lack of enthusiasm I’ve seen in fandom this season, I think that would be the only hope for a season 8. At the least, I hope they will give us some decent Deeks backstory next season, before it’s too late.
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I think many of us fall into your category, Jan. The finale isn’t fantastic, but is worth watching once just to see Arkady. We also hope we go back to a more balanced ensemble next year. Callen can’t continue to be the lone wolf star with Sam and some others in support for much longer. I watch the show for Deeks and Kensi dialogue and interactions. and have become very disappointed – 30 seconds here and there doesn’t meet the want level. Sometimes when I go back and look at the early (last of season 1 and seasons 2-4) I am still tickled at how well written they were and the excellent acting. I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for content in season 7 and also believe if it is as bad as most of season 6, there will be no season 8.
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Too much Callen and his search for his father. Although I can understand his need to know about his past and family, he seems to spend too much time wondering about the past and not living the present. Let’s face it he’s not some young kid looking for his parents. At some age and some age soon you would think he would have moved on. Its odd how Deeks rarely mentions his family (he didn’t even know his father was died) and Callen can’t stop taking about his.
I know this may seem harsh but as he gets older so do any parent, uncle, aunt, etc… I don’t know that he is ever going to get what he is looking for, if he even knows what that is. So as much as Callen needs his past, Deeks doesn’t seem to want to remember his.
I wanted much more Densi and was sad after each episode that we seemed to get less and less, but that might just be me!
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I agree, and it doesn’t seem to be just you (and me). Let’s get his father issue resolved and let Callen move on from there (although I’m fairly certain we are going to hear more about it!). Deeks, on the other hand, knows about his abusive father. The trauma of his shooting his father, even if it wasn’t fatal, has to have impacted him. He appears to not to want to know any more than his father is dead… he wasn’t real interested when Hetty told him at the end of “Personal”. Unless he has told Kensi off screen, even she does not know. He mentioned the name to Kensi and Nell as a person who might be after him, but only Nell recognized it…. and she didn’t tell Kensi.
I don’t think at this point that the small amount of Densi, which a lot of us have noted, means anything except that the showrunners focused season 6 on Callen and there wasn’t a lot of time to work on the Densi story line and that the writing was overall poor, except for some shows and incidents. I’m hoping that season 7 will focus on the other team members, not just Callen and Sam. We still have the IA and the mole to resolve from season 6. I want to know who, what and why someone is trying to hurt Deeks (or are they using him to get to Kensi again, or the office)…. also want to see how the real strong bond between Kensi and Deeks gets them through the investigation.
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Hey Norm, in The Watchers, there’s a scene where Deeks tries to get Kensi to open up about her dad, and he says “I know a thing or two about fathers.” Kensi replies, “You shot your father!” So at some point he definitely filled her in on the details. (Thanks to @Densiland’s blog- what an incredible resource when I want to look up a quote!)
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You are correct; I had mis-remembered that he had said who Gordon John Brandel was in “Personal”… so either Hetty told her as she did Deeks about Kensi’s living on the street or Deeks told her… I hope it is the latter showing some communication between the two.
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I guess the point I wanted to make was ALRIGHT ALREADY with all the Callen and his father we are going into season 7 (and with the actor at the end of season 6) and it looks like it will continue. Time to wrap this up.
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Totally agree with you. The show seems to be concentrating on Callen too much. I am sure deeks and kensi are just as popular I want too see more of a story with deeks next season. Maybe a Densi wedding!
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Totally agree with both of you! Wonder if there is something in COD’s or Todd Smith’s contracts about their lines, visibility, or something else… also, they are also the only ones that show on the front of the DVDs….
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Yes I always wondered why the whole cast is not on the front covers of the dvds. The show should recognise the whole cast
Deeks and kensi are so popular as I said
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