NCISLA Classified Preview: “The Long Goodbye” (S7E8)

Title: “The Long Goodbye”

Airing: November 16th. This episode was substituted for the “Defectors” episode, which was likely postponed due to the terrible news from Paris.

Filming: October 6th to October 14th

What CBS is telling us: The team searches for Jada (Ella Thomas), the woman Sam led to asylum in the United States four years ago, after she goes missing. Also, Kensi goes undercover with DEA Agent Talia Del Campo (Mercedes Mason), on NCIS: LOS ANGELES.

What we think is happening: Talia is back and so is Jada Khaled. Set photos also have a lot of Talia working with Kensi and almost no Deeks at work/working the case photos. Since this episode was originally set to air after “Internal Affairs”, it is possible storylines from that episode dictated limited Deeks on-screen. According to episode writer Dave Kalstein, the episode switch won’t change what was planned for either this episode or the Internal Affairs investigation:

https://twitter.com/davekalstein/status/665931113366355968

Be on the lookout:

GUEST CAST:

Mercedes Mason as Talia DelCampo

Talia is back from “Citadel” earlier in season seven.

Ella A Thomas as Jada

Jada was last seen on “Exit Strategy” where her brother swore revenge against her and against Sam. Could be a hint to what the episode is about.

https://www.instagram.com/p/9CCxEGDv6k/

Miles Gaston Villanueva as Alex Molina

Currently Luca Santori on The Young and The Restless, Villanueva was Lt. JG John Alexander in season 11’s “Alleged” NCIS episode. He has also appeared in episodes of Chasing Life, Days of Our Lives and Bones.

Villanueva has lovely set companions:

Dwayne Barnes is playing Marshall Drew Groller

Barnes works regularly on television, appearing in episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, Prime Suspect (US edition), Weeds, The Mentalist, Dark Blue, Saving Grace, Cold Case, Secrets of a Small Town, Related, Numbers, Six Feet Under, Monk, The Shield, Without a Trace, CSI, Judging Amy, Son of the Beach, NYPD Blue, ER, Angel, The District, Ryan Caufield: Year One, Martial Law, Malcolm & Eddie, Nash Bridges, C-16: FBI, Brooklyn South, The Burning Zone, The Pretender, Night Stand, Lois & Clark, The Good Life, Beverly Hills 90210 and Baywatch.

Was PFC Saunders in season one’s “Survivors” episode of JAG.

This episode may include Manny Montana (Johnny from Graceland) but with the episode number jumble this season, just not sure. Montana would be playing Diego Salazar. All this will be updated when CBS sends out an official press release.

Masterminds:

WRITTEN BY: Dave Kalstein, who wrote or co-wrote “Predator”, “Past Lives”, “Bank Job”, “Burned”, “Black Widow”, “Bounty”, “Disorder”, “Empty Quiver”, “Plan B”, “Backstopped”, “The Debt”, “Partners” and “Blye, K Part 2”, “The Fifth Man”, “Kill House”, “Resurrection”, “Frozen Lake”, “Tuhon”, “Three Hearts”, “Spiral”, “Expiration Date” and “Citadel”.

https://twitter.com/davekalstein/status/646770137345867776

DIRECTED BY: John Peter Kousakis, who directed “Imposters”, “Sacrifice”, “Sans Voir” part one, “The Fifth Man”, “Parley”, “Inelegant Heart”, “Chernoff, K.”, “Active Measures” and all of the Afghanistan scenes from “Iron Curtain Rising” to “Zero Days”.

According to Kousakis, the episode was supposed to be directed by Tawnia McKiernan, a successful television director who has worked on series like Bones, Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods, The Mentalist, etc. She is also the daughter of prolific and iconic television producer Stephen J. Cannell, who produced series like The Rockford Files and Wiseguy. Cannell also produced Unsub, Hunter and The Commish, where Kousakis worked earlier in his career as well as Broken Badges, an early Miguel Ferrer series. The program hopes to have her back for another episode down the road.

Insider Intel: Nothing up this week so far.

Official Photographic Evidence: Nothing official yet.

Unofficial Surveillance: There is a lot of that.

A helpful Eric Christian Olsen brings Mercedes Mason to lunch:

A Chris O’Donnell lovefest:

Ella Thomas with her stunt double, Bethany Levy:
https://www.instagram.com/p/8oFGYGDv1o/

Ella Thomas with Dwayne Barnes:
https://www.instagram.com/p/805OmyDv-I/

Daniela Ruah, Mercedes Mason and Ella Thomas having fun on the set:

https://www.instagram.com/p/8v3FkUDv0h/

Daniela Ruah and Mercedes Mason on the set on National Kick Butt Day, which was also the day the 150th episode aired (appropriate for Kick-Butt Day):

Daniela Ruah and Mercedes Mason really looking like they’re about to kick butt (and looking good doing it):

JPK getting a little love from his leading lady:

And some JPK love for Dave Kalstein:

And Dave Kalstein sharing the love back and adding LL Cool J and Miguel Ferrer:
https://twitter.com/davekalstein/status/651058713252401153

And Miguel Ferrer is sharing the love in return with Dave Kalstein (who is fond of Ferrer):

https://twitter.com/davekalstein/status/651527978287890432

More love between writer and leading ladies:
https://twitter.com/davekalstein/status/653689577127841793
https://twitter.com/mercedesmason/status/653746620509519872

When not hanging around with the lovely Daniela Ruah and Mercedes Mason, it looks like guest star Miles Gaston Villanueva hung around with a lot of tough guys with weapons:

If nothing else, everyone looked like they had a great time working on this episode.

Perhaps a hint about the episode from a JPK tweet – “Sicario” is about a female federal agent (and there are two all over these photos from the set in Kensi and Talia) working on the drug war where one drug lord is use to flush out a bigger one. Could the government be using Jada to flush out her brother and some other bad men? The program has always used drug cartels as financing sources for terrorists. Since we’re light on episode info, it’s a theory:

Video Surveillance: With the breaking news, CBS put together a general preview that would really work for any episode:

No sneak peeks right now. When (if) the previews are up at the website, look for them in the comment section.

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Tess DiCorsi is a wikiDeeks contributor. You can read more by Tess HERE.