Roundtable Discussion – Part One: NCISLA Mid-Season 7 Review

It’s that time again….The wikiDeeks staff  is back with another roundtable discussion and a review of Season 7  so far. The team has a lot to say about this season but we all agree it’s been a banner Densi year so far and we’re looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings. Join the discussion in the comments section below and let us know your thoughts. Here’s what our contributors had to say…

Part One

Diane: I don’t know if anybody liked Season 6, but as far as I’m concerned, Season 7 has been much more enjoyable for me. So maybe we can start there and tell me about your impressions of this season over last.

Tess: I’m really enjoying it. I think more than any other season, they seem to have a plan. Things got a little screwy, not through any fault of their own, with the “Internal Affairs” episodes running a little out of order, but everything, everybody seems to be in character, everything seems to be logical, nobody’s doing anything that you’re sitting there going, “This is not the character I’ve watched for the last five, six, seven, eight years.” So I’m happy with the way things are going, I think they’ve had a very good season.

Lindy: Just an off the wall kind of comment, I love that they let Callen’s hair grow a little bit longer. [Laughter.] I was getting tired of the short haircut.

Diane: It’s in preparation for learning his real name, I guess.

Lindy: You think? Can we have a poll that asks what we think his real name is going to be? [Laughter.]

Diane: Well it can’t be something stupid like George, not that George is a stupid name, but I mean something as pedestrian.

Randy: Giorgino, that’s my vote.

Lindy: Gregor.

Randy: I like that one.

Tess: I like the idea that it’s anything else but beginning with the letter G. His grandfather was George, he was found with a suitcase with the name G. Callen on it, it could have been his grandfather’s suitcase, and his real name is Frank, or Tom, or Sheldon. [Laughter.]

Lindy: Sheldon?

Tess: Yes, you know, just some random name.

Diane: So we’re in agreement that we are enjoying this season a lot more? I would say from Densi’s standpoint, that it’s probably a good guess.

Gayle: Definitely I would add to what everybody else is saying, that 7 is an improvement over 6. We finally got “Internal Affairs,” which I think we were starting to wonder if that was ever going to happen or not. And I think we’ve seen the team all a little bit looser. And so it’s back to what people love about the show as being very character development driven.

Karen P.: For me the big difference has been… I think last year with Season 6, which was my least favorite year so far, that it just seemed like they didn’t know what to do with Densi, before they were together and after they were together. They barely would let them touch one another. It just felt like they weren’t sure how to write them together as a couple and I began to worry that maybe we would have been better off if they hadn’t even gotten them together. This year, they’re just letting them be a couple, and we’ve gotten all these wonderful fluffy Densi scenes that have been so fun, and yet it’s not like we’ve lost interest in them because they’re together. I think they’re just as interesting now and it’s been really a pleasure to watch that happen.

Diane: Yeah, it’s kind of interesting to watch them interact and like you said, it’s not getting old. You want to see more of that, you want to see how it’s going to progress and what they’re going to do with it. So I’m kind of looking forward to hopefully more, a lot more interaction, although I’m not quite too sure how much we’re going to get if the rest of the season is going to be related to Callen. Although, they are moving in together.

Lindy: I was wondering what other people thought about them combining their move in together with Jack.

Gayle: I was not surprised by it at all because they’ve said over and over what makes characters interesting is when they have to overcome some sort of challenge. And so, if things get too easy and too just all fluffy with them all the time, I think we probably will lose interest, and so this brings back all of those questions of how much is Kensi really secure with having Jack out of her life. And they did not have in “Spoils of War” Deeks and Jack really face to face. And now they’re going to have that, and what kind of tension is that going to bring up? And so I’m really interested in it even though it seems like everybody on Tumblr has just jumped right back on the “I hate Hetty” bandwagon because of it.

Karen P.: You make it sound like we had jumped off the “I hate Hetty” bandwagon. [Laughter.]

Gayle: Maybe some of us took a little rest on the side.

Lindy: I wanted to comment on the Hetty Hate stuff a little bit. I started watching the show because of Linda Hunt, and I think when they first started she was kind of like this fairy godmother person and I think that she’s probably more in character with who that character really is now than she has ever been. I think she’s had an incredibly dark past and I think that’s why she came to Deeks’ rescue there, because she knows about those kinds of dark parts of people’s lives. And I don’t think that this is very farfetched. You may not like her for it, but I think it’s very realistic.

Diane: Well you know that last line in “Internal Affairs” where she says secrets are easier to keep when you have no one to share them with? Everybody was saying, “Oh, does that mean that Deeks is not going to tell Kensi?” I think she’s talking about herself, because she does have nobody to share them with.

Lindy: I agree.

Diane: So she has that really sad background.

Karen P.: I agree with what you’re saying Lindy, and I think that’s a really interesting way to look at Hetty. What I’ve liked that we’ve gotten a little bit of, is the team maybe reacting to that other side of Hetty. Because they’ve always given her such blind trust that I’ve found frustrating, at least from Season 5 onward, and if I were them, I wouldn’t believe a word she ever said. So I like seeing scenes like Kensi yelling at her in “Internal Affairs” and expressing her frustration and assumption that Hetty had something else going on that she’s not sharing with the team. I’d love to see more of those kinds of scenes.

Tess: I think the other reason the Hetty Hate bandwagon got refired up was the very clever phrasing in the press release that, “When Kensi and Deeks announce to the team that they’re moving in together, comma, coincidentally, comma, Hetty assigns them the protection detail for Jack, Kensi’s ex-fiancé.” I mean, it was dripping off the page, this whole puddle of sarcasm under the monitor screen. I think they were showing a little editorial concern with Hetty’s behavior. [Laughter.]

Lindy: Does anybody else think that Hetty’s run on the show is probably coming to a close and if it does go on for a couple more seasons, that maybe she is going to bow out and Granger’s going to take over?

Gayle: I thought that when they first brought Granger on, but now that I see how they’re sort of playing off of each other, I don’t know.

Randy: In the last few episodes, we’ve seen Granger be a lot more active in the field. He laid on a bomb for Callen and Sam. He’s more in the field, more hands on than he used to be. He used to be kind of in the background, stepping in and making comments to them, and then they would go do whatever. But he was never really as involved as he is now. And I know that Linda’s had some health issues, and I was just wondering if you might be right, that they’re gearing up toward a change, because Hetty seems to have taken the Granger position, where she’s more in the background, she appears here and there, she’s on the screen, she’s not really active. So you may be right, but that’s up to the writers and producers and to Linda, I guess.

Lindy: And it depends on if we get another season. If Chris O’Donnell re-signs and LL Cool J re-signs then we’ve got a season. If they don’t, then we don’t.

Karen P.: Then we could have the “Deeks and Kensi are the stars of the show” version that would be my fantasy. [Laughter.] Which I know is not going to happen, but I can dream.

Lindy: Never say never.

 

To be continued tomorrow…..

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In Part Two and Three we will talk about Internal Affairs and how it has affected Deeks. Make sure  you come back to join in on the discussion. Be sure to leave your comments below and let us know what you think about the season so far!