NCISLA Classified Preview: “Goodbye Vietnam” (S9E14)

Title:  “Goodbye Vietnam”

Airing:   March 11th (welcome back everyone!)
Filming:  November 27th to December 1st and then December 5th  to 7th.
What CBS is telling us:  Callen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks join Hetty’s team from the Vietnam War, Sterling Bridges (James Remar), A.J. Chegwidden (John M. Jackson) and Charles Langston (Carl Lumbly), in a dangerous and off-the-books rescue mission to save Hetty from her captors in Vietnam. Also, Mosley calls in Nell’s sister, homeland security specialist Sydney Jones (Ashley Spillers), to assist the team in Los Angeles with processing evidence connected to Hetty’s time in Vietnam, on NCIS: LOS ANGELES.
What we think is happening:  After nearly two months without a new episode, the team completes their cliffhanger – find and rescue Hetty.

Be on the lookout: GUEST CAST:

Carl Lumbly as Charles Langston
John M. Jackson as A.J. Chegwidden
Jeff Kober as Harris Keane
Gabriel Olds as Spencer Allen
Long Nguyen as Dang

All are back from “Các Tù Nhân” weeks and weeks ago.

James Remar as Sterling Bridges
The third man grumpy old man from “Golden Days” returns.

Bobby Lee as Rio Syamsundin/Jeff Carol
Last seen in “Blame It on Rio” being carted back to D.C. by Tony from the mothership.

Ashley Spillers as Homeland Security Specialist Sydney Jones
Back from “This is What We Do” – a quick return for Nell’s sister.

Jen Kuo Sung as Man in Sunglasses
Played Chen on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and had guest roles on Kirby Buckets, Kroll Show, Dirty Sexy Money, E-Ring, Static Shock, NYPD Blue, Martial Law, Nash Bridges, Baywatch Nights and Murder She Wrote.

Kieu Chinh as Kim Nguyen
Was the restaurant owner in “Deep Trouble” Part Two – this is a different role.

James Tang as Passenger
Appeared in a few independent projects and short films.

Thom Tran as Solider
Tran is a former U.S. Army vet.  He is a traffic reporter for LA’s KNX 1070AM and KRTH 101FM when not doing stand-up comedy or acting.  Appeared in episodes of Caribe Road, Deadliest Warrior, Dollhouse and CSI: NY.

Tien Pham as Brother Bao
Guest starred in an episode of Rules of Engagement and appeared in a number of short films.

David Huynh as Bartender
Had guest roles on Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Modern Romance, Without a Trace, ER and Invasion.

Trang Vo as Waitress
First major role.

Masterminds:

Written by:  R. Scott Gemmill wrote “The Only Easy Day”, “Brimstone”, “Breach”, “LD50”, “Found”, “Borderline”, “Absolution”, “Archangel”, “Tin Soldiers”, “Impostors”, “Cyberthreat”, “Honor”, “The Watchers” and both sides of the NCIS Los: Angeles/Hawaii Five-0 “Touch of Death” episodes, “Recruit”, “Free Ride”, “Wanted”, “Ravens and The Swans”, “Impact”, “War Cries”, both ends of the “Deep Trouble” season five finale/season six premiere, “Inelegant Heart”, “Praesidium”, “Traitor”, “Active Measures” (season seven premiere), “Blame It On Rio”, “Internal Affairs”, “Matryoshka” part one,  “Talion” (season seven finale), “High Value Target”/”Belly of the Beast” (season eight premieres), “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Under Siege”, “Unleashed” (season eight finale), “Party Crashers” (season nine’s premiere) and “This Is What We Do” (episode 200) and “Các Tù Nhân” (the last episode).

Directed by:  John P. Kousakis directed “Imposters”, “Sacrifice”, “San Voir” part one, “The Fifth Man”, “Parley”, “Inelegant Heart” (written by Gemmill), “Chernoff, K.”, “Active Measures” (written by Gemmill), “The Long Goodbye”, “Talion” (written by Gemmill), “Glasnost”, “Unleashed” (written by Gemmill), “Party Crashers” (written by Gemmill), “This Is What We Do” (episode 200, written by Gemmill), all of the Afghanistan scenes from “Iron Curtain Rising” to “Zero Days” in season five and all of Kensi’s injury/recovery storyline scenes from “The Queen’s Gambit” to “Sirens” in season eight.

Insider Intel:   EW had some early photos two months ago.  TVLine had an article go to with a long trailer.  Parade interviewed Daniela Ruah about the episode and the rest of season nine.

Eric Christian Olsen did a TVLine interview posted today.

Official Photographic Evidence: Seat 42F has the promo photos.

Unofficial Surveillance:

The team looks ready for action:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcc8hYAF1mf/

“Team In-laws” on both ends of the camera:

Guest star Thom Tran on the set:

Guest star Kieu Chinh getting ready for her day:

Kieu Chinh with Renee Felice Smith and Andrea Bordeaux:

Kieu Chinh with Linda Hunt:

The CBS Stars annual visit to the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles happened during this filming of this episode.  Look for these team to crossover on this great mission:

Video Surveillance:

Preview:

Sneak Peek:

ETOnline has an exclusive clip – and an entertaining one at that.  TVFanatics has another clip, also played for laughs.

And a quick recap:

 

Possible Sports Related Delays:  Not this week.  Three of the next four weeks – entirely possible.  But not this week.

So good to be back and I think we have a straight run from Sunday until mid-May with the exception of April 15th (CBS has the Academy of Country Music Awards that night).  So, after our mini-hiatus, the show is back (and hopefully by the end of the episode, Hetty will be too!).

 

---

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