Flashback Deeks: He brings the LA to NCISLA
Scenes we just can't forget....
Continuing the second installment of our Flashback Deeks series, this unforgettable scene also comes out of Season 2 and begins another one of my favorite episodes, Personal (2:17). The winning vote from our action poll had many of you voting for the episode’s final dramatic rescue of Kensi in front of the hospital as your favorite action scene. But for pure Deeks, my favorite scene actually kicks off that episode. Marty Deeks loves LA and the city loves him right back.
As my buddy Sweet Lu always says, Deeks puts the LA in NCISLA and this opening shot could have been a commercial created specifically for the Los Angeles Department of Tourism. What a joy to watch the LAPD detective jogging blissfully on the beach unaware of the fate that soon awaits him. The overhead shots of LA are bathed in the warm California sun and this helps pull you into Deeks’ happy-go-lucky attitude as he begins his day. So what possibly could go wrong?
If I hadn’t already fallen in love with Deeks by now, this specific scene helped to cement whatever feelings were lingering just below the surface. Smiling, laughing, ogling beach bunnies, the wind in his hair, loving life, this is the Deeks that always puts a smile on my face. It’s just pure, unadulterated Marty Deeks frame after frame. The opening music by Loomis and the Lust (Good Time Lover) was a perfect accompaniment to the carefree abandonment Deeks put into his early morning run along the sand. The song is the perfect anthem for the guy who everyone loves to love. Even the girls walking along the beach can’t stop themselves from turning their heads to look back one more time and Deeks is waiting for it. There’s no ego involved (well, maybe a little), it’s just an LA thing.
As Deeks jogs off the beach and up to his favorite convenience store, he’s already cracking jokes as he breezes through the front door and he hasn’t even gotten to the coffee stand yet. Deeks may be a jokester but he’s also a well-trained cop and can see immediately that Frank, the store owner is in trouble. Deeks knows how to play it cool:
Deeks: I got a question for you Frank. What’s the deal with these Funyuns, why are they more expensive than Cheetos? They putting real fun in there?
Typical Marty Deeks sarcasm but this time it’s used to throw off Frank’s assailants. What happens next is one of those OMG moments when you just can’t believe your hero has just been shot by the bad guy, not once, but twice. Deeks does his best to apprehend the assailants but he’s no match without his own firearm to protect him. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have a gun pointed at you, knowing that the next bullet was set to kill. After being shot the first time, he knows it’s all over. The disbelief on Deeks’ face is evident. The first time I watched that scene, you couldn’t pull me away from the television as the scene faded into a commercial. I needed to know if Deeks lived or died. It was a jaw dropping moment.
I hadn’t watched this episode in a long time and I was surprised at how much we actually learned about Deeks in 44 minutes. Skillfully written by Joey Wilson, this is the episode that gave us the humble brag, Wonder Woman, Bizarro, “hit you in your bullet hole”, breathing jello, and finding out about Deeks’ good Samaritan tendencies. Most of all we learn about Deeks’ father and the fact that Deeks shot him when he was still a young boy. Almost eight years later and we still don’t know why. Although we probably can guess. This was probably one of the last episode to give us so many Deeks facts. Will we ever see another one like it again? Probably not. But we can always dream. Sigh.
If you are a Deeks’ fan, it’s hard not to love this episode because it has so many great scenes. Everyone has a favorite but which one was yours? Let me know and leave your comments below.
wikiDeeks | Marty Deeks | NCISLA 
Great perspective on this scene and ep, Diane! I think what always strickes me about it is the thread of everyone asking if Deeks has a next-of-kin and no one knowing. They’ve worked with this very talkative and out-going guy for the better part of a year and no one has any idea about family. Don’t know if that says more about Deeks’ ability to keep secrets or the team’s (especially Kensi’s) lack of effort to really find out anything “Personal” about him.
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This was the episode that cemented my love for Deeks. It is almost one of those episodes that is almost perfect…wait…it is perfect. We get to experience all of his moods, his joy, his intelligence, and his vulnerability, as well as his strength. He ignored his pain to save Kensi. That was incredibly dynamic, but my favorite part of the episode still remains the final scene with Hetty, which revealed how much more there is to this character. It gave us our first glimpse of what a great dramatic actor ECO is. I loved Hetty here. It made me sad that she seemed to be his only visitor. Her support and caring touched him, especially that last line when he asks her who he should put down for his next of kin…”Lange. Henrietta.” That reply connected them until we discovered so much later that he’d been afraid to tell his mother he’d been shot. Until then, she was the one he turned to.
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Yes, this was a great episode. Too bad they ret-conned the whole “no next of kin” thing.
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This whole episode cemented my love for Deeks! They don’t write them like this anymore!
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This episode has always been among my favorites because it has a lot of scenes inside that are either classic Deeks or classic pre-Densi. And Deeks’ smile while jogging (basically the picture you have chosen for this article, what a coincidence!) is probably the first image that comes to my mind when thinking about NCIS:LA first seasons.
We learned so much about our favorite detective in just one episode. What a dream! In fact, as soon as Deeks’ character started to be loved by many viewers, it seemed that the more they asked for his backstory, the more reluctant the authors were to satisfy the fans. This is the impression I have often had and which I have always found difficult to explain, at least from my point of view of Deeks’ fan. If it hadn’t been this way, I guess we would have had our “Deeks, M” episode by now.
Let’s not lose hope to see it this season, though!
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You know what I always remember about this episode? More than the wounded shootout badassery, even more than the lovely final scene with Hetty – the scene with Versey, the detective Deeks reported for being drunk on duty, where we learn that Deeks is also helping him stay on the wagon.
Reporting him in the first place was an act of integrity, especially when Deeks had to be aware that it could make him enemies among the people he worked with and might have to rely on to have his back at some point. But checking up on him afterwards is an act of decency, the mark of someone who knows the value of the small, unseen good deeds as well as the big and obvious ones.
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Great post! I loved reading about this episode, and the opening scene, which I think I have tended to overlook but you’ve laid out how great it is. I’m really enjoying this series.
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