Review: NCISLA “A Long Time Coming” (S14E10)

This week’s crossover extravaganza turned out to be a wild ride, combining all three NCIS franchises into one exciting mission for loyal fans of the three shows. It also gave each show its highest ratings of the year, which turned out to be an experiment that paid off effectively for the showrunners. Even though I have watched all these shows faithfully since their inception, I wasn’t expecting such a complicated story line with so many twists and turns as it transferred from one show to another. But the writers did a great job weaving an enjoyable three hours of entertainment and drama with characters from each show working seamlessly together to take down the baddies and save the day. Outside of Roundtree and Dr. Palmer, all the characters came through without a scratch, which was a little unrealistic, but of course we always expect to find stupid criminals that can’t shoot straight, which leads to happy and fulfilling endings for us viewers. This crossover certainly didn’t disappoint and with the strong ratings, perhaps we will see another event again like this next year.

Even though the storyline was straightforward, the writers did a great job of throwing a lot of exciting curveballs throughout each show. And whether we were watching the teams from NCIS, NCIS: Hawaii or NCIS:Los Angeles, as professionals, the agents all worked together effectively as one. It made me wish we could see more of these types of case interactions between the teams in the future.

The basic storyline has the teams united to attend a cherished FLETC instructor’s retirement party but instead wind up investigating his disturbing suicide. As they comb through the evidence, the teams find that the professor was in possession of top-secret documents regarding a CIA assassination program dubbed ‘Simon Williams’, a pseudonym former CIA assassins operated under years ago. Although the original program had been scrubbed, a new faction in the organization has resurrected it for more sinister reasons. Our NCIS teams spend all three episodes being chased after by rogue CIA agents who are trying to stop their counterparts from NCIS from blowing the roof off this covert group of federal criminals.

By the time we get to Los Angeles, after scouring Washington D.C. and the Hawaiian mainland, the teams return to find that Kilbride has disappeared, and they need to find him before the bad guys do. Kilbride is the last of the original ‘Simon Williams’ operatives and they want him dead. He’s the only one who can testify before Congress that this new group of rogue agents have taken over the project. To complicate the mix even further, Roundtree is kidnapped and tortured by the gang to give up Kilbride’s location.

Let’s break down some of the highlights and a few (just a few) lowlights from this episode:

• Roundtree is amusing as he tries to talk Fatima out of breaking into Kilbride’s home. They have gelled together as partners and it’s fun to watch as they banter their way through the scene.
• I had to wonder what the other members of the outside NCIS teams thought as they witnessed the Sam/Callen bromance. These two were in rare form throughout the crossover.
• Fatima’s insistence on finding other ways to search for Roundtree was a bit over the top. But we’ve seen Deeks act the same way when his partner was in danger or hurt.  It must be a partner thing? Although I thought Kensi’s line about ‘beating yourself up’ was a bit harsh.
• Nina Barnes is back as our local arms broker and adds a moment of levity to the investigation as she hits on ‘cinnamon buns’ Torres.
• The Torres and Deeks partnership was a bit awkward, not to mention condescending. Torres calling Deeks the ‘sensitive one’ turned out to be a strange conversation between two people who have never worked together and then ends by criticizing Deeks for his grooming habits. Really? It wasn’t funny and it only serves as more ways to slam Deeks’ vulnerability. And the barbs kept coming. Poor Deeks. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of it.
• Nice to see Hetty working her way into the case by providing some ideas on how to smoke out the criminals. It was a cryptic but clever way to let her team know she is safe and surviving wherever she may be holed up. “Behold the many mysteries of Hetty!” I do wish the ol’ girl would return soon.
• The ‘we need a plan’ scene between Densi was strange as well. I get that Kensi is concerned about Deeks but wondering what to tell Rosa and planning a family vacation in the middle of all the chaos was a bit ridiculous. I’m surprised the ‘what we do for a living is dangerous’ conversation hasn’t come up sooner.
• Tennant referring to Sam and Callen as the ‘two crazy old cat ladies’ made me laugh out loud.
• Jeez! Fatima is going bonkers again! Don’t they train these agents on how to control your emotions? I think it’s time for a FLETC refresher course.
• Lucy and Fatima made a great team though. I loved their strength and teamwork on display.
• Speaking of teamwork, Kilbride emerging from the debris looking like a Yeti was a perfect way to end the mission. “What do you call this?” in response to Deeks’ question regarding teamwork was typical Kilbride.

Of course, Rountree and Kilbride are found alive, the gang who can’t shoot straight are all dead and Kilbride gets to go back to D.C. to testify against the rest of the criminals still out there. Interestingly enough, the NCIS:LA portion of the crossover was filmed first, and the actors had a hard time trying to remember if they had met each other yet in the storyline. That must have been a challenge at times. But I found this out after watching the episodes and I really don’t think you couldn’t tell it was filmed out of order. Veteran Dennis Smith did a great job directing the NCIS:LA portion of the story too. I wish R. Scott Gemmill’s dialogue was a bit more reality based but it really was not surprising. Even though the characters joked they were not wanting to collaborate again in future missions, I think this was a great idea and I, for one, enjoyed all the interaction between the teams and vote for more of these types of crossovers in the future!  Don’t forget to return later this week for Kensi’s Journal, Deeks’ Surf Log and the Drabble of the Week. We’ll see you next week!