Review: NCISLA “The Reckoning” (S14E19)

This week marked writer and director Frank Military’s final NCIS: Los Angeles offering, the Callen-centric “The Reckoning.” Callen finally got (almost) all the answers he’s long sought in a tense episode from one of the show’s best writers. Given the lack of Deeks in the ep, this review would surely have been better written by one of our Callen experts, but alas, you’re stuck with me… I’ll do my best. Fair warning to Hetty fans though: you might want to skip this altogether.

A Dark Story Well Told

Given the time constraints from the cancellation announcement and the apparent limitations in Linda Hunt’s availability, Military brought the last of the show’s many Callen-seeks-answers-to-his-past arcs to as fitting a close as possible. We got some of his requisite darkness with mentions of the bad guys burning people’s eyes out with cigarettes, and the opening’s Pershing Square location even called to mind the time Military blew up a young boy (in one of the show’s best episodes, “The Seventh Child”). More importantly, Callen got a fuller picture of what was behind his time as Drona Subject 17. 

Despite how dark we all expect Military’s stories to be, he can be plenty funny when he wants to. This time around, the only instance of humor in the entire episode was Deeks’ failed joke about Kilbride’s mood early on. The ep was unusual in its lack of banter and in its almost sole focus on a single character, from the first scene through to the last. That laser focus on Callen’s story actually made me sad, as it conjured images of how good a “Deeks, M.” episode could have been with a similar tone and the focus on our favorite Inspector. Alas, it’s not to be.

Military succeeded in bringing a fair amount of suspense to the scenes between Callen and Pembrook, and to the cat and mouse chase through the empty building, but the dialogue was really where he excelled. Did I believe that Pembrook was really trying to make up for his past sins, and that he had been all this time? Well, not so much. I don’t think people who torture children grow out of it or come to see the error of their ways. But it made for an interesting story that remarkably managed to tie a lot of threads together in a short period of time.

The best scene was in the creepy garage as Callen confronted Pembrook about the impacts of his actions so long ago:

Callen: Understand it has taken me years to trust any relationship. I have gone from jobs at DEA, CIA, NCIS, all to distract me from having to face what you did. You broke in me the most elemental aspect of being human. 
Pembrook: I tried to kill your ability to feel. I know. It was a terrible thing to do. It was a terrible thing to do. I’m sorry.
Callen: Well just so you know I don’t accept your apology. 
Pembrook: Of course.

Chris O’Donnell was so good here, conveying Callen’s anger, bitterness, and vulnerability, what it has felt like to “bang your head against your past over and over,” to paraphrase Pembrook. Then at episode’s end, Pembrook gave Callen more clarity on Hetty’s role in all this: 

Callen: If Hetty pulled me out of the program why didn’t she ever tell me that?
Pembrook: It’s not something you’d ever see in her, but Hetty was consumed with guilt for putting you in the program in the first place.
Callen: Well her guilt doesn’t make up for it, OK? I was used. She was trying to turn children into super agents.
Pembrook: That wasn’t her intention. She put you into the program because you were brilliant and you were gifted, and she wanted you to fulfill your potential. 
Callen: Her version of my potential.
Pembrook: She couldn’t teach you the violin. That world was all she knew. It’s all she had to offer you. It’s a mistake parents often make.
Callen: She’s not my parents.
Pembrook: You’re missing the most important part. Call her what you will, you mean everything to her. And you always have. 
Callen: What are you saying?
Pembrook: You were as close to a son as she’s ever had. 
Callen: How do you know that? 
Pembrook: She told me… Even Henrietta Lange needs someone to talk to once in a while… Now I know you think you have been alone in this world all this time but you have been… you’ve been far from an orphan. You’ve been loved, deeply. 

I had a strong reaction to this conversation. Please feel free to share your disagreements in the Comments! When Pembrook had described the “psychopathic killing machines” who had now turned on him, my mind had gone immediately to Ahkos in “Mother.” I think in many ways, both Pembrook and Hetty deserved to have the children they’d taken into their care grow up and want revenge.

Military did his best to clear Hetty of wrong-doing, enough to give Callen the opportunity to reconcile with her in the finale. And maybe that’s the best thing for Callen to be able to move forward into his future, just as Pembrook encouraged. Still, having Pembrook tell Callen how much Hetty loved him, as if that love should excuse any and all of her actions, felt wrong.

The idea that Hetty would have sought to turn a child into a super-agent in the first place, even if the school was somehow not a scary and dark place, is, shall we say, not the most maternal decision. That Hetty stayed in touch with Pembrook, enough so they could have heart-to-heart chats about the guilt she felt, and long enough so Pembrook could refer Sam to her, seems particularly twisted. (In other words, right on par with Mr. Military’s penchant for dark themes.) How angry could she have been about what had happened to Callen if she didn’t get the place shut down and make Pembrook pay? 

Plus, I think Hetty has shown herself to excel at avoiding guilt in general. Sure, she claims to feel bad when her agents get killed, or when someone like Ahkos becomes the darkest version of himself, yet they have often seemed to me to be crocodile tears, insincere or at best, short-lived.

And while I do believe that Hetty loves Callen like a son (and I was surprised to see Callen surprised by that “revelation”), that doesn’t mean she’s been a good or healthy influence on his life. Parents aren’t always capable of doing what’s best for their children. That she didn’t know anything beyond “the language of violence” should have been a disqualification from any sort of motherhood. That she didn’t understand that is for me, one of the show’s greatest, and longest running, story lines. At the end of the day, those flaws contribute a great deal to making Hetty such a fascinating character. If anything, I kinda wish the show had gone all in on making her an increasingly dark character, but I have enjoyed watching them skirt the line between darkness and light. 

Everything Else

One of my favorite aspects of Military’s writing over the years has been how competent he makes the whole team. Deeks got a slightly short straw this time, with his tone-deaf joke to Kilbride, but otherwise everyone provided strong support. Particularly enjoyable was seeing Sniper Kensi doing the math to figure out where the shooter had been, watching Fatima and Kilbride put together the clues about Cortes, and watching the entire staff take Cortes down (although it seemed like they all missed before Fatima got to take care of him, so maybe some target practice is in order). Still, it was nice to see that there actually are other agents besides Castor who work there!

LL Cool J’s and Eric Christian Olsen’s absence was not Military’s fault, but it was frustrating knowing how little remaining screen time Deeks has in his future. Even more unfortunate was Sam’s personal day during such a stressful and important time for Callen- he could have really used his friend’s support.

Memorable Moments

• Ah, one last day of shooting in San Pedro! I actually got to watch the scene where Pembrook gets driven away from the ambulance, which was fun, especially because I could hear just a bit of the dialogue.
• I loved that for once, the bad guys weren’t actually Russians… they were USC Trojans! I’m not surprised. (Go Bruins!)
• I’m pretty sure you can’t blow up a gas tank by shooting it.
• Why does a server room need to lock from the inside? Do the IT staff need to hide from angry users with computer problems?

All in all, “The Reckoning” was well written and directed, even as it focused on a single character to a greater extent than maybe any other episode. It’s a shame because Military writes a great Deeks, and a great Densi, and we’ll never get to see that again. Will that balance be restored in the two-part finale? Will we get one last juicy Deeks/Densi story line? I wish I had more faith that will happen, but we will have a case or two to wrap up, and a wedding to attend, so I’m keeping expectations low. Before then, let me take this opportunity to thank Frank for everything he contributed to making NCIS: Los Angeles such a great show. So many of my favorite scenes and favorite episodes came from his amazing mind, and I’m grateful for what he brought to the show and in particular, for his portrayal of Marty Deeks.

While we wait, be sure to check out this week’s Surf Log, Kensi’s Journal, the Drabble of the Week, and any number of special “epilogue” fics and other features we’ll be posting. And tell us how you felt about “The Reckoning.” Did you like how it wrapped up Callen’s inquiries into his past? Are you more forgiving of Hetty than I am? Are you optimistic about how Deeks’ and Kensi’s stories will be wrapped up starting next week? Tell us all about it in the Comments below.

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A/N: Thanks to Lyssa for her usual speedy and helpful fact checking. Any remaining errors are mine alone.