What I’m Watching: NCIS: Los Angeles

NCIS: Los Angeles: Season 1, Episode 10 “Brimstone” (B+)

This show is always about the action-packed start. This one was particularly up close and in the middle of the action, with the marine’s cell phone exploding as he received a fatal phone call. From my experience with television and movie watching, it’s usually a good idea to pay attention to what you’re doing when you’re at an ATM taking out money, because that’s often a time when people get murdered or robbed. In this case, the murder was much more carefully planned out, and investigating all of the members of the unit was a cool way of narrowing down the suspects. LL Cool J speaking Arabic didn’t quite sound right, but I will admit that it is pretty awesome that Sam is able to read Arabic perfectly off of the back windshield of a car on command. I’m even more impressed by the effort that the killer put in by bothering to etch out a whole sentence in Arabic where most people would simply write “Wash Me.” More seriously, the theme of atonement and punishing the unit for their misdeeds overseas was very interesting, and it seems that whenever the team gets involved with something having to do with Iraq or Afghanistan, it’s always very intriguing and a bit more exciting. It’s worthwhile to note that the original “NCIS” also featured a Muslim-centric plotline this week, yet another similarly linking the two otherwise mostly unconnected shows. This is the last “NCIS: Los Angeles” episode until January, and I anticipate its return next year.