What I’m Watching: NCIS: Los Angeles

NCIS: Los Angeles: Season 1, Episode 18 “Blood Brothers” (B+)

For a show that features an awful lot of violence, the opening to this episode was fairly intense, featuring a drive-by shooting that left the victim riddled by an excessive number of bullets. Unlike the show that spun it off, this series really is delving into the kind of least-connected slayings of marines, with a street race plot last week and now this. I cite that as a positive rather than a negative thing since it allows the cases to be more diverse and exciting. The interaction between the cast, as always, makes the episode, and therefore the plot is almost inconsequential. But whenever Sam goes undercover, it's especially entertaining. The presence of Hetty's rather dangerous sword provoked some amusing conversation where Callen reminded Sam about the "numbchuck incident" and told him he'd be driving himself to the hospital this time. The arguments over Callen's code names were also great, with Callen expressing annoyance over being called Ernie and then referring to himself as Gordo later on. On a more serious note, I am a big fan of the dramatic conversations between Hetty and Sam where they mention Dom and Sam's desire to help everyone. The most powerful exchange came when Hetty told him "you can't take it upon yourself to save all of them" and Sam responded "yeah, but at least I can save this one." Hetty really is the most fun part of the show, and Callen had a great way of summarizing how he feels about her: "I have a guardian angel. She's tiny, but very tough."