What I’m Watching: NCIS: Los Angeles

NCIS: Los Angeles: Season 1, Episode 22 “Hunted” (B+)

It’s a good thing that Dom’s death hasn’t been too quickly forgotten and that it’s really affecting the whole team. The effect is especially intriguing when it comes to Hetty since she hasn’t really had much of a chance to show too much emotion over the course of the show’s first season. Her spirited defense of her position to Leon in front of the rest of the team was quite a feat, and the way she says “you’re not going to change my mind” so determinedly is terrific. Hetty handing in her letter of resignation to Vance was an unexpected development, and while it was unlikely from the start that it would be lasting, it still seemed like a big deal. The closing conversation between Callen and Hetty was a magnificent one, and I truly love their relationship. Hetty definitely isn’t going anywhere, thought it’s possible that a new agent will be added to the team come the beginning of season two, unless Adam Jamal Craig, who played Dom, was let go for budgetary reasons. In terms of the people we do have around and the specific case of this episode, I love Sam’s passive-aggressiveness and the anger with which he responds to new people he meets and doesn’t really love. His trouble deciding who he dislikes more is very funny. While it’s nothing new to have an agent of the law be the one complicit in the terrorist-related activity, it still works well here as a good and effective twist.