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NCIS: Los Angeles
The Only Easy Day

Original Air Date: Sept 29, 2009

Annette – Reviewer
annette@thetwocentscorp.com

It’s definitely not an easy day for Sam. The NCIS: LA crew is investigating Sam’s brethren – Navy SEALs who may have been involved in the murder of some drug dealers. Is it possible that perfect, honorable, sworn to protect SEALs could go bad? Read on to find out.

While dealing over some cocaine, three guys come in from the ocean and rob and murder the drug dealers. When NCIS gets the footage from the home security system, Sam recognizes one of the masked intruders as a former SEAL he was teamed with in Bosnia (Holgate). Apparently military hand signals are like dancing – unique to each individual. Who’d of thunk – they all look the same to me.

Dom and Kensi are on stakeout spying on Holgate (the possibly rogue SEAL that Sam IDs) and when they think Holgate is on to them, Kensi keys the crap out of somebody’s car. Quick thinking on her feet – but possibly there could have been a better way to deflect attention than property destruction?

In a very awkward scene between Nate and the coroner, Nate finds out that one of the dead drug dealers was actually a deep undercover cop. Shortly thereafter, a body washes up on the beach identified as a dead SEAL from Holgate’s team. It’s not looking good for those sworn to protect.

In another un-startling revelation, there was a second LAPD undercover detective at the drug deal shoot out – and he’s the one that shot and killed his partner. All these people who are supposed to be honorable and protecting the country and they’ve all gone bad – I don’t know about you all, but I sure feel safer.

Turns out our three rogue SEALs aren’t so much rogue as they are vengeful – they believed that one of the drug dealers was involved in the death of another SEAL so they tried to steal the money and give it to his widow. Except one of them got shot and died out in the ocean (then washed up on shore). When they finally find Holgate and the money, NCIS uses Holgate to set up the dirty LAPD cop. They make him think that “G” is one of the SEALs and that he has the money. They find him on the golf course and when dirty cop takes the money, NCIS takes him down.

So it turns out the SEALs were only sort of bad, having something of a Robin Hood complex. But it all still leaves Sam feeling sort of tortured. I’m still feeling tortured over this show. There were some attempts at humor with the weird coroner, Kensi trying to pee in a bag during stakeout and Sam harassing the newbie, Dom. It still feels painfully forced to me, and I found very few moments actually funny. I did however find this episode to be an improvement over last week. Hetty is my favorite character, but she has very little to do except making interesting quips. I’m not sure exactly what her role is supposed to be – she seems like the office manager, but there must be more to it than that.

NCIS: LA debuted at number 2 on the Neilson ratings last week. What do you all think – was it just good lead in from NCIS? Do you think people will keep watching it for its own sake? Will you keep watching?