photo: cbs

Original Air Date: Oct 6, 2009

Annette – Reviewer
annette@thetwocentscorp.com

Robots are taking over the world! Or that’s how some feel when our LA crew have to investigate an unmanned drone carrying hellfire missiles goes AWOL. Of course it involves some undercover work (because that’s why we’re here), a lot of technical jargon, and LL Cool J looking scowly and beating people up. Will they find the drone in time? Read on to find out!

During a training mission a UAV missile drone goes off target, kills a marine and then the goes missing. NCIS techy guy Eric finds the video feed of the drone on the “Youtube-for-hackers” website. They get a shot of the guy who picks it up who’s now the proud owner of a hellfire missile. I don’t know what that is, but I’m guessing that’s a really bad thing. They’re worried about the guy taking the drone out of the country but Eric says he’s not stupid enough to let it fly because it activates the transponder. However, he was stupid enough to let himself get seen on the drone video.

Side note: Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t understand half of what the characters on this show are saying. Too much techy jargon that I just can’t follow.

Sam and G track down the hacker and search his apartment. The hacker (Kaleem) shows up and starts shooting at them, blows all his bullets in about three seconds, then starts running. (Gotta say, this guy makes a lot of dumb mistakes.) G tackles the Kaleem, who reaches into his bag, apparently for some sort of explosive, because Sam and G both start freaking out. Sam tries to talk him down by quoting the Quran (in Arabic, no less), but the terrorist doesn’t buy it and sets off a bomb as our heroes run off with the fireball in the background – so very dramatic.

Kensi is going undercover as a guest speaker at the college where the UAV drone footage was posted from. The team thinks they’ve found the hacker so Kensi comes on to him (Joel) and asks him for a date. While they’re out drinking he excuses himself to the restroom. Dom follows him in and finds him dead on the floor – his throats been cut.

Another side note: Why is the background music louder than the dialogue? I couldn’t hear half of what anyone was saying and when I turned up my volume, the music just kept getting louder.

After viewing video footage from the bar where Joel was killed, the team ID’s a man coming out of the restroom. His wife was killed in Afghanistan by a drone missile. Turns out the she was also the sister of the man who runs AJ Concept Solutions – Kaleem’s employer.

Using some Kaleidoscope program that searches traffic, ATM and all kinds of other cameras (and seems highly improbable), the team was able to track the semi that Kaleem was driving when he was caught on video picking up the drone, but when they get there, the truck is empty. Eric calls G and tells them the drone transponder just went online and the drone is circling Los Angeles.

Dom brings Briggs (the guy who was controlling the UAV for its test run, and who has apparently been sitting in the interrogation boathouse for several days) a computer and joystick so he can try to control the drone after Eric hacks into the program controls and try to keep it from flying into the high school that it’s headed for. Briggs doesn’t want to do it, but Dom makes a moving speech and convinces him.

Sam and G track Jansen (the guy who runs AJ Concept Solutions – Kaleem’s employer) down to a boatyard and while G distracts some random dude guarding Jansen’s yacht, Sam puts him in a sleeper hold. (So is Sam going to get to wrestle someone down in every episode? Haven’t we all figured out how tough he is by now?) Sam and G rush onto the yacht, find Jansen and shoot him, but not before he fires the missile. Eric is able to hack the actual missile and Briggs directs it into the ocean. All’s well that ends well.

I hoped once again that this week would be better than last week, but I was disappointed. The story itself was actually not that bad, but I just can’t deal with the characters and the lame attempts at humor. Kensi going undercover as a sexy hacker seemed a tad over the top. G telling Sam he’s adorable was just weird. The attempts at getting Hetty to tell some Nepal story also fell flat. I’m also quite tired of Sam trying to act all tough. His character would be so much more likeable if he had a little more dimension. Even Gibbs, who acts tough a lot of the time, cracks a joke, smiles occasionally, and shows compassion. I’m also not getting the character of Nate. He just doesn’t seem necessary.

Is anyone out there feeling the love for this show? I’m trying, but it’s tough for me. Give me your two cents.