photo: cbs

Original Air Date: Sep 25, 2012

Colleen – TwoCents Reviewer
colleen@thetwocentscorp.com

We begin tonight’s episode with a little back-story from last season to remind us where we had left off when we last saw the team. Callen has been involved in a shooting. This ultimately kills the man that he shot and Callen has been arrested. Hetty hands in a letter of resignation, effectively leaving the team and going into retirement. What does this mean for Hetty, Callen and the rest of the team as we go into the new season? One thing is for sure, there is always a lot of fast-paced action! Let’s find out what happens!

Callen has been released from jail. Since the shooting is still under investigation, Sam tells Callen that he has been put on suspension, pending the outcome. He also tells Callen that Hetty’s gone. There is “company” across the street which Callen says that it isn’t his problem. He pushes past Sam and into a taxi telling the driver that he wants to go to Venice. After Callen is driven off, Sam approaches and takes it upon himself to warn Vaziri to stay away. Meanwhile, back at the office, Eric is working on keeping the video of the shooting off the internet. But to do that, he will have to write a kill program. Will he be successful? Every time that the video appears, Eric pulls it, to have another one appear!

The CIA is looking for someone to blame and they want Callen. If they do not deliver, the unit will be shut down! Kensi and Deeks get Atley to talk, but he wants indemnity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation. Atley tells them that he downloaded encrypted communications between Cherokee and Langley, ultimately proving Cherokee was spying for the CIA. He also claims that he has a file that has a listing of informants. It is locked at the bank in a safety deposit box. What’s the problem? The Iranians know about it too!

As I mentioned, Hetty is retire now (about time if you ask me, she got shot and should of retired then, but she is one tough lady!) and Granger goes to visit her on her yacht. He wants to give her an update on what has been going on. However, she gets so mad at him that she kicks him off the yacht. Just as we go to commercial, we see someone watching her from afar with a camera. He or she is taking pictures of the whole thing as it is happening.

Callen spends some time in the water surfing with his newfound free time, but Vaziri is waiting for him and has some questions. Callen is not talking and Sam is watching. Sam is also watching when Hetty finds Khadem waiting for her at the marina. He is supposed to be dead and she tells him that the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. The game has changed, she tells him. They are all working for the CIA now and the only person that knows the truth will probably end up in jail. When Khadem says Callen’s name, Hetty says that she has already said too much and says nothing more.

With Khadem gone, Hetty calls Sam out of hiding. Hetty tells Sam that she never did trust Khadem; she should have killed him while she had the chance. She tells him that she can watch over herself. Did anyone even expect he was even there? I do not think that the team will ever leave her without some kind of protection, even in retirement. Do you?

Before he leaves her, Sam gives her an update on everything that has been going on down at the office. What if he needs to find her, he asks. She replies, “Nearest bar”.

That is exactly what Hetty does. She meets up with Callen at a bar. Callen says that he was not followed, but Vaziri and Khadem have followed her. Callen tells Hetty about seeing Vaziri at the beach and that he was asking questions. Khadem is Hetty’s Jeanvier and she has no choice but to wait for him; she wants him to make the first move. Does she have a choice? No. But Callen does. Callen does not see anything wrong with adding treason to his arrest warrant either. He goes up to Vaziri , telling him that he will get what he wants, provided that Khadem stays away from Hetty. He then reveals Cherokee’s identity.

Granger tells the team that the NSA intercepted a phone call between Vaziri and Tehran in reference to Cherokee. They need to get Atley’s file into the right hands. It is the only way to help Callen. They only have one shot so it has to count! Granger asks Sam if the plan is going to work, to which Sam replies that it has to work. Granger asks Nell to talk to legal and that they will need to get an arrest warrant for Callen. She asks for the charges to be applied to the arrest warrant, to which he replies both treason and murder.

Once they have the safety deposit box key, Kensi and Deeks head into the bank. While Kensi causes quite the distraction by emptying her purse, pretending to look for a safety deposit box key and making all sorts of loud remarks about her “husband” and his “floozy, ” demanding to get into her husband’s box, despite having a key. Deeks indentifies himself as Kelvin Atley and gets into the box. It is there that he finds a USB drive in an envelope, which is taken and put into his briefcase. Once outside, the Iranians are on the move – with back-up. Kensi and Deeks run and there is a shootout in the parking garage. Thankfully Sam comes to their aid. However, Deeks drops the briefcase by accident as they run to the car. Sam says to leave it. The Iranians pick it up and it is now in their hands.

Callen’s arrest warrant goes out. Again, Deeks wants to check the local emergency rooms looking for Callen. Granger alerts the team about something going down in Tehran. Vaziri has contacted them after receiving the file and receiving am email a half hour later that was encrypted. Eric hacks into the NSA to get to the file. Same and his rusty translation skills translate it from Farsi. The email is about reconfirming Callen’s information. It is too late! Callen is in trouble as Vaziri demands to know who the CIA spy is. The man that was previous identified by Callen has denied it. When Vaziri asks, Callen says that he was originally an NSA analyst, but has turned traitor.

Vaziri continues to accuse Callen of lying. Callen continues to get beat up. Finally Vaziri shows Callen a video of Hetty that was taken on her yacht. Her life is at stake now! Callen demands that Vaziri call off Khadem and he does. Callen says it was all a lie and thrtr was no spy. It was put together by the CIA to convince him he was there so that he would eliminate the one man that the CIA feared the most. He is an extremist who cannot be bought. Vaziri still does not believe him. He knows about the shooting and the warrant that is out for Callen’s arrest.

Jeanvier’s alive! His death was faked! They did it so that Vaziri would believe that Callen had nothing to lose and could be bought. Callen offers Vaziri a trade: himself for Jeanvier. As they pass one another, Callen tells Jeanvier, “Checkmate.” Sam gives Callen back his gun and badge. Hetty also comes out of retirement.

Hetty returns hoping that Granger did not move her things. He gives her the letter back that she had written, pointing out that she could just print out a new one each time instead of changing the date. The agency is interested in when they came up with the plan, which was Hetty’s idea. She suggests to Granger that he tells them they worked it out over tea. We also find out that Deeks had switched the USB drive at the bank and that Erica only changed one file: Cherokee. They lucked out there.

They will take down Vaziri when everything calms back down. Granger mentions that Khadem is dead, that his body washed up at the marina. Did he have a falling out with Vaziri? There is speculation that they did.

What did you think of tonight’s episode? Time for your TwoCents!