Well well, after too many formulaic and similar episodes, NCIS Los Angeles surprises pleasantly with a plot not used yet. Well, in NCIS Los Angeles at least - we've seen this pretty much in every other "spy" series - most of which are not worthy of the more sophisticated word espionage.
This sure starts promisingly. There is a mystery and we don't even know what questions to ask let alone are able to predict the answers. But experienced viewers have been, ahem, burned, by promising starts in the past. And we are offered the *possibility* of learning what the "G" in Callen's name stands for. For frak's sake! Is that supposed to be important? Callen is far too bland to make us *want* to know his past, compared to, say, Christopher Chance's (or Guerrero's, for that matter) in Human Target.
There's action. Not bad, but not great either. Later, there is more action. Better, but this is 2010 - it's *hard* to stand out. The aforementioned Human Target, for instance, has *constantly* both intense and inventive action sequences, whereas in NCIS-LA we are given pretty much only "shoot-and-take-cover" action. Also, *both* the good guys and the bad guys in NCIS-LA shoot and take cover like civilians, not like trained professionals they are supposed to be. Watch Heat, frak-dammit! Also, a high speed chase is a luxury in this series - in Human Target a fistfight *during* a high speed chase is considered ordinary.
So, how does the plot in this episode fare? Well, again, the lack of urgency, especially in face of a grave threat, is sadly lacking. More of the director and composer's fault than the writer's really, since neither seems able to create 24-style tension. Also, both the infamous Enhance Button and Facial Recognition Software tropes make another appearance. In the end, we are left with questions most will find hard to care about and are none the wiser. That is called the Reset Button trope and it makes this a sad 6/10 episode. (Yes, there are seeds planted, but again, interest in them is low.)
This sure starts promisingly. There is a mystery and we don't even know what questions to ask let alone are able to predict the answers. But experienced viewers have been, ahem, burned, by promising starts in the past. And we are offered the *possibility* of learning what the "G" in Callen's name stands for. For frak's sake! Is that supposed to be important? Callen is far too bland to make us *want* to know his past, compared to, say, Christopher Chance's (or Guerrero's, for that matter) in Human Target.
There's action. Not bad, but not great either. Later, there is more action. Better, but this is 2010 - it's *hard* to stand out. The aforementioned Human Target, for instance, has *constantly* both intense and inventive action sequences, whereas in NCIS-LA we are given pretty much only "shoot-and-take-cover" action. Also, *both* the good guys and the bad guys in NCIS-LA shoot and take cover like civilians, not like trained professionals they are supposed to be. Watch Heat, frak-dammit! Also, a high speed chase is a luxury in this series - in Human Target a fistfight *during* a high speed chase is considered ordinary.
So, how does the plot in this episode fare? Well, again, the lack of urgency, especially in face of a grave threat, is sadly lacking. More of the director and composer's fault than the writer's really, since neither seems able to create 24-style tension. Also, both the infamous Enhance Button and Facial Recognition Software tropes make another appearance. In the end, we are left with questions most will find hard to care about and are none the wiser. That is called the Reset Button trope and it makes this a sad 6/10 episode. (Yes, there are seeds planted, but again, interest in them is low.)
