‘NCIS: LA’ 12×06 Review: “If the Fates Allow”

NCIS: LA’s 12×06 “If the Fates Allow” is not a typical “filler” episode, or the normal kind of Christmas one this show has done before, either. It doesn’t have to do with the overarching storyline of the season, we’re not getting any resolution on Hetty, there are no big team changes to report, nor the Kessler big move we were led to believe was coming soon. But, there is a resolution, of sorts, on the Deeks issue, and this episode is mostly about…well, family. And for that reason, it works better than most other episodes this season.

In fact, it might just be my favorite of this season so far.

This show has always been at its best when the cases have some sort of emotional component; and in this case that emotional tie has to do with Callen, always a win in my book, because I still feel like we’re due a lot of emotional Callen moments, you know, to make up for the first few seasons.

Plus, even in that respect this goes into uncharted territory, because teenage Callen during his years as a foster kid? If I’d asked for this as a Christmas present from the show, I would have never believed I would get it.

Normally the emotional aspect of this show falls to Kensi and Deeks, who get to have the kind of conversations couples actually have in real life, but hardly ever on TV. They continue to do that in this episode, with an honest conversation about money and the future – one that continues as Kensi encourages Deeks to talk to Eric about the fact that, with Deeks furloughed, they can’t afford the house they want.

For Deeks, this is almost unthinkable, because Deeks isn’t used to having a family, and though he’s accepted Kensi as part of his, the rest of the team… well, there are still some growing pains in that regard.

But, if this episode proves anything it’s that the backbone of this show is found family. It always has been.

For Deeks, who, in the end, doesn’t ask Eric for money because Eric, his brother, is doing important things with that money, and what Deeks wants is …selfish, which isn’t a thing Deeks feels like he can be. Not normally, and especially not in 2020.

But Deeks doesn’t need to ask Eric for help because Hetty, everyone’s surrogate mother can fix anything. I said it last review, and I’m glad TPTB heard me, because if this storyline was going to drag on because “Hetty can’t fix it,” that would have been a disservice to continuity. Now we get to see Deeks going to the academy, and whatever growing pains that issue brings …we’ll take them.

For Callen, who has always been entirely too hard on himself, and who has carried a guilt that wasn’t truly his for many years. That guilt turned into shame, the kind that prevented him from reaching out to someone who meant a lot to him. And now Callen has that person back, just as Callen has found a new family – blood and not – to surround himself with. And maybe, because this show is never subtle and they have been telegraphing that move, that family will soon grow to include Anna.

NCIS: LA will take a mini-break after this episode, and it always feel like a good omen when we can take a few weeks off with a good episode like this one fresh in our memory. There are still some issues left outstanding, of course, Sam’s daughter wasn’t cast just for this appearance, Kessler is still out there and yeah, we still have to figure out the where and why of Hetty’s disappearance, as well as get Eric back into the fold somehow, but …for now, this is enough.

See you in 2021, NCIS: LA. More of this, please. More of this.

Things I think I think:

• I have a soft spot for Christmas episodes of TV, what can I say?
• The opening scene was a little …not what I really wanted to see from what is basically a cop show, to say the least.
• Sam’s daughter is cooler than all of us, combined.
• 2020 sucks is a MOOD, Deeks.
• But I absolutely love this Deeks/Kensi convo. Everything about it is perfect – especially the fact that there’s no resolution. There doesn’t need to be for it to be a great convo. Sometimes we just need this, two people facing the ups and downs together.
• “If I suddenly found Jesus, could I get out of this?”
• War your daughter, Sam. Warn your daughter.
• Dear God, Eric. What happened to you? I’m not even sure if I’m saying that in a good or in a bad way.
• Also, will someone explain what the fuck is going on with Nell and Eric sometime soon?
• If we get a Callen proposal, I swear to God …that would probably be first on my list of things I was never expecting to see from this show.
• More of Deeks working out please. Though I gotta wonder how many takes that took.
• Also, peak Deeks hair this episode. Please don’t let it get longer.
• Kensi is just running around town without a care in the world while a psycho is on the loose and coming for her. Cool cool cool cool cool cool.
• “I wasn’t nervous, I was calculating my approach.” LOL
• The first shootout of the episode took almost half an hour!
• With a candy cane?!
• “You gotta be crazy to change the world, right?”
• This was really a feel good episode.
• “I don’t need a Christmas miracle if I have you.”
• HETTY
• Merry Christmas!

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: LA 12×06 “If the Fates Allow”? Share with us in the comments below!

NCIS: LA airs Sundays on CBS.