NCIS: Los Angeles 14×01 “Game of Drones” was a very good return for the LA team, entertaining, emotional at times, and a great building block for the season to come. Sadly, we still didn’t get to see Hetty, but this time there was an attempt at building a storyline that will, hopefully, bring Hetty back. What that looks like is still anybody’s guess, but one thing is certain — we’ve been without Hetty for way too long.
Her absence is felt primarily by Callen, of course, and it’s refreshing to see the show allowing him public emotions with someone other than Sam. It’s just what should be happening on Season 14 of a show, the G. Callen we first met cannot be the Grisha Callen of today. But not all shows are as good at continuity and character development as NCIS: Los Angeles is.
This ties into the Hetty of it all, into the reason why the show very much needs her to come back. Of course, we would love to get her back permanently, or at least as a recurring star, but even if that isn’t in the cards, we at least need her to return to tie loose ends and to allow her team — her family, a chance to say goodbye.
What the NCISLA team is these days is something maybe not even Hetty imagined could ever happen. Callen is a functional adult, about to be married. Sam is still a family man, it’s just that his family now extends to the people he works with. Kensi and Deeks haven’t stopped bantering, but now they’re also going home together to a kid. And Fatima, Roundtree, and even Killbride, all make up a weird kind of unit that, in a weird way, works.
They make it easy to believe, which, as Deeks said, is kinda what we need to go on — in life, and well, in entertainment too. These characters believe, not just in that greater good Deeks spoke about, but in each other, in what they can do together, and yes, in Hetty being alive. And though that isn’t the reason why Hetty is alive, it might still end up being the difference.
And that belief that we, as viewers have, is the reason we’re here. We believe in this show. We believe it can deliver consistently good entertainment. We believe it cares about the characters as much as we do. We believe its writers remember the stories that have been told as much as we, the fans, do. And we believe that, in the end, they will try to tell the best possible story they can — without drama for the sake of drama.
That’s not just a rarity in procedural land, it’s a rarity on TV in general. And it’s one of the reasons why we’re happy to say welcome back, NCIS: Los Angeles. Welcome back.
- I kinda liked the last intro better, I’m not gonna lie.
- Kensi and Deeks are going to be the best and probably most annoying parents ever, I love them so very much.
- Like, Deeks whole “I’m not built for this?” …I already love this storyline so much.
- Sam and his dad I’m more on the fence about, maybe because that joke wasn’t actually funny.
- SAVE US from the wedding Arkady wants.
- Killbride using Callen’s full name is …weird. It’s weird, isn’t it?
- Hetty has more lives than 5 cats put together.
- I truly appreciate the small mention of someone dying of COVID, because A LOT OF PEOPLE DID.
- Fatima’s car is A LOT.
- I liked Callen sharing with Fatima. Didn’t feel completely out of place, even if it was a tad surprising. He isn’t the Callen of old.
- “I’m joking.”/”Why?”/”Because if I don’t joke this job is too sad for me to keep doing it.”
- “At some point you just have to give in and believe in a greater good.”
- I adore when Densi takes turns w/the common sense. It’s such a familiar dynamic.
- COMING FOR MY HEART, ARE YOU DEEKS?
- You can’t actually proclaim yourself the world’s coolest uncle, Callen.
- I was glad to see Sam back at the end of the episode too, not gonna lie.
- Especially when he said “probably.”
- Remember when Deeks was tortured and didn’t give up your wife, Sam? Do you?!
- Still, it was funny.
- Kensi SAVING DEEKS was all kinds of badass.
- I would have laughed too, Sam. Sometimes, your partner will laugh at you and you gotta take it.
- Roundtree and Fatima going over to Kensi and Deeks and wanting to hang out with Rosa? My heart.
- Man, Killbride, “surrogate mommy” was kind of a low blow.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Los Angeles 14×01 “Game of Drones”? Share with us in the comments below!
NCIS: Los Angeles airs Sundays at 10/9c on CBS.
I mainly just want to see Hetty again, no matter what.
I thought this episode was boring. I like personal stories, but I also like drama and this episode had zero drama. And I have to disagree with you about Callen sharing with Fatima–that felt weird and forced and nothing Callen would do. Why would he? Those two have nothing in common and they haven’t developed any kind of relationship since she’s been on the show. If he’s going to share with one of the newbies, it’d be Rountree because they at least have one thing in common. And his reaction to Hetty’s absence is out of character based on how he’s reacted in earlier seasons when she’s gone missing. The best scenes were the ones between Sam and Raymond.