‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ 14×21 Review: “New Beginnings, Part 2”

NCIS: Los Angeles 14×21 “New Beginnings, Part 2” follows the cliffhanger from last week and is about as perfect a series finale as a procedural can deliver. There are, of course, some unavoidable loose ends for a show that wasn’t meant to end with Season 14, but the show does its best to provide not just closure, but happiness – for the characters, for their journeys, and for the viewers who have been around for this entire time.

The elephant in the room is that the Hetty storyline isn’t exactly closed – as the show ends with Callen, Sam, Nell and some other familiar faces off on that great next adventure. And yet, the personal storylines of Sam, Callen, Kensi and Deeks are tied off with as pretty a bow as a season these creatives didn’t know was going to be the last one possible could give us. It’s not the end, those four, and Fatima, Roundtree and Kilbride, will continue existing and having adventures – and hopefully, one of them will see them save Hetty, we just won’t get to see it.

The greatest family

It all ties together in the words of Henrietta Lange because it could be no other way. In the absence of Linda Hunt, the show gives us a voiceover that is nowhere near enough, but that manages to hit on the real connecting threat of this show – family. The family Hetty built out of seemingly random individuals that didn’t really have all that much in common. Except Hetty saw something in them, not just separately …she saw what they could, one day, come to mean to each other. So, she brought them together.

All these years later, here they are, celebrating Callen’s wedding. And happy. With a measure of peace in their lives. Not whole and complete, because in life, there is no stopping point. You never finish learning the lessons. You never, like in fairy tales, just live happily ever after. Every day is a new lesson. And these people will just go on learning them. Will go on living.

Will go on having adventures we wish we would get to be part of.

But if there is one comfort is in knowing that they will do so together. That the family Hetty built is strong because of what she did. That neither of these people is alone, they have each other. And that, they will have Hetty’s back, just as she always had theirs, just as they’ve done so before. That’s what you do for your family.

At the end of the day, this is about you and me

It’s immensely satisfying to see Grisha Callen get here, to a point where he can cut to the red tape and reach for the thing he wants, which is – Anna. Not the big wedding, just …a proclamation of their love, alongside his family. That’s it. The rest doesn’t matter. What he’s fought for is just this …to be able to spend the rest of his life loving this woman, choosing her, and being able to tell the world that he has done both of those things.

The immense relief on Anna’s face, when she realizes they can get married right away, proves he made the right choice, and all she wants is the same thing Callen wants: for their life together to start. She never wanted the big wedding, she just wanted him to be sure, them to be sure they wanted to take this next step together, and then the next step after that.

Callen and Anna’s NCISLA journey is storytelling proof that love doesn’t cure trauma, but love can be a safe port in a storm – be it a real, physical storm of things happening, or a mental storm. The right partner can be the person who makes you want to hold on and Callen and Anna have found that in each other. That’s the best thing you can ask for in life.

We’re having a baby

A part of me knows the ending for Kensi and Deeks is a bit unrealistic. Not every couple struggling with fertility gets this. But this is a TV show, and if they were being taken from me, I wanted this from them. I wanted the show to give them this thing they really, really wanted. Not because they deserved it, because so many couples deserve it and don’t get it, but because Kensi and Deeks are wish fulfillment for a lot of people and what we want is to see them happy. To see them get the things. The happy ending.

We’ve seen them grow, so so much. We’ve been here for every step of the journey. When they didn’t really like each other, because they didn’t understand who the other person was. When they begrudgingly started to trust each other. When they became partners, for real. When that turned into friendship, and when friendship turned into more. Then, we saw the lines get blurred, and we saw them struggle to figure out what that meant and how to navigate it.

And yes, we were here when they took the first step together, for the proposal, for the wedding, for the struggles to conceive, when they adopted Rosa and now …as their family is about to grow even more. And we won’t be here for more, but we will always cherish the time we got with them. Over a decade of one of the best love stories TV has ever gifted us. Densi never let us down. Daniela Ruah and Eric Christian Olsen never let us down. Other shows take note. That’s how you do it. Exactly like that.

Things I think I think:

• Did you really say it’s not the size of the gun, it’s how you use it, Sam Hanna?
• But when has Deeks ever been quiet? When?
• One last time with Switch.
• “Two agents taking initiative”
• Fatima laughed under her breath at Killbride’s “I lied,” lol.
• “God, I love you.”/”What’s not to love.” I will miss Densi so, so much.
• Lol Deeks trying to give some truth about how yes, every member of the team has, at some point, tried to go lone wolf, and it has never worked, is hilarious not just because it’s true, but because of the reception and Kensi’s two thumbs up.
• Forever sad we never got our “Deeks, M.” episode.
• And, eh, what happened to Pilar? Asking for me.

• I get how a settlement is bittersweet for Roundtree. I get that. But what a moment with him and his sister.
• True love is offering to help move your father-in-law’s body if your wife does murder him.
• I’ve known (not known, but known in the this is the finale and it made sense and she had food poisoning so obvs known kinda way) for a while about Kensi’s pregnancy, and I still cried when we got the scene. Full-on sobbed. Had to rewatch it three times to even catch what was happening.
• “I would not be here today if it wasn’t for you.”
• Got emotional there too.
• THE LITTLE DETAIL OF CALLEN ANSWERING BEFORE THE WOWS ARE FINISHED, I LOVE HIM.
• Arkady flirting with Deeks’s mom is …worrisome.
• I also cried at Hetty’s voice.
• “Most people think I never had a family of my own. But I beg to differ.”
• Look, either the original NCIS or Hawaii better give me my resolution. Or hell, give me another NCIS, I don’t care. Just give me the resolution I deserve.
• Nell!
• Sad that the schedules didn’t work for Eric to be there with her, but this is …a nice way to bring everyone together to honor Hetty. I just wish we could have solved it.
• Sabatino isn’t quite the A-Team, though. I’ll take Nate. And Chris O’Donnell’s kid!

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Los Angeles 14×21 “New Beginnings, Part 2”? Share with us in the comments below!

NCIS: Los Angeles 14×21 “New Beginnings, Part 2” was the series finale of the show, which aired Sundays on CBS.