NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 episode 5 review: Arkady antics galore

Who is Sokolov? That was a question we had going into “Mountebank,” otherwise known as NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 episode 5. He was the man at the heart of this case — and he may have been responsible for the murder of investment banker Phillip Nelson.

This episode had its fair share of interesting, funny moments, and that included the return of Arkady — not only that, but also the concept of “transitional weather.” Deeks came up with all sorts of entertaining commentary in this episode — remember his conversation about those gifted with the power of being productive on a short night’s sleep?

Arkady is a ridiculous man and when Deeks and Kensi visited him we were reminded of this more than ever. In a serious moment though, he warned them that Sokolov was serious business.

Yet, Arkady still helped … albeit in his own way. This meant bringing Deeks and Kensi around some other people with ties to Sokolov, including his sister. The word “Nicaragua” was referenced here, and this plays into what is going on with Sam.

While Deeks and Kensi were doing their thing, we saw Sam doing more of what he does best: Going undercover. He became a day trader in order to look further into this murder case — based on how many tools showed up at his new workplace it was starting to feel like we were watching Billions instead of NCIS: Los Angeles. While he worked on that case Hidoko watched on, which meant in turn that Callen watched her. Ever the protective partner, Callen wasn’t all that willing to let Sam go on his own.

Sam learned some news about an operation in Nicaragua from his undercover work, and this is where the stars aligned for several people on the show. Through Callen’s interrogation we learned what Sokolov’s true end goal was: Giving money to the Ukraine to further conflicts with Russia and get the US involved. He basically wanted to cause an international crisis.

Eventually, Callen and the team were able to track Sokolov and his men down, which in turn meant something that we’ve come to see on this show many times over: A shootout. Somehow everyone made it out of there alive and Sokolov’s money will be tied up for the immediate future. He’s not in jail, but he does appear to be under control for the time being.

CarterMatt Verdict

We love Arkady. Can we just say that right away? His presence plus some Kensi/Deeks hijinks (Deeks giving Mosley a bill for Arkady’s services) made “Mountebank” the funniest episode of the season so far. It also had a mystery at the core of it that somehow managed to be both complicated and easy to follow.

If there was a flaw, it is the lack of Henrietta Lange. Why wait so long to give us more Hetty? We know she is a part of the show still, but you wouldn’t know it based on what the story is doing at the moment. All we had on her tonight was an update on Sam and Callen trying to track her down.

Next time … a big Deeks episode

If you love Marty Deeks, you’re going to want to check out next week’s new episode live! You can get some more news by heading over to the link here.

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