NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 episode 8 review: The 200th episode
The episode opened tonight with a reminder that Hetty was still out there — unfortunately, her personal history was still coming back to haunt her.
After getting a glimpse of her, we went into the bulk of the story tonight, which included Callen having to haul a hungover Sam out of his boat to take part in the case. He was having a hard time with the anniversary of marrying his late wife Michelle. Meanwhile, this case pulled Deeks and Kensi away from a dinner with his mom and her new boyfriend, which continues to make Marty incredibly uncomfortable. The mission involved the death of some California border patrol agents, and where things got interesting was with the discovery of a child at the scene. This kid did see a good bit of what happened, but it took some time to get him to open up.
What we learned was that these people of interest were actually disguising themselves as possible Mexican immigrants; instead, they were actually a part of a terrorist group. The team got a surprise bit of help tonight in the form of Nell’s sister Sydney, someone who doesn’t seem to have the closest relationship with her. (Also, we learned that Nell’s real name is Penelope — makes sense, really.)
The one thing that surprised us about this episode is that despite it being such a milestone hour and having a new family member of the team on board, it actually played out in a way that was pretty similar to many of the others we’ve seen through the first 199 episodes. It was about the team using everything from old contacts to undercover work in order to stop a terrorist threat. Eventually their work paid off in the form of an epic confrontation, one that thankfully featured Nell being a hero and getting a chance to show off in front of her sister.
Oh, and we saw a car flip while on fire because it was the 200th episode and it was super cool.
The aftermath
One of the more interesting moments came via Sam’s conversation with Mosley, one where she encouraged him to take time off if he ever needs it. In the process of that we also learned that Mosley has a husband and a son, but doesn’t know where they are. Are they dead? We did think that for a moment, but why not say that? It’s possible that something traumatic happened that caused them to move far away.
Meanwhile, Callen and Chegwidden had a brief chat at the end of the episode about Hetty and her possible location, which prompted us to go back to the prison in Vietnam where she was being held and tormented. She made it clear that the team didn’t know where she was, but she is confident that they’ll find her.
CarterMatt Verdict
Did the 200th episode provide everything that we could’ve possibly wanted? In terms of being a great procedural we’d say so — the case was exciting and it was fun to see Nell’s sister. Yet, we do wish that there was a little more personal stuff with Sam and for Deeks and Kensi throughout the episode. Also, can we get more than just Hetty bookends on an episode these days?
Now, let’s look ahead to episode #201
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