NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 episode 16 review: Is Callen’s father gone?

What transpired on NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 episode 16? One way or another, this episode was one that brought a lot of different layers and dynamics to the proceedings. It started off with a dramatic situation involving Callen’s father being traded to orchestrate a deal, and then along the way there were some emotional moments, some romantic fun for Kensi and Deeks, and then also a chance for Hetty to get, at least for the time being, the upper hand on Shay Mosley.

Hetty’s scenes tonight were actually some of the best that the hour had to offer, if for no other reason than that they opened up more of the world of Mosley’s past and related what Callen was going through with potentially losing his father to what transpired in the past with Mosley and her son. Hetty puts a real emphasis on reading people’s files, doesn’t she? She knew how Mosley ticks and that was enough to ensure that she didn’t come at the NCIS team for keeping her out of the loop. She didn’t end up punishing too many of them harshly … with one exception. We seriously thought for a time that Hikodo was going to be fired by the end of the episode, as it seemed that Mosley took her duplicity a little more seriously than others because of the past that the two shared together.

As for Callen’s attempts to help his father, they didn’t quite work out entirely the way in which he wanted as he ended up saying goodbye to him, alongside Alex, on the Turkey – Iran border. We still have a hard time thinking that this is it for the character, but we do recognize this being a hard thing for Callen to bear. For much of his life he wanted nothing more than a larger understanding of precisely where he came from. He does know that better now, but a big part of that past is now floating off into the distance. That has to be tough.

Just in case you wanted a little bit of lightness within this episode, though, rest assured that Kensi and Deeks were there to make things better with a humorous little subplot about Deeks’ hair fears. Sure, we’d love to see some wedding planning featuring the two characters, but it’s better we get some banter than no banter at all.

Related – Check out some more news on NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 episode 17?

CarterMatt Verdict

NCIS: Los Angeles season 9 episode 17 was, as a whole, a nice little exercise in getting to see some different sides to characters and also understanding family. This was a great chance to see Chris O’Donnell shine, but we’ll admit that there was still so much more we wanted to know about the character of his father. Hopefully, there is still room to explore that.

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