NCIS:LA - 'Collateral Damage'

Today apparently is an episode using the completely original, never-before-used plotline of Hetty disappearing!! 

'Wait, you couldn't tell that was sarcasm, because I forgot to inflect.'

How many times have they done this story now? I think this makes three - or maybe 4, once per season? Good greif. The all-powerful Hetty can't be put in danger that many times, it's unrealistic! They need to have the mortals be kidnapped/running away every once in a while, this is just getting ridiculous.
Also, they still need to wrap up the whole secret-Russian-agent-nuclear-bombs plot, but if I know every CBS crime show ever (Yes, I'm looking at you, CSI: Miami!), they'll save the huge cliffhanger and resolution for the finales.
This week begins with an older playboy type talking to a guy Dex about the release of a video game, and how he's a big secret agent, and then he goes out on his deck, lights a cigar, and explodes. Well then.
I've always wondered how they did those shots where the camera pans along the row of people shooting in the range. I know they shoot blanks, but fragments still come out of them sometimes... I wonder if they've ever broken a camera.
Deeks borrowed an album from Sam and lost/ruined it, and he's in trouble... The guy who blew up was a CIA agent named Potter, it was his lighter that blew up (not a cigar) and Sam is a fan of Yosemite Sam!


Possibly because he shares his name...
But let's be honest, this dude is awesome.

Hetty is having a very cryptic conversation on the phone, and doesn't give Callen any details about anything before sending them out on the hunt.
At the dead guy's house, they find video on a tablet of two women in lingere and one of them is identified as an expensive callgirl named Nicole from an escort service (Deeks recognises her, of course). 
Callen keeps calling Sam a geek because he likes old TV shows, vintage cars and vinyl records. Eric goes 'you know, there's nothing wrong with being a geek!', and there's a 'swear jar' in Ops hahaha (even when Hetty's nowhere to be found, she's in charge!) and Nell admits she watched that football highlight reel Eric lent her, aww :)
Kensi and Deeks go to visit the escort service and he stammers and is unsure whether he should compliment her or not lol so he goes in around back and she walks in the front door and gets in right away cos she's prettier than all the other girls there, apparently, and she puts on a persona - she's so good!! Deeks hacks their computers in the same room as their conversation (so bold!) and they get all the pictures of their employees so they can compare them to the videos on Potter's tablet. The owner of the escort service, Wendy, starts to feel her up and Kensi sets her straight, then lets loose on Deeks and mentions that he sat on the record and broke it then threatens to tell Sam haha
Nell and Eric are arguing about football history, and then she uses the word 'swagger' with a head-bob hahahaha when she leaves the room Eric says 'I got swagger!' I'M DYING!

Not only is she badass, but she's a gangster too!!

Callen walks in on Hetty looking at an old photo of Granger, herself and Potter, and she then puts it away in a box and locks it up before he can see it. Nell walks in and says that Director Vance is on the phone for her - and you know that's never good.
Callen and Sam go to talk to the escort Nicole, and they find a dead girl and Nicole unconscious. When she wakes up, she remembers that some random guy called her privately and said he'd pay her and the other girl a whole bunch of money to seduce Potter and 'play a prank' by switching his lighter. The man who hired her and then attacked her and her friend was named Ruiz.
They don't know where Hetty is, but they found Ruiz using Eric's awesome camera magic, and then Granger showed up - also not a good sign - and tells them the book is closed on the case (even when Deeks asks if they could use a bookmark haha) and tells them they don't need to look for Hetty, because 'She's a big girl. Well, relatively speaking.' And here I thought he didn't have a sense of humor! He also tells them not to go after Ruiz, that the CIA will take care of it.
When they go to find Ruiz, a woman in a van sees them closing in. She calls Ruiz and warns him, but says to stay put and that she'll 'take care of it'. Then her car pulls past the cafe where he's sitting, and she shoots him and screeches away!
Granger's disappeared too, which Callen finds suspicious. He and Sam convince Nell to open the box for them and they find the photo. There's another guy in the picture too, who is also a CIA agent named Brooks. He didn't get along with Potter, and was apparently in the process of suing him.
They go to Brooks' house and find him beaten to death, but he wrote a message in his own blood saying 'Nogalis Bo..'. Then they find a bomb in the house which Callen realises was meant for Hetty.
Nell and Eric share a touching moment where she's all worried about Hetty and he reassures her... Aww he's finally returning the favour for this scene:

They figure out what 'Nogalis' means, it's a foriegn word for walnut, and Callen finds a walnut sitting on his desk. Then they find a mansion with the same name that was a former presidential retreat, and after that an NSA/CIA safehouse. They realise Hetty's going there, because she's 'taking a stand' OVER WHAT?!
The team goes to the house and are standing there talking to Hetty and Granger who tell them that their team was getting picked off one by one so they had to hide until they figured out who was after them, and then all of a sudden someone fires an automatic weapon through the wall and everyone goes down.
They go outside and take down a bunch of the bad guys and the woman in the black SUV from earlier pulls away and they shoot at it until it goes of the road and flips. Wow I've missed these big action scenes! Then Callen goes to the car and opens the door and the woman says 'my name is Fatima Khan' and raises her gun but then gets shot dead. Hetty pops up behind Callen and he says 'I told you to stay back!' She replies with 'You and I have a similar attitude when it comes to obeying orders.' I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!!
It turns out the CIA team with Potter and Hetty were responsible for blowing up a cab carrying one of the founding members of al-Quaeda, and Fatima's father, who was an innocent cab driver. So she swore vengeance on the whole team. So sad :(
Sam still won't admit he's a nerd hahaha but he and Nell and Eric are going to go watch all the James Bond movies! And Kensi and Deeks want to come lol
Unfortunately we don't get to see the nerd-party, only Granger and Hetty discussing the unfortunate innocent casualties of war. Hence the episode title.
Until next week, NCIS: LA fans!!! Can't wait!! Leave a comment on what you thought of this episode, and as always thank for reading!!