NCIS: LA - Fighting Shadows

Hey! Late post (sorry) but this episode looked super interesting in the promos, so I'm really pumped! Let's do this!

Some dudes are selling explosives in the desert and they're asked what their target is and they answer 'Los Angeles'. Hey! What a coincidence! That's where this show is set! The FBI stops the bad guys and go to arrest them (turns out one of them was undercover) and then *KAPOW* the van blows up! Well, explosives tend to do that...

Pictured: Jon Stewart reenacting the explosion. I need to use these GIFs more often.

Kensi and Deeks are working out in public, apparently she's called him a 'sex machine' and then some woman was taking pictures of them. Kensi wants to know if she's just being paranoid, although a good way to counteract that is to avoid being cute and coupley in public...

Turns out the C4 wasn't hooked up to a detonator, and it was on loan from the Department of Defense. So they have no clue how it blew up (and killed 3 federal agents), but they want to cover their asses. Fair enough. (Although really they couldn't have just given them FAKE explosives? Considering they didn't have time to do anything with it anyway?) Hetty pairs Deeks with Callen and Sam with Kensi AGAIN, to Deeks' astonishment. He thinks it has to do with them being a couple. Personally, I just think Hetty enjoyed their banter as much as I did last episode, and wants to see more of it. I'm also still thinking about smorecakes...

I would pay to see a Deeks/Callen sass-off. I honestly don't know who would win.

Oh yeah, Callen still has a girlfriend! That we never see... And Callen is not a dummy, Deeks, the dude obviously knows that you guys are dating. Eric 'took a while' to figure it out (no surprises there, he's taken forever to catch on to the fact that Nell likes him).

It's amazing how much emotion a person can show with only a flaring of the nostrils. The female FBI agent from the beginning of the episode is clearly up to no good, but she's making a good show of being sad.

Sam finds out that the C4 didn't blow up AT ALL. Which is kinda funny. There was another bomb in the van, remotely detonated when the agents were within blast radius. And the killer, according to Sam, left his watch behind because he was 'sending a message'.

WOOOAH ERIC THERE ARE NO SECURITY CAMERAS IN THE DESERT?!! I HAD NO IDEA!!!!

I think Captain Obvious' secret identity has been revealed.

Hetty knows about the woman taking pictures in the park, and Hetty wants Deeks and Kensi to stay apart. Deeks says ok, but follows that with an 'off the record, no' because of course. And Hetty is keeping secrets, which Nell is a part of. It's all very suspicious.

Sam is giving Kensi the big-brother/dad pep talk about having children and she's freaking out about that (which I find HILARIOUS given that the whole reason Kensi disappeared to Afghanistan last season was because Daniela Ruah was pregnant - with Eric Christian Olsen's nephew, no less).

Deeks is such a good liar. He's all 'YOUR BROTHER IS DYING' one moment, and then after the terrorist tells them what they need to know, he casually goes 'oh yeah, you can keep your kidney. He's fine.' I thought usually Callen got to take care of the suspect deception? How did Deeks manage to get the reveal??

Kensi and Sam go to an auto shop and find the guy who set off the detonator. And he tells them the attack is not the only one they're going to have that day. And Kensi's hair looks amazing. I'm so jealous.

Back at the boatshed, Callen and Sam volunteer to interrogate that guy, leaving Kensi and Deeks in the same room together. And she gets kinda huffy because he won't tell her what she wants to know, and goes to leave, and then he stops her and they have that touching moment from the promo where he says 'We're good. Nothing is gonna tear us apart' and then he makes her say it back and it warms my heart.

But, you know, in a good way.

Eric has caught on that there's a secret thing that Hetty is keeping secret. Ha apparently also feels bad for chess pieces - and he and Nell play board games together! Awwwe that's so cute!

Auto shop guy's nephew was taken in by the FBI and somehow turned into a terrorist by them? And then also killed by them? I am confuse.
Because the FBI people have thought up some really devious terrorist plans, so he therefore he thinks they're all evil so he's going to carry out one of their plans, to prove a point?

If coming up with hypothetical terrorist attacks makes someone evil, we need to lock up
James Patterson real quick. That dude's insane.

The woman following Kensi around is from LAPD Internal Affairs. UGH. Internal Affairs people are the WORST. Does anyone remember that asshole from CSI: Miami ??

This asshole is Agent Rick Stetler. I hate this asshole.

Eric's nana is good with computers. Awwe. I NEED MORE OF HIM!!!

Sorry, turns out the nephew isn't dead, just in jail. THIS IS ALL SO CONVOLUTED. And he goes from 'Oh no I didn't mean to do something bad, my uncle wants nothing to do with me, I'm sad' to 'Oh my uncle is trying to kill people? Hell yeah I'm with him all the way' in like 0.75 seconds. So the nephew was 'turned evil' by the FBI, then the uncle decided to become evil after that, and then the nephew wants to be evil WITH the uncle, now that the uncle is evil. Me? I'm getting a headache.

Hetty Lange just uttered the phrase 'Higher purpose, my ass' and it was wonderful. They found the missing tow truck and it's heading for the FBI office. Nobody is moving out fast enough.

The uncle apparently coerced some young boys to do the dirty work for him. And Callen is so good at arguing. His monologues are like Jeff from Community, only less meta. And with less winking.

Sam and Kensi catch up to the boys with the bomb, and they don't notice? Even when Sam hops onto the truck? And the FBI agents are all standing around aiming to kill them, Deeks gets hysterical over Sam, and THAT TRUCK IS WAY TOO CLOSE IT WOULD TAKE OUT A HUGE SECTION OF THE BUILDING ANYWAY. And Sam told them there was 'still hope for them' but holy crap they're still going to jail right?!!

Has Deeks been crying? Deeks looks like he's been crying... And Hetty seems less bothered about them 'ignoring her request' than you would expect... Somehow 'they' (the LAPD) are 'hunting' Deeks and 'will use everything they can' against him... Which means Kensi. And I don't get it. Why are they hunting him? What did he do to bring this on?? Other than the fact that they're together, obviously that would be their 'ammunition' but WHY WOULD THEY START TAILING HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE?!! SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME!!! Hetty ends the episode in typical Hetty fashion, with a 'bugger'.

All I can say is, FREAKING INTERNAL AFFAIRS!!!!

I don't know how, but I really want to blame that bastard Stetler for this. Screw that guy.