S10E07 One of Us
The best NCISLA episodes are the ones that focus on character - usually one of the team - and takes them and us on an emotional journey. Sometimes the guest characters also bring that little extra to the table, pushing the episode further and delving in to the serious side of life. ‘One of Us’, written by Kyle Harimoto examines the impacts of grief, disappearing into the darkness, as well as questioning morals and the blurring of the line. This week the team investigate the murder of arms dealer Rick Dotson, who was executed by someone with elite special forces training. Assisting with their investigations is Lance Hamilton, a former MARSOC Marine now working for the State Department in resolving sensitive cases. Dotson’s murder leads NCIS to Daniel Aquilar, a former Army Ranger and an expert marksman. Bracketing the episode, much like ‘Pro Se’ are two scenes featuring Callen and Anna, as she awaits and is later sentenced for the killing of Russian Oligarch, Abram Sokolov.
Something is not sitting quite right with Anna. In ‘Venganza’ (S9) she told Callen to tell the ATF investigators the truth, that he didn’t see her shoot Sokolov and he was already dead when he came through the door. She also cuts Callen off when he’s about to say he could tell the ATF whatever will help her case. In line with this, ‘Venganza’'s closing scene saw Callen in front of the ATF panel, visibly wrestling with his conscience and his desire to help Anna, to lie or tell the truth. Callen did as Anna wanted and now she doesn’t like the consequences. She is in prison and awaiting sentencing, with Callen and Arkady conversing amiably in this episode's opening scene, whilst waiting to see her. Anna turns down Callen’s offers of assistance, and instead she wishes Callen did more in the first place, which obviously and awkwardly leads to Arkady finding out about Callen's statement. There is little time to delve further in to what could be a serious rift in their relationship - Arkady calls Callen a traitor - as the moment is swept past when Anna kisses Callen before telling him and her father not to visit again. She is pushing her loved ones away to focus on her survival in prison. At her sentencing, Callen and Arkady sit apart from each other, separated by an aisle and a row. The look that is shared between Anna and Callen is not one filled with love, certainly not from Anna and Callen seems shocked and wracked with guilt. In recent seasons he has found his family - eventually starting to bond with them, had a girlfriend and now it’s all been ripped away. Anna’s about turn on his statement may be due to original naivety on both parts (that she would not serve time), but for Callen to be torn down in the past six months after such character development is a concern and may be an omen as to what lies in store. How much more can he endure?
There are interesting parallels between Sam, Hamilton and Daniel Aquilar, with their alternative paths demonstrating different manifestations of grief, and a visit by Sam, Callen and Hamilton to Aquilar’s ex-wife Casey is extremely revealing. Callen seems genuinely confused about why she clearly still loves her ex-husband, and linking back to Anna, it is questionable about how deep his feelings run for her. Casey and Daniel lost their son to a drive by shooting and her emotional revelation is inter-cut with the three men’s reactions, her story holding resonance with them all. Daniel could not bear the pain of being around his wife anymore and distanced himself with a divorce, disappearing from her life (bringing parallels to Anna again). Casey lost both her son and her husband. Sam empathises, he always understands the human element. He also feels for Hamilton whose wife died a few years ago.
Daniel is a highly trained army ranger turned one man vigilante, avenging his son’s death by killing criminal kingpins, and when. Sam and Hamilton corner Daniel with guns trained on each other, they fail to convince him the darkness can be conquered. Sam’s struggle with grief was shown last season and in the season 8 finale, the team quite easily pulled him back from the temptation to kill Tahir Kaled. But here he admits to Daniel that he too battled with the darkness.
Hamilton: Aguilar chose to deal with his loss with the only solution that made sense to him.
Sam: Some days I'm inches away from that solution making sense to me.
Hamilton’s path through grief is also traced when the team ascertain if he is one of the good guys. He left FBI SWAT to work nationwide on his own, running from having a home without his wife. Although not party to the conversations, Callen buries his demons deep inside and moves on until something causes them to resurface. Deeks’ demons though, seem to bubble away just below the surface.
The serious side of the episode does not really manifest itself with Kensi and Deeks, however in keeping with the themes, Deeks fails to keep his emotions under control when a bad guy punches Kensi and another one tries to break a bottle over her head. Deeks throws him to the floor and repeatedly punches him, with Kensi calling on him to stop. His words “you’re gonna hit my lady with a champagne-” demonstrate how quickly he reacts with violence, to violence against Kensi (and by implication, all women he cares about), something which has been a constant throughout the seasons. The two characters with real demons are Callen and Deeks, not Sam. To counter the darkness of lost love, Kensi and Deeks shine with talks about the wedding and working wonderfully well in the field as partners, showcasing their banter and effortless teamwork. The restaurant scene contrasts their differences, showing how tightly wound Kensi is compared to Deeks, who easily charms the maître de, only to be blown off when she says he reminds her of her dad.
This week there was no mention of Hetty and notably, no Mosley in the opening credits. Again their lack of presence allows characters such as Hamilton to come in and not steal screen time from the agents. Deputy Director Ochoa was back in LA, shooting in the firing range with Sam and revealing snippets of his less than salubrious childhood until he was helped to the right path. His low key scenes are slowly building him into a character who is at ease with the team, fitting in with his subtle doses of humour. There was thankfully no oddness from the wonder twins and sensible Eric wearing long trousers was even invited out in the field by Sam. Progress all round!
‘One of Us’ is held together with the theme of morals and ethics, of right and wrong. Daniel Aquilar’s vigilantism was killing bad guys for the right reasons. Callen stated how messed up it was, that they had to bring him in and was keen to help him, and after he is killed by Sam in a ‘death by cop’ scenario, Kensi and Deeks remark how the result doesn’t feel like a win. Earlier, Hamilton even says he’s been paid by the Government to do the same overseas. On the surface, Anna killed a violent Russian oligarch and has been punished for it. The team and Callen in particular frequently blur and sometimes cross the line, albeit not shooting unarmed villains. So far they have escaped the repercussions and last week Special Prosecutor Rogers cleared the team from the disastrous unauthorised operation in Mexico. Anna's situation is a warning about what could happen to them. Remember Mosley's threat to Hetty that she had info that would see some of the team do jail time? And this neatly leads into the next week's episode whereby the team are asked to work with an assassination team on a black op.
The human element and darker tone to ‘One of Us’ showcases the emotions of Sam, Callen and the guest cast. The emotional performance from Casey Aquilar is outstanding and there is a poignant and moving scene with her and Sam after he visits her, having shot dead her her ex-husband. Only Hamilton seemed a little lacking in the additional emotional depth required for his character. Overall, it feels that possibilities for future stories are being set up in this episode. Hamilton offers Sam a job opportunity, Anna has been imprisoned and Callen has to live with another heavy personal blow. And Kensi is about to go wedding dress shopping with Roberta Deeks - have they actually set a date now? There are many ways the above situations could play out, if at all, and until they are brought to fruition on the screen, it is fun to start and keep guessing.
