S10E20 Choke Point
Sometimes the first viewing of an episode can be misleading, particularly when said viewing is undertaken with bleary eyes associated with waking too early and rushing to watch before work and the associate activities connected to leaving the house on time! The first impressions of ‘Choke Point’ were disappointing. The second viewing took place over a week later, and whilst there was still a large element of the ridiculously crazy about the episode, the initial reaction had dampened somewhat. It has not, though, been viewed for a third time.
NCIS: Los Angeles is a crime drama with a heavy dose of comedy, which comes in to play to a greater or lesser extent, dependent on the plot and also the writer. Frank Military for example, writes a lot of intense and dark drama. A notable exception is S6 Black Budget which has some excellent comedic moments, as does S5 Allegiance, which Military co-wrote with Andrew Bartels (another writer who excels at the dramatic). Then there is the other extreme. Jordanna Lewis Jaffe frequently writes over-the-top ridiculous guest characters, whereas showrunner Scott Gemmill flits between the dramatic and the upper scale of comedic (think S7 Blame it on Rio). ‘Choke Point’ is written by Gemmill and Joe Sachs.
The show has always had a healthy dose of humour, right from the start. In season 1, Callen is sent to a comedy ‘Traffic School’ for repeated speeding offences, and Kensi and Deeks undercover as a married couple in Neighbourhood Watch (S3) had humour akin to the film Pretty Woman. Many more episodes have laugh out loud moments and all the cast have all demonstrated they can play comedy well. The problem occurs when the humorous element is out of character, over the top and non-stop. Unfortunately, Choke Point has all three and as a result, is one on the lower end of the scale when rating NCISLA episodes.
Kensi seems to have spent too much time with Deeks and is becoming the mirror image of him. There are plenty of times when it’s great to see her get one up on her partner and now husband but her reactions and behaviour here, for example when she funkily walks away from Deeks in the bull pen, are very much out of character. Yes she can be silly, but Kensi works best when she plays straight to Deeks’ funny guy. The same can be said for Callen. He can frequently ramble on about nothing to deliberately rile Sam, yet on this occasion - such as banging on about hedgehogs as pets - it seemed like he’d been smoking some of the dope courtesy of the drug company who’s vehicle had been ambushed. Deeks was his usual self, relishing in the freedom to impersonate Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, whereas Sam was fairly grumpy throughout. Eric must also have been smoking the same as Callen, as he was on overdrive during his scene with Hetty. Either that or too much sugar. Nell was almost as bad.
The crying shame here is that all the actors looked like they had a whale of a time filming this episode. They were allowed to play for laughs, treating the script as was intended - as a comedy. It is just unfortunate this did not translate too well to the finished article. That said there were some touching scenes, particularly when Nell asked Hetty for a hug and she obliged.
The plot of this episode involved a marine moonlighting as security for a marijuana company, escorting their driver to Sacramento to pay the Bureau of Cannabis Control. The vehicle was ambushed, the marine shot and seriously injured, the driver missing (presumably kidnapped) along with the money. Any slight against a marine equals an angry Sam and this has been seen before however as NCIS investigate navy crimes, it is no surprise this has reoccurred. This time however, Sam’s reaction is out of context in comparison to other episodes (such as S3 Vengeance) which makes the dramatic element a little hard to believe. This goes hand in hand with Sam’s grumpiness the runs throughout, making little digs at Callen who is winding Sam up rather than lightening the mood. There are several references by Sam about Callen not getting enough sleep but it seems Sam is the one who is sleep deprived. He also has harsh words with Kensi in the boatshed. Such actions are suited to the dramatic and intense episodes but fall short of the mark here. Maybe the moods are reflective of the weather, with rainy scene in usually sunny LA?
Their investigations in to the missing driver lead the team to a white nationalist. In previous episodes these extremists have been referred to as white supremacists and it is unclear if there is a difference as their end goal seems very similar. On the plus side, Special Agent Fatima Namazi returns. There is no reason for her appearance; the team are all together and functioning in their respective roles, and no reason is given for her presence in Ops. She has though, seamlessly slipped in to working with the team and has proven a useful addition. With the continued references to Nell and her mother, maybe this is warming viewers up for a change in season 11, switching out Nell for Fatima. An even swap.
The highlight was indeed when Nell asked Hetty if she could hug her. It felt like a genuine moment with actress Renee Felice Smith welcoming the return of her long absent colleague Linda Hunt, back to the show - under the guise of Nell and Hetty. It was a shame Hetty’s scenes were really limited to Nell and Eric but presumably if she’d shared scenes with Callen, she would have been called to explain her absence. Clearly something to be addressed in later episodes.
