NCIS: Los Angeles Review: Kulinda (Season 8 Episode 12)
When “filler” episodes are as entertaining as this, well, there’s not much you can say about a show other than: Bravo.
May it continue.
NCIS: LA Season 8 Episode 12 “Kulinda” does very little to advance any of the season’s biggest story-lines – other than the Callen/Anna romance, that is – but it’s still an entertaining hour of television on a night where most of the viewing audience was tuning onto the Golden Globes.
But then again, it’s been a couple of seasons since NCIS: LA has been anything but solid.
A lot of that has to do with the fact that this team, as the final scene proves, has finally gelled. It’s not just Kensi and Deeks or Callen and Sam, it’s that every interaction between two characters feels not just real, but backed by a real affection. These people are not just co-workers, but friends.
We see that in the little moments between Kensi and Eric, in the Deeks/Nell banter, in the fact that Callen is checking up on Granger, and it becomes even more apparent when we get to the scene with Kensi and Nate.
For those of us who’ve been here from the beginning, Nate is one of the guys. He might be gone, but he’ll forever have a place on this team.
Kensi is, apparently, one of us in this regard.
She doesn’t want to admit to weakness, she doesn’t want to open up, and yet, she does. Of course, part of it is because she doesn’t have a choice – she has to convince Nate, but our girl Kensi has always been someone who works better under pressure.
Physically, she’s better. She might not be a 100%, but she could probably come back, and be effective.
Mentally? That’s another matter altogether, and one that I’m very glad to see the show is not taking lightly.
When you commit to a storyline like this, you have to be not just respectful of the people who’ve been in this position in real life; you have to be truthful to their struggles. Stories about disability should be about the person struggling, about their frame of mind, not about how other characters react and how it affects them.
That, of course, doesn’t mean those stories should be told in a vacuum. Kensi’s injury has affected Deeks, and the team, yes, but when a show makes a storyline like this all about other people (*cough* Arrow *cough*) it fails not just the character and the actor, but the viewers.
Yes, we watch TV for the entertainment, but we also want the people on our tv screens to be real, to be relatable and yet, to be role models. We want the good and the bad – we want the whole journey.
Which is what NCIS: LA is giving us with Kensi. And that might be frustrating at times, but in the end, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Other things to note:
- Every second of the conversation BEFORE that kiss was akward AF, Anna. I’m not sure if I was glad for the kiss because I actually wanted you and Callen to be kissing or because I just didn’t want you to be talking.
- Sam giving Deeks advice/joking around with him gives me life.
- So does the fact that everyone is not so lowkey worried about Granger.
- HETTY, WHERE ART THOU?
- Why is Nell so bad at driving, a la Kensi x100? Isn’t there another quirk to give female characters? Any other?
- LegoLand! You just scored points with me, Anna.
- I miss the Densi partnership on the field, but Deeks/Nell is fun, I’m not gonna lie.
- Nate is back! For like 0.5 seconds. And hopefully for more than one episode. He tends to appear every season for his requisite episode and then, bam, gone. At this point I’m not even sure anyone really gets a thrill at seeing him, other than longtime fans.
- Where’s my Densi scenes? If this is hard for them, and it HAS to be, I want to SEE it. I don’t just want to hear about it second-hand.
- Some people seem to think too much Densi affects the show – I happen too think too little is worse. When nothing else in this show was working, Densi was. Now that all the pieces seem to be clicking, though, that doesn’t mean we don’t want Kensi/Deeks. No, we’re greedy. We want it all.
- You broke into song at that last line, didn’t you? I did.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NCIS: LA? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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NCIS: LA airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.
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Lissete Lanuza Sáenz
Lawyer. Writer. Columnist. Geek. Falls in madly in love with fictional characters. Hates the color yellow, misogyny, and people who are late. Can always be found with a book. Watches an absurd amount of TV every week, often, while eating coffee ice cream. She has no regrets. You can check out her blog here: Absurday. Lissete is a senior writer for Tell-Tale TV. Follow @lizziethat
One thought on “NCIS: Los Angeles Review: Kulinda (Season 8 Episode 12)”
I thought this was a good episode. I could watch the Sam and Deeks opening scene over and over, it was perfect, so well done, and beautifully acted by Eric Christian Olsen and LL Cool J. We need more scenes like that .I also thought the scene with Nate and Kensi was well done and the combination of that scene with the Deeks and Sam scene really gave us insight into Kensi’s mindset, again very well done.
As far as Callen and Anna , they need to stop this. There is zero chemistry between them,the opening scene was painful, I was embarrassed for Chris O’Donnell. We are supposed to believe she is a competent agent . In the combat scenes, she is the only female NCIS agent, across three shows, who wears her hair down in fight scenes. I am assuming it is because the model does not like how she looks with her hair pulled back. Also Callen who used to worry any time Sam did not have him as backup seems not to care where Sam is , or what he is doing. This is totally out of character. I want to see Callen back with Sam and of course, Deeks back with Kensi.
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