NCIS: LA Review: The Frogman’s Daughter (Season 12 Episode 10)
When Kam goes missing, Sam uncovers unexpected information about his daughter’s life on NCIS: LA Season 12 Episode 10, “The Frogman’s Daughter.”
At the end of the previous episode, we saw Sam’s daughter Kam kidnapped from a parking garage. Considering how many dangerous enemies Sam has made over the years, we weren’t sure what direction this would go in.
Turns out Kam has been secretly working as a protest organizer. Since her efforts are frowned upon by Keating Military Academy and Annapolis, and her dad is a federal agent, she didn’t want to tell anyone.
As the team search for her, it was fascinating to see Sam discover her secret life, which includes a boyfriend.
Honestly, it all comes off a little disingenuous. NCIS: LA essentially dips its toe into the sensitive subjects of over-policing and racial justice without jumping all the way in.
There was a lot of talk last summer about how procedurals would handle the Black Lives Matter movement. As far as we can tell, not a single one has addressed it properly.
With two Black men in the cast, we thought NCIS: LA might be different, unfortunately, we were wrong.
All we get is Roundtree arguing with a DHS agent who seems more annoyed by her almost famous name than she is by Black people being killed by police. And of course, Deeks telling us how he wore a t-shirt in the eighth grade protesting the Rodney King verdict.
This season NCIS: LA has a real problem centering its stories about race around white characters. We’re sure Sam, Roundtree, and Fatima have life experiences that can be explored.
It felt like the show wanted the credit for tackling the issue, without doing any of the actual work.
We’ve spent a lot of time with Sam mentoring Roundtree. This episode gives him the chance to return the favor. With Callen still returning from his trip, Roundtree has the unenviable task of trying to keep Sam in check.
Despite his FBI background, Roundtree has been presented as relatively green. This time around it is his youth that helps, because he has a better understanding of how the young people running the protests were feeling.
To this point, the show has used Roundtree and Fatima’s age as comic relief. With so many young activists taking center stage around the world, the show needs to take advantage of how their ability to identify with the next generation.
The show’s best moments come in Kensi and Deeks dealing with their heartbreaking fertility issues. The way Kensi spent the whole episode on the verge of tears, as she just tried to make it through the day, while Deeks wanted to talk through his feelings felt authentic.
We’ve been on this journey with them for a couple of seasons, and while we don’t know what the end result will be, we can’t look away from the amazing work Daniela Ruah and Eric Christian Olsen are doing with this story.
The ending reveals that Kam and other activists were taken by members of a white supremacist gang that had grown out of the LA County Sheriff’s Department. A “ripped from the headlines” element we hope the show revisits. Otherwise, there’s no reason to even introduce it.
As harrowing as Kam’s kidnapping was, this is a relatively normal hour of NCIS: LA. At no point do we ever feel like Sam wouldn’t get to his daughter in time. Therefore, there was very little tension.
Overall, this episode had the potential to be great but settled for just ok. Something we’ve seen happen far too many times lately.
What did you think of this episode of NCIS: LA? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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NCIS: LA airs Sunday at 9/8c on CBS.
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Stephanie Holland
Stephanie Holland is a nerdy lover of Star Wars, Disney, Doctor Who, Arrowverse, Star Trek and WWE. Is living the dream of turning a lifelong obsession with TV into an actual job. Still waiting for a reboot of the '80s classic Small Wonder.