NCIS: Los Angeles Review: Freaks, Geeks and Deeks

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NCIS: Los Angeles suffered through an uncharacteristically bad night on "Dead Body Politic," as it missed the mark by taking on a boring, unoriginal, non-NCIS related case.

If they wanted to do an installment about the election, they should have gone in a direction that made sense for NCIS to be involved. Instead, we got a procedural case that could have been on a dozen other shows with very few line changes.

I missed the military/terrorism aspect of the show, as well as the normal action-based tone. The agents just spent most of their time doing detective work here.

Deeks and Lange

The justification for taking over the case was flimsy at best. Shouldn't the FBI have handled it? I don't watch many procedurals because they rely on cookie cutter storylines with minor character differences. For all those reasons, this episode failed for me.

From the beginning the case looked like an inside job. I initially thought that someone within the campaign was desperate enough to win that they killed Clay to boost Monica Tenez's likelihood of winning. If she came out strong against the killing, it would change the voters perspective on her. 

When she decided to drop out of the race after the sniper attack and no one on her campaign strongly opposed her decision, it no longer seemed likely. That's also when the stolen money was discovered. In the end, Tenez did win the election because of these horrible events, but that wasn't part of the actual plan.

Despite the underwhelming case, there were some great character moments that saved the hour. I love the dynamic between them all; I'm even starting to appreciate Granger a little. The political case and the election season provided the perfect framework to find out about Hetty's political prowess. 

Hetty is an exquisite  physical specimen. She may come in a small package, but she has grit like no other. Most people's hearts race when they listen to political speeches or talk politics, even when they agree. Hetty exercises while listening to Reagan and barely breaks a sweat.

And, Hetty as president of Nicaragua. Way to go! 

The banter between the team was witty and funny as always. In particular, I loved that Kensi objectified Deeks by looking at his ass. Nice reversal. Though, Deeks put his foot in his mouth on more than a few occasions. 

Deeks: Easy Wonder Twins, you're scaring the old folks. | permalink

And then dissing Granger inadvertently in front of him. Oops. Not only did Deeks lose big time in the push-up contest with Sam, but Kensi got the best dig on the day.

Kensi: Freaks, Geeks, and Deeks. | permalink

Even though the case fell flat, the episode had enough good character moments to make it worth watching. Can't beat Hetty getting on the phone to help the moderator with the Presidential debate, can you?

Dead Body Politic Review

Editor Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 1.7 / 5.0 (401 Votes)

Carla Day is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter and on Google+.

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