I smell spinoff!

It was set up perfectly at the end of NCIS: Los Angeles Season 8 Episode 22.

Take Hetty and her old Vietnam-era comrades, Chegwidden, Bridges and Langston, and let them use the off-books gold they've been holding onto for 30 years to help veterans and, as Bridges suggested, to hunt down criminals. 

Let them kick ass and take names, and since they're extra-legal, they wouldn't have to worry about niceties such as civil rights. It would be OK to do a Da Nang Pickup.

They could even bring in Gibbs as the probie, although that probably wouldn't fly on the mother ship.

Call it NCIS: Golden Guys. No, since Hetty's involved, let's go with NCIS: The Golden Years.

The franchise could stand a new direction. It would have to be better than NCIS: Red Team.

I thought Chegwidden was being brought in to replace Granger. But this brings in two more colorful characters as well.

Here's a thought: Rather than reruns and a bunch of garbage award shows (you know who you are, People's Choice Awards), let's have a 6- to 8-episode run in December and January.

Sadly, it'll never happen. It's too natural a concept.

Also, it's already been stated that Langston is dying from the Agent Orange that infected Granger, and the rest expect it to eventually get them as well. So that would be a natural limitation to such a series.

Ah, well. At least we got to enjoy them for a couple of episodes. 

They spent most of this episode driving the regulars crazy. Pairing one of the NCIS team up with one of the older agents was inspired.

Especially since it was their plan to sic all the gangs in LA on Yaniv, to inhibit his ability to move the stolen gold.

Granted, there was fallout. Lots and lots of fallout. But no innocents were hurt and their plan worked.

Sure, it was legally borderline, especially for private citizens, which AJ had to recognize. But it was certainly justifiable, with speed being of the essence.

It was fun to watch the difference of old methods versus new methods on display.

Sam will never complain again about Callen after his time with Bridges. Callen appreciated the story about Obi-Wan (Granger) that Langston told. And Kensi and Chegwidden worked together well after she let go of his stealing her car.

Still, the young agents did most of the actual crime-solving, especially thanks to Eric and Nell.

But the old guys did ride in to save the days after Sam's decision left them woefully outgunned.

It would have been helpful to have more of Hetty serving as referee throughout this episode. Definitely a missed opportunity.

But it's still not too late to make Chegwidden a regular next season.

Deeks would have enjoyed working with the older trio. Too bad he never got the chance.

Instead, he had to hem and haw about meeting up with Whiting again. He would have saved himself the trouble if he hadn't confessed everything to her when he mistakenly thought she was dying.

But there was one storyline that needed closing, Deeks murdering his old partner. Unfortunately, it led directly into another storyline, Deeks helping Whiting to investigate corruption in his old precinct.

I thought Whiting would be grateful enough to just bury the hatchet and that would be that.

But no such luck. Deeks is being dragged back into LAPD hijinks again.

How's he going to explain that to Kensi? "The LAPD detective that I saved is now blackmailing me to help out on an another case." That can only make their relationship stronger.

Couldn't Deeks just get called on to help out LAPD about once a year, instead of it having to become a thing again?

Next, we get two episodes of Sam going rogue to save his kidnapped wife, Michelle, to wrap up the season. Whether that leads to an unnecessary cliffhanger, who can say?

To catch up before it's too late, watch NCIS: Los Angeles online.

How did you enjoy the older agents? Are you up for a spinoff? Are you tired of the Deeks/Whiting storyline? Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.