NCIS New Orleans Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Watch Over Me
Kathleen Wiedel
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If you believe NCIS: New Orleans Season 1 Episode 7, then the Axelrod Industries guys really need a primer in How to Succeed in Cover-Up Without Really Trying.
Let's examine the chain of incompetency that lead to the bad guys' arrests at the end of the episode. The missile test went horribly wrong - turns out there was a defective component.
Instead of fixing the problem, they decided to cover up the mess, but the executive accidently hit the "reply all" button on her cover-up memo (don't you hate it when that happens?). When their Navy liaison saw the memo, they decided that the obvious solution was to kill him. The Axelrod security chief succeeded in murdering Shang Lee, the commander's assistant, and the commander, but couldn't find the SD card with the evidence.
He then failed twice to kidnap or kill Commander Wilson's wife Catherine - though why he tried to kill her at the safe house was a bit perplexing, since he was presumably trying to find the SD card - she can't give him information if she's dead!
It always confuses me when corporations on television seem to latch onto murder as an acceptable business practice. To look at it coldly, the potential liability is simply insane, and the cost-benefit analysis just doesn't hold water.
Okay, so your missile has a defective component. Covering it up won't make the component any less defective, and murdering the guy you idiotically CC'ed on the cover-up memo (d'oh!) will definitely attract the very attention you were hoping so hard to avoid! The whole mess was a series of mind-bogglingly bad decisions.
On the personal front, we got a little more insight into Agent Pride as he stubbornly attempted to fix his wife's car, and refusing any suggestion of the help of a professional mechanic. Pride, if ever there were a character more aptly named...! Granted, he did manage to repair the car in the end, but I see no shame in being willing to at least take the offer of help into consideration. Vanity, thy name is Pride?
LaSalle theorized that Pride was intentionally failing to fix the car as a way to keep his estranged wife close, only for Pride to reveal that his wife had packed her belongings and moved out. Too bad.
The relationship between CDR Wilson and his wife - or, more accurately, the breakdown of the relationship - is clearly meant to mirror what's going on with Pride and his wife. Catherine Wilson picked up on this, too, though the way she put her hand on Pride's made me wonder just how much she had to do with the failure of her marriage.
I do hope Pride and his wife manage to work things out so that we get to see more of Paige Turco as Linda Pride, because she and Scott Bakula are great on screen together.
My favorite scene of the night came at LaSalle's expense. Someone stole his potato salad - he suspected the visiting intelligence specialists, who were borrowing space while their office was being renovated.
LaSalle: Looks like he's in the wind.
Brody: Well, let's find him.
LaSalle: And whoever stole my potato salad!
At least the intelligence guys made fresh coffee! It turns out that Patton Plame (the wheelchair-bound computer specialist) had snagged it, as Brody discovers not long afterwards. I wonder if she ever told LaSalle?
Speaking of Plame, I'm enjoying his character a lot, especially since they don't make all sorts of show about how he's in a wheelchair. (Actor Daryl Mitchell was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident in 2001. ) Plame previously appeared in Season 1 Episode 4, "The Recruits," and I would like to see more of him - as long as he stays away from the analogies, such as in this NCIS: New Orleans quote:
I tell you what, this puppy is buttoned up tighter than a... very... tightly... buttoned-up puppy... Okay, I got lost in the middle of that one.
NCIS Agent Patton Plame
So, what do you think, fellow NOLA fans? Did you buy into the corporate cover-up? Would you steal LaSalle's potato salad? What do you think those intelligence specialists are up to back there? Share this and your other thoughts about NCIS: New Orleans Season 1 Episode 7 in the comments below!
Remember, you can always catch up and watch NCIS: New Orleans online right here at TV Fanatic!
