A partially solved case of the week never goes down well with me.

There was a whole lot of wheel spinning happening on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 9 Episode 3.

First, let's tackle the case of the week.

A Navy lieutenant and her boyfriend set out to sell classified secrets to...well, we don't know.

The lieutenant died, her boyfriend died, and all the people that killed them, nameless Chinese assassins, you guessed it, dead as well.

Deeks and Kensi spent the episode figuring out how Elder's assassination took place and tracking down the shooter's motorcycle.

Eric and Nell led them to a warehouse on the docks, where Deeks and Kensi ran into the motorcycle gang that couldn't shoot straight. Granted, their ride got blown away, but so did three of the assassins.

They spent much of the episode speaking about "the future." (The way Deeks was going on, the air quotes are necessary.)

He wanted Kensi to keep working at NCIS. But he would get done and find a safer job so that he could come home each night to their daughter, little Athena Deeks.

Kensi had her heart set on a boy instead.

Deeks was rambling more earlier in the episode when Mosley cornered him on the basketball court. He did one of his nervous, stream-of-consciousness monologues when she asked him why he wanted to be at NCIS.

She let him stay another day after he sank a three-pointer. When he offered the ball to Mosley, dressed in a dress and heels, she let him know that she had been a three-year varsity player at UConn. (Then why isn't she still kicking around the WNBA?)

In short, they still weren't clicking. Hopefully, this one-day-at-a-time gag doesn't continue.

The other pairing, Sam and Callen, spent the episode following Elder's movements.

To recap: She was in SoCal to meet with a few defense contractors while staying with the Stigers, who were old friends. She was also visiting her boyfriend, Gino Preston.

When Sam and Callen discovered classified documents on her gaming device, the scenario changed so she was selling secrets to ... someone, and that's what got her and Gino killed.

Oh, and, by the way, how did Sam and Callen track the last motorcycle to the Stigers' house during a commercial break? I missed something there.

There are still way too many unanswered questions: Who did Elder sell to? Who has the copy of the documents already circulating? Why would any assassin leave $100,000 setting around Preston's house?

I'm thinking Elder is a pawn in all this. Maybe her boss slipped that disc into her gaming device, to be retrieved by his stateside partner. I'm betting that partner is Keith Stiger, who got shot but has been way too helpful at shifting any blame to Elder.

But worst of all, a case that should have been wrapped up in one episode has now become a thing. Maybe the producers have some grand plan, but I don't see it yet.

Now Mosley was pissed at her new staff for not leaving anyone alive to question. Granted, all the assassins were wielding automatic weapons, so a surgical strike wasn't really in the cards.

It's fine to encourage more big-picture thinking, but it isn't always practical in the field. It's easy to do behind a desk.

Hidoko seemed to have come around to liking the locals and the teams as they are, rather than Mosley's plan of just making changes for change's sake.

At least we got the answer that many were asking while watching the moved-up NCIS: Los Angeles Season 9 Episode 2: Where's Mosley and Hidoko? Well, Mosley said late in this episode, originally set for last week, that they were heading back to Washington for meetings. That, boys and girls, is why you don't air episodes out of order.

Another example is the total lack of Hetty after she met the mystery man she sought. So now we're left hanging at least until NCIS: Los Angeles Season 9 Episode 4.

This was also a transition episode for Sam. He decided to sell his house and live on a boat, which he is going to name Michelle. Wouldn't that have made more sense last week? At least they are showing, to a degree, that Sam is still learning to cope with his loss.