NCIS: Los Angeles - Missing

Network: CBS
Time: Tuesdays, 9:00-10:00pm
Cast: Chris O'Donnell, LL Cool J, Daniela Ruah, Peter Cambor, Barrett Foa, Adam Jamal Craig, Linda Hunt

Summary: When one of their own goes missing, the team races the clock to find him.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE.  DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET.  IT WILL GIVE THE ENDING AWAY.

Review: I usually like to take a day or two to reflect on an episode before I review it, but this one left me with so much emotion that I needed to get this out right away.  It's 10:09pm in New Jersey when I'm writing this, exactly nine minutes after the episode ended.

This is the NCIS: Los Angeles episode I've been waiting for for weeks.  Since Abby came to LA back in episode 9, I've been sorely disappointed by the quality of Los Angeles episodes.  I feel the show has been too focused on Sam and Callen, and they cases have been confusing and just-this-side-of-boring.
This episode did neither.  This episode was, I believe, the proof that CBS was not wrong to renew this show for a second season.

Also, it made me feel pretty stupid for my review of the last new episode, where I complained that they weren't focusing enough on the team, so much so that they left Dominic out of the last scene, where the team goes out together.  Just so you know, this episode takes off exactly where that one stopped.

The promos teased an important point in this episode: that Dominic, the LA team's probie, goes missing and that the team has to find him.  They even hinted that it is much harder than anyone imagined it would be to find him.

What they don't tell you is (and I'm warning you one more time that there's going to be a spoiler) they won't find him.

In fact, there isn't even a hint.  No leakage that Adam Jamal Craig was leaving the show.  No teasers that this could be part of a multi-episode arc (hey, a girl can hope).  I just assumed that the episode would resolve itself the way most shows do, with Dominic returning home and riding off into the sunset with Kensi (okay, okay, that part is optional). 

Instead, we're left without a motive and without Dominic.  And the teasers for next week don't seem to imply we're going to get any resolutions.

As I said in my latest White Collar review, I find cliffhangers to be a necessary evil.  As far as necessary evils go, this one was the best I've seen in a long time.  Perhaps because it truly is a cliffhanger.  The audience has no idea if Dom is coming back or not, and either option seems perfectly likely.  It's kind of weird, being so in the dark like this.  Normally, even if you don't know how exactly the arc of season will go, you know which cast members are coming and going because their contract negotiations are leaked.  In this case, I haven't heard anything.  Has anyone else?

From promos to cliffhanger, this episode was great.  For the first time in awhile, the team was working as a team, and everyone seemed to share the spotlight semi-equally.  Nate and Eric, who are often pushed to the side by the more dominating characters of Callen and Sam, were actively involved in almost every scene, and Kensi, who they've been giving more and more on-screen time to, had several starring moments.  Hetti struck the perfect balance between worried den mother and compassionate confidante, and the new character they just introduced (Ty, a future Dom replacement?  Oh no!) was awesome.  The ending, though unresolved, was beautiful and heart-wrenching, even while I was begging the TV to say it wasn't so.

Which leaves me with just a few questions?  Who took Dom and why?  Is this really all Los Angeles will give us about this case, or is it possible they'll revisit it (and hopefully soon)?  Is it just me, or does Claudia Taro not sound like a Colombian name?  And why wasn't this aired next week, during the first episode of sweeps?  What are your thoughts on these and the episode as a whole?


Favorites lines:
Callen: Are you sure you're not still drunk?
Nate: Maybe

Ty (to a camera): Poor little fellow, who would shoot you?

Ty (about Dom): He's a pretty good geek.  You know, for an agent.

Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad

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