Fandom Overview: NCIS:LA

[drlense.livejournal.com]

Hi! I’m drlense and I’ll be driving the Crack Van this month for NCIS: Los Angeles, aka NCIS: LA, aka NCIS: Gay. NCIS: LA is a U.S. television show that airs Tuesday nights at 9pm on CBS. The first season ended in May, 2010, and the second season premiere will air on September 21, 2010.

NCIS: LA is a spin-off of NCIS, which itself was a spin-off of JAG. Both NCIS and NCIS: LA involve the fictional agents of the not-so-fictional Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a US law enforcement agency that investigates crimes that involve members of the Navy, the Marine Corps and their families. The NCIS shows are in some ways typical crime procedurals, except the criminals or victims (and sometimes both!) are in the Navy.

Let’s get to the overview! I should warn you that under the cut you will find a lot of pictures of very pretty people (aka not dial-up friendly), spoilers for the first season of NCIS:LA, and a terrible overuse of parentheses.



PREMISE!

NCIS: LA revolves around the fictional NCIS OSP, or Office of Special Projects. “NCIS undercover- surveillance- super cool toys.” (Legend I) The agents attached to OSP go undercover more often than their Washington D.C. counterparts, and work out of top secret location in the Los Angeles area.

“Wait a minute,” you’re saying. “That’s ridiculous.”

Yes, YES IT IS! And that’s a big part of what makes this show so awesome. If you’re looking for a realistic depiction of criminal activity in the military, or a show about how special operations are run in the face of domestic and foreign terrorism, or an honest take on what it’s like to work undercover, this show is NOT for you.

NCIS: LA is filled with pretty people bantering with each other and doing ridiculous things while looking fabulous. There are lots of chase scenes and shoot-outs and explosions, lots of sexual innuendo, and very little actual sex. It was created by Shane Brennan, who got his start writing Australian soap operas, and it kind of shows. There’s no character premise so ridiculous that it can’t happen to our gang, (who all have tragic backgrounds and yet manage to still be both really dorky AND the best at what they do) and the “crime of the week” serves as a back drop to our characters rather than the other way around. The show is designed in no way to make you think (and in fact, if you think too hard about it you get very confused), although at times it can surprise you. The show is set in Los Angeles (duh) and the producers seem very excited to be filming in the city that they’re in, finally- they take great advantage of the setting and there’s lots of action sequences on Venice Beach and landmarks like the Griffith Park Observatory or the L.A Philharmonic at Disney Hall.

The NCIS: LA characters first appeared in a “backdoor pilot” that aired during the sixth season of regular NCIS. (Legend Parts 1&2) There were a lot of changes made to the show between that pilot and the first episode of the first season (Identity, 1.01)- they added a few characters and dropped a couple, and the headquarters location changed from a warehouse setting to the “Ye Olde California Bordello” set. They also added the Boathouse set, which is a safe house that they use for suspect interrogations- since Headquarters is super secret.

CHARACTERS!

The show began with the OSP already in place and running operations, so what we’ve learned about the characters comes from bits and pieces of information dropped throughout the episodes. Unfortunately, many times when the characters are revealing things about themselves it’s occurring while they’re undercover, which means that you’re never quite sure if they’re real stories or not. Complicating things is the extremely vague way the powers that be have described the chain of command- it’s not entirely clear whether Callen or Hetty is in charge.

G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell)



Callen is the Lead Agent at OSP and in charge of the team. He is (at varying times) called “the legend,” or “a ghost,” and is considered to be one of the best undercover agents out there and a man who doesn’t exist beyond the fake identities that Hetty creates for him. This is aided by the fact that Callen is quite literally “the man with no name.” He has only a first initial because no one ever TOLD him what his first name was. Despite being raised in foster homes in Southern California during the 1970s and 80s, Callen has the background of a Dickensian orphan. The show delights in explaining EXACTLY how miserable a childhood he had, apart from a brief period as a teenager when he lived with a Russian foster family. This three month stay led to Callen’s fluency in Russian. (Again, the show in NO WAY attempts any kind of realism.) The mystery of Callen’s background is an overall arc for the show.

Callen’s horrible childhood is directly responsible for his success as an agent; the show suggests that his undercover work is simply an extension of the kind of lying and manipulation that he used to get by when he was young. Callen joined the military at 18 or so- possibly the Army, (the specific branch was never stated) and then was involved as at least a DEA agent and probably with other agencies before Hetty recruited him to join NCIS. Callen does not have a home and seems to move every two weeks, preferring rooming houses in the Venice Beach area. This is another extension of his angst, and one of the many reasons we like to call the show “NCIS:Gay.”

Callen’s most important relationship is with his partner, Sam Hanna, and they have been working together for at least three years. Callen isn’t quite sure of how “caring” works, and has a tendency to go off by himself when he’s in trouble, but when he does rely on someone, he relies on Sam. When Sam’s upset Callen will tease and needle him until Sam feels better. It seems to be the only way he knows how to communicate.

A more... expressive actor might play Callen as cut off from the world and wallowing in his own angst, but the limits of Chris O’Donnell’s range means that Callen tends to be more of a Spock or Data or 7 of 9 character. He’s confused by the world and how these things called “emotions” work, and relies on Sam, to explain it to him.

Sam Hanna (LL Cool J)



Sam is Callen’s partner; the yin to his yang, the Kirk to his Spock, the Doctor to his 7 of 9, the LaForge to his Data. Sam is open and easy going and the absolute heart of the show- we care about things (and Callen) because SAM cares about things. This is a completely different show without Sam Hanna.

Sam is a former Navy SEAL- this doesn’t get mentioned in every episode, but when it is mentioned it’s never mentioned once, it’s always mentioned at least a half dozen times. Sam is a straight shooter (lol), an optimist, the guy who hands in his collated reports on time and with color coded tabs. Sam quotes Spock, likes comic books and owns one of Michael Jackson’s sequined gloves that he keeps in a safe in his living room. Sam loves the rules, and he mothers G like crazy. He boxes with a heavy bag when he’s upset or stressed. Sam speaks and reads Arabic, and also seems to have a deep understanding of Islam- whether it’s personal or academic is something that the show hasn’t told us yet.

Sam spent a period with the SEALS in the Sudan, and during that time he rescued a Lost Boy and had him brought back to the United States. Despite having killed his father in action, Sam tried to give Mowahd (or Moe) a happy American life, but he fell in with an extremist group at a youth center and became involved with terrorism, although he later recanted and went to jail (see below). This is the source of much angst for Sam.

If Sam is Callen’s opposite, then LL Cool J is Chris O’Donnell’s opposite- LL is open and emotional and he acts with his face and his entire body. He laughs and cries- he can do more with one eyebrow than O’Donnell can do with his entire body. He’s AWESOME and he was one of the only actors who was ready to go with his character from the second the first episode aired.

(Whether you view them as a romantic pairing or not, it’s hard not to argue that the main relationship in the show is “partnership” between Sam and G. The bromance angle was played up strongly from the second part of the backdoor pilot, and articles about the show tend to emphasize it. NCIS: LA is much more of a buddy cop show than regular NCIS- the opening credits are primarily both Sam and G either running from explosions or looking at each other lovingly. The final scene of the backdoor pilot was Sam cradling a shot and bloody G to his chest while he screamed for help.)

Henrietta (Hetty) Lange (Linda Hunt)



Hetty was a late addition to the cast. The character first appeared in 1.01, rather than the backdoor pilot, and we were given to understand that she’d taken the place of Agent in Charge Lara Macy, a character that was dropped between the pilot and 1.01. Hetty’s title is “Operations Manager” and she reports to NCIS Director Leon Vance. Whether Hetty is Callen’s boss is open to interpretation.

Hetty is in charge of outfitting the group with everything they need, and is mostly concerned with wardrobe, and keeping the budget down. She is also one of the people responsible for recruiting and training new agents. Hetty is tiny and fierce and naturally quirky, she likes fencing, tea, “staycations,” cat videos on the Internet, and not spending the government’s money. Hetty prefers to be called “Miss” and likes to send jokes via text message- but hers are in Latin and Greek.

Hetty’s history is both incredibly rich and a mystery- she seems to have been both a secret agent AND a costume designer- and she knows everyone, and everyone owes her a favor. Literally; the group occasionally gets vital intelligence from older men who meet them in strange locations and end their conversations with “tell Hetty I said hi.” (This is canon.) Hetty is still haunted by the death of an agent that she was responsible for- or believes she was responsible for- and this comes up on occasion, most notably when she tried to resign in the wake of Dom’s death.

Linda Hunt is amazing- Hetty manages to mentor and not mother, and while her closest relationship seems to be with Callen, she’s also very close with Kensi. They two have had more than their share of close talks, and Hetty calls Kensi “dear heart.”

Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah)



Kensi is another one of the group’s special agents. She’s excellent at undercover work and great at thinking on her feet. Kensi knows her way around a car engine, too although she’s not afraid to take a battering ram to a car’s hood if a case calls for it. She’s not afraid to pee into a bag in the back of a car on stakeouts. Kensi likes breakfast burritos, but the cheese makes her voice all phlegmy. She’s great on a first date, but everything goes downhill after that. She a good enough fighter to be able to take down guys twice her size.

Kensi’s father was a Marine who was murdered when she was a teenager. He had to be identified by dental records, and the killers were never found. (The murder occurred while she was at the movies seeing “Titanic,” which nonetheless remains her favorite movie.) She’s also had to deal with the deaths of a partner and possibly a boyfriend. Kensi realizes that her dating commitment issues stem from the fact that the men she cares about keep dying.

Kensi was paired most often with Dom in the beginning episodes of the series, but as time went on she, Callen and Sam started working cases together. Kensi is the character most likely to point out that Sam and G act like a married couple. (This has been brought up, ON THE SHOW, at least three times.) Daniela Ruah took a little while to find the character, but she really picked it up about a third of the way through the season- she’s especially good with the more comedic moments.

Nate Getz (Peter Cambor)



Nate is the Operational Psychologist for the group, which means that he does a lot of profiling. Nate is extremely tall and a tremendous nerd, he’s also smart and very good with people- but that’s about all we know of him. Nate worries that the group doesn’t respect him (it’s easy to see why) and so his response for this was that during one episode he wore a suit and tie. Characters will often say things like “get out of my head, Nate!” in warning tones, because Nate follows them around and tries to get them to talk about what’s bothering them. He is occasionally successful. Nate used to have a scruffy beard, but then started shaving about halfway through the season.

Nate is also responsible for the psychological well being of the agents, which means that whenever a case hits too close to home for someone (this happens every episode) he has worried conversations with the other characters about their mental states. Nate also provides most of the exposition about the emotions of the characters on the show- this is mainly for viewers like my father who wouldn’t recognize that Callen is empathizing with a criminal because their backgrounds are similar unless Nate pointed it out to him. Although there are times when the show is able to use his psych-fu effectively (during certain interrogation scenes) these don’t happen enough and mainly Nate is left hanging around Headquarters saying things that are obvious.

Nate was most effectively used in the backdoor pilot as a sounding board and confidant for Agent Macy (since she was isolated as the Agent in Charge) but Hetty confides mostly in Callen, and so Nate is left with much less to do.

Eric Beal (Barrett Foa)



Eric is the Tech Operator for the group, which means that he mostly hangs out in the Operations Center, feeding information to the Agents via headset. Eric is the person in charge of the “cool toys,” and is the one calling up GPS fixes or gathering information on suspects or looking through security footage. (Yes, this is another awesome NCIS:Gay plot point- almost all of Southern California is covered with security and traffic cameras that broadcast is crystal clear HD and Eric can access all of them from the Ops Center.) Eric is usually the person giving the monologues that explain the plot of this week’s episode.

Eric wears loudly printed Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts, he’s a surfer, and he likes to do “wacky” things like ride around the office on a Segway and collect a thousand Facebook friends. Eric, along with Hetty, is responsible for most of the “quirkiness” in the show, although Linda Hunt is much more successful at this than Barret Foa. Eric also has a crush on NCIS Forensic Scientist Abby Sciuto (from the original NCIS) and took her out on a date during Pauley Perette’s crossover episode (she was kidnapped by a serial killer and had to be rescued). Eric is fluent in sign language.

Other Characters You Should Be Aware Of

Dominic Vail (Adam Jamal Craig)



Dom was not part of the backdoor pilot, but was a regular character starting with the first episode of the first season. An MIT grad and brand new special agent, Dom tried very hard to prove himself, especially to Sam. We learned very little about the character other than his nerdiness (he kept an alien bobblehead doll on his desk), that he used friendster and that he knew several cool people in Myanmar.

Unfortunately Dom was only given a couple of assignments in the field, and was relegated more and more to the background as the season went on. He usually ended up assisting Eric with computer stuff. Halfway through the season Dom was kidnapped (Missing, 1.13) and the team spent an entire episode in a desperate attempt to find him. While they found the kidnappers by the end of the episode, they were hired criminals, and they never knew who hired them. The episode ended with Dom still missing.

Eventually the terrorist group responsible for Dom’s kidnapping sent a video of him and it turned out that while they were pretending to hold him somewhere in the Middle East, he was in an abandoned theater in L.A. the entire time. (Found, 1.21) The group was able to get there to rescue him, but Dom was killed- he jumped in front of Sam to protect him. Dom’s death is the cause of a lot of angst for the LA group, especially Sam, and his green bobblehead is still on his desk.

Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen)



Deeks is an LAPD Detective that crossed paths with the gang during an undercover operation at a Mixed Martial Arts gym (1.19). The mess that resulted from two undercover operations converging led to Hetty having Deeks being assigned to the Office of Special Projects as an “LAPD Liaison,” even though every other LAPD officer hates him. He was the first non-NCIS character to appear at Headquarters. Deeks flirts like crazy with Kensi, who he likes to call Fern. He’s also a surfer. Deeks appeared in one other episode (1.20) where Callen thought that Hetty was recruiting him to be an agent, rather than a liaison.

Deeks disappeared at the end of 1.20 because he was needed on a “long term” undercover op for the LAPD. It was strongly suggested that he’ll be back. (You may recognize Olsen from his role on “Community” as Vaughn, the guitar-playing, hacky-sacking shirtless hippie guy.)

Mowahd (Moe) Dusa (Ronald Auguste)



Originally from the Sudan, Moe was brought to the U.S. at the age of seven by Sam Hanna after Sam killed Moe’s father when he was a Navy SEAL. Despite Sam’s efforts, Moe became disillusioned with American life (and the way he was judged by others as either a thug or a terrorist) and fell in with an extremist group at the Ethiopian Youth Center. (1.11) When he learned that Sam had killed his father he felt so betrayed that he ran away to Africa with members of the extremist group.

After leaving LA to head back to Northern Africa, Moe returned and was involved as one of the guards keeping Dom captive. He slipped Dom a key to help him escape, and later, after being caught by the NCIS:LA gang, Moe gave the group information that helped them apprehend a big time terrorist. Moe ended up going to jail, but Sam assured him that his assistance would count for something, and reminded him that they “are brothers.” (1.22)

(Ronald Auguste is an AMAZING actor and the scenes between Sam and Moe were some of the best in the entire season. I dare you to watch the two of them together, especially in some of the more emotional scenes, and not start bawling. He had better come back.)

Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll)



Vance is the Director of NCIS and as such responsible for the entire LA operation. Based out of Washington, D.C, Vance usually appears via video phone. The character is a regular on NCIS.

Lara Macy (Louise Lombard)



Macy was the Agent in Charge of the OSP during the backdoor pilot, and was subsequently transferred to Djibouti. (The character apparently didn’t test well with audiences.) Macy had a history with Gibbs (of regular NCIS) and most of her interactions during that episode were with Gibbs or Nate. She was killed (offscreen) during a seventh season episode of regular NCIS.

Mike Renko (Brian Avers)



Renko is another special agent character from the backdoor pilot who was dropped before the first season, however, he still pops up from time to time when the group needs another agent to assist. Very little is known about him other than that he and Callen once lived together on a houseboat.

Online Fandom

NCIS:LA is a small fandom, and because it’s a spin-off of regular NCIS, some of the communities cross over. ncis_newsletter, for example, covers both shows. Because the show is small many of the communities cover everything, from icons and fic to media and spoilers. ncis_la is a good place to find all of that. There’s also an icontest community at ncis_la_stills. ncis_bigbang also includes NCIS:LA.

The biggest pairing in the fandom is Sam/G. On lj they have their own community at ncis_salmon and at dreamwidth they can be found at The Boathouse. There’s also a general NCIS:LA slashfic community at ncisla_slash.

Other pairings are not to be overshadowed, though! There is kensi_callen, which has a very active community and is affiliated with danielaruahfans for anyone interested in the actress who plays Kensi.

Many of the actors on NCIS:LA are on twitter, including @llcoolj, @barrettfoa, @petercambor, @danielaruah and @adamjcraig.

Finally (and very much least) I have also done some recaps of the show with a heavy emphasis on the Sam and G interaction.

(Please please please let me know if there’s a community or a link that I’m leaving out and I will add it to the post as soon as I can. Thank you! And thank you to catwalksalone for the help with the overview.)