NCIS: LA Review: Russia, Russia, Russia (Season 12 Episode 11)

Callen’s close associations with Russia get him into hot water on NCIS: LA Season 12 Episode 11, “Russia, Russia, Russia.”

Now that we’re halfway through the season, it’s time for the show to set up the big case we’ll be following the rest of the way. Not only does this episode introduce the season’s real story, it shows us it’s been hiding in plain sight from the beginning.

The fascinating mission we have coming signals a return to what NCIS: LA does best.

As good as this hour is, it highlights how most of the earlier episodes were just treading water to get back to this moment. Moving forward, we’re going to need much more even storytelling, so everything doesn’t have to be revealed in one or two episodes.

In a continuation of NCIS: LA Season 12 Episode 1, “The Bear,” Callen interrogates one of the Russian crew members from the downed bomber, but he is the one detained when intel leads to him being a Russian spy.

We all know that Callen is not a Russian spy, but from the outside looking in, it’s very easy to see how ties to his father, Arkady, and Anna, coupled with his work in Ukraine would lead to questions. Add in his history of going rogue, and he doesn’t look like the most reliable agent.

It was great to see the show draw on the history that longtime fans are invested in. While we enjoy the cases of the week, and ongoing stories like this one, NCIS: LA needs to shake things up every once in a while with interesting callbacks.

We originally thought “The Bear” was a throwaway premiere, just meant to establish the new team, and set up new production protocols. However, it’s actually the lead-in to a much larger story about a Russian mole and captured agents.

Turns out Hetty has been in Syria trying to negotiate the release of agents posing as journalists. One of them may be the mole who’s been leaking misinformation about Callen.

NCIS: LA doesn’t do overarching stories as often as other shows, but when it does it’s very good at drawing out reveals. And we got a pretty major one at the end when we find out Callen is really working undercover as a Russian agent.

We don’t know where this is going, and we’re definitely excited about the journey, but it’s going to be a big letdown if this is just another rogue Callen operation.

At this point, we’ve seen Callen go off on his own so many times, we can set our clocks by it. It doesn’t show character growth if he continues to act like a lone wolf when things get too personal or too close to home.

It’s also exhausting to watch the team continually bail him out and forgive him, without Callen suffering any real consequences.

Despite the serious nature of the story, we got plenty of lighter moments as the team once again enlisted the help of mobster Kirkin. As usual, he shamelessly flirts with Deeks, then ropes him into some wild scheme, like modeling his terrible fashion line.

Between Callen’s interrogation and an op that resulted in the asset being poisoned, we definitely needed a few minutes of laughter to break up the dread this Russian plot is creating.

We can see that whatever Callen is working on, even if it’s sanctioned by Hetty or Vance, won’t end well for him or the team. They can only be involved in so many questionable missions before the threat to break them up becomes reality.

This season has given us a lot of questions so far. What’s Anna up to? Who’s behind the counterfeit superbills? Where’s Hetty? We got the answer about Hetty, but we’re still wondering if all of these will end up connected.

As this all unravels, the show needs to make sure this story isn’t all about Callen. The rest of the team has to be involved, so we feel like it’s a serious threat to the whole family, and stay invested until the end.

What did you think of this episode of NCIS: LA? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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NCIS: LA airs Sunday at 9/8c on CBS.

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