NCIS: Los Angeles - Savoir Faire - Review: "Character Fun"

This week in “Savoir Faire,” the NCIS: Los Angeles team had to track down two Afghan soldiers doing security training in the United States after a third Afghan soldier in their program was killed jogging on the beach. It turns out terrorists were after these men because they had knowledge about the Afghan army’s plan to cut off drug trafficking in Afghanistan (which would hurt the terrorists’ financing). When the men go missing, NCIS works to find them. One of the two men, Kamal, initially evades NCIS because he doesn’t know if he can trust them, and the other soldier is kidnapped on his way to a mosque. But NCIS eventually convinces Kamal to trust them, and together they rescue the other man from the terrorists.

I have to say, I thought the plot was a little convoluted. There were too many people involved, which became kind of hard to follow. But other than that, I really enjoyed this episode. That’s because “Savoir Faire” placed so much emphasis on all of our favorite “NCIS: LA” characters. There were a lot of funny moments and amusing scenes between the main four characters. Plus, Eric, Nell, Granger and Hetty all had some nice moments. And the partner swap was a great touch – a wonderful way to keep the character dynamics fresh and give us some unexpected situations.

The Partner Swap

I thought Callen and Deeks were a fun match. Deeks was typical Deeks, going on about his “s’more cakes” (pancakes with marshmallows and chocolate chips), which immediately got under Callen’s skin. Not only did he walk away, he shut the interrogation door in Deeks’ face as he kept talking. And I loved Kensi and Sam together. Kudos to the writers for this scene with all its parallels to Deeks and Kensi. When Kensi offered a good idea and Sam told her, “Touché,” you couldn’t help but smile as Kensi’s eyes grew wide. The questions in her voice were fitting as she asked Sam, “You know Deeks says that all the time?” Sam admits yes, but you have to wonder how he knows. He was a little mysterious as he just smiled back and claimed he knew why Deeks must say it a lot – because Kensi made a good call. This scene made me want to see more Sam and Kensi!

The Team

After being shot in the last episode, the team welcomed Sam back to work this week. And it was good to have him back. It didn’t take long before he was annoyed at Deeks, and soon the boys (especially Deeks and Callen) were all competing over who’d been shot the most. Deeks was shot once with two bullets while Callen had been shot multiple times, which he announced with pride. Kensi had only been shot through a vest, which the men clearly didn’t think counted. But Kensi’s response was perfect: “Apparently I’m the only one who’s smart.” This whole scene was pretty amusing, and so was Kensi pointing out their macho mentality.

I also enjoyed Granger’s challenge of Sam. He wanted Sam to prove that he was ready to be back at work in a field capacity, so he challenged him to do burpees (a strength-training exercise) at the gym. I loved the exchange between the two as Granger said, “Does this look like my joking face?” and Sam responded, “Do you even have a joking face?” Nice one, Sam! By the way, did you notice how big Sam looked next to Granger as they walked off to the gym together?

Sam and Callen

One of my favorite things in this episode was Callen’s attempt to find similarities between him and Sam while his partner continuously shut him down. It starts off with Callen being shocked that Sam is trading stocks with Granger. (It made me laugh that Callen acted so appalled, with Granger standing right there.) As Callen continues to ask questions, Sam says his partner is acting like he cheated on him. And Callen responds he didn’t know that Sam played the market – but maybe it’s a good thing that they don’t share everything in common. When Sam hears that, he is incredulous. Though he loves his partner like a brother, he claims he has nothing in common with him. Callen can’t believe that but Sam claims his buddy knows nothing about cars, music or clothes.

Callen lets it drop temporarily, but he brings up the topic again later when he tells Sam they can agree they both love beer. But Sam surprises him again by stating that while he will drink a beer, he actually likes champagne better. Now Callen is determined to find something in common with his partner. He thinks they both like basketball – but Sam likes football better. What about pancakes? No, Sam prefers waffles. What a great dynamic throughout the episode as Callen tries desperately to find their common ground, believing they have some, while Sam is absolutely sure they do not. I love that they both see their partnership differently: Callen thinks they are a lot alike while Sam focuses on their differences.

I don’t know how Hetty found out about their dispute, but she eventually finds the one thing they both appreciate – Claude Monet paintings. I never would have guessed they shared that bond, but I loved Callen’s reaction. He first has no idea how Hetty knew about their discussion, and then he just has to laugh (especially as Hetty says she finds the paintings a little dainty herself).

One thing I noticed about Sam and Callen is how much they have mastered the art of intimidation. It’s apparent when Callen takes a picture of the DEA agent at the beach, saying their boss Hetty always keeps a file of federal agents who “obstruct their investigations.” They got what they wanted pretty quickly after that. Then when they interviewed the trainer of the Afghan soldiers, Callen was quite tough on him as he implied (and then outright stated) that it was the man’s fault the two soldiers were missing. And after they captured their terrorists’ driver, Sam and Callen both knew how to work the man to get the information they needed – both with intimidation and misdirection. These two have skills.

At the same time, Sam displayed a trusting side with Kamal, and a warm, sensitive side when he said goodbye to the man. Sam was the only one who had fully believed in him. After Nell had profiled Kamal as possibly running away to stay in the U.S. (a profile that turned out to be wrong), Sam expressed his belief that this was a soldier who would die for his country and do what was asked. When they finally found Kamal and went in to rescue his friend, Sam was the one who trusted Kamal enough to give him a gun (Deeks’ gun, no less – Deeks didn’t seem as enthusiastic about that decision). When Sam said goodbye to Kamal, you could feel the bond between two men who understood and appreciated each other. I always love seeing that softer, caring side of Sam.

Kensi and Deeks

I enjoyed the scene where Deeks and Kensi are canvassing beach vendors to look for Kamal. This was really the only scene where we saw them partnered together, but it was a good one. Kensi is doing all the work while Deeks is trying on hats and sunglasses. He is easily distracted. But he is also smart and he adeptly predicts Kamal would have needed a disguise. So they go inside and start talking to the woman who works there. The woman was quite a character, and Deeks played off her well. She did see the Afghan soldier, and she thought he was “weird” because he came in early, bought unfashionable clothing and didn’t want change. The woman was funny, and so was how Deeks interacted with her. When she tells him, “I like you,” he doesn’t miss a beat as he responds back with enthusiasm, “I like you!” And then when the lady says he must be a Capricorn, Kensi comments that he is definitely something! The whole time, Kensi is just watching Deeks with this you’re-seriously-crazy look on her face.

Out of all the great scenes this week, I think my favorite was the one where Deeks is alone in the boatshed and just starts talking to himself. He begins by complimenting Callen, clapping as he watches G’s interrogation prowess on the screen. Then Deeks starts giving his own armchair analysis, which includes comparing his own skills with Callen’s. As always, Deeks holds a high opinion of himself. Deeks says he used to do the same thing, only in the courtroom with a judge and jury watching. As he is going on and making motions of a gun with his hands, suddenly Eric appears on the screen from Ops, and Deeks is caught. “You know that I can hear you, right?” Eric asks him. Then Nell appears – and Granger. They all heard him talking to himself (or “giving an inner monologue,” as Deeks justifies), and he can’t hide his quirkiness. He also can’t help but be a little embarrassed. (We don’t often get to see him embarrassed, so this was kind of fun.) Mostly he just tries to explain away his actions, but they don’t buy it.

Nell and Eric

I love Eric’s offbeat humor that doesn’t mesh with everyone else’s. First Eric tries to interact with the team by calling Sam “bulletproof,” and then he says he’s got a “beach body,” which is his way of saying they’ve got a dead body on the beach, but of course he opens himself up to Deeks’ mockery with that one. Lucky for him, though, none of this teasing ever fazes Eric.

I was very happy to see Nell and Eric getting more screen time this week. And it was really nice to see them in a significant scene together. It seems like they haven’t had any real substantial interactions since Christmas. So I enjoyed seeing them talking in Ops. It’s funny how Eric is always a little hesitant or nervous to bother Nell. But he eventually tells her that he phoned a friend to get information about a missing DEA agent. Nell picks up that the friend is a woman and questions him about it. I loved his response: “I do have female friends, you know.” Then he makes sure to tell her that they didn’t date and their relationship is platonic and “collegial.” Nell seems cool with the information. This situation could have been awkward between them but it wasn’t at all. It ended up being cute. No one was jealous (which was refreshing to me) but Eric still wanted to volunteer the information about the state of his relationship with his female friend. He didn’t want Nell to incorrectly read anything into it.

Other amusing moments between the two included Nell trying to help Eric see a pattern in the credit card statements, which Eric called a “teaching moment,” and the two of them watching an awkward phone call with Hetty. I was surprised that Nell was the one who couldn’t turn away from the “car accident.” But Eric made me laugh when he asked Hetty if she wanted to talk about the rough call. I love that Eric has no savoir faire. He makes wrong comments at the wrong times (just like Deeks), but it’s part of his charm. I also enjoyed how Eric really wanted kudos for finding Kamal (to which Deeks amusingly told him to take a virtual pat on the back “for doing his job”… a funny thing coming from Deeks, who also likes to receive credit for things).

The episode ends with Nell approaching Hetty about her profile of Kamal. He was trustworthy, but Nell had suspected him of taking off. She doesn’t like that she was wrong. But Hetty reassures her that intelligence can be wrong because people are human and hard to fully understand. Nell isn’t exactly comforted, but the fact that Hetty still believes in her holds a lot of weight for Nell. She is encouraged by Hetty’s support.

What did you think of "Savoir Faire?" Did you like the partner swap? Did you have a favorite scene or moment? Tell us what you thought in the comments below.

About the Author - Tonya Papanikolas

Tonya Papanikolas is an online, print and broadcast journalist who loves covering entertainment and television. She spent more than 10 years as a broadcast news anchor/reporter and now does everything from hosting to writing. She loves covering NCIS: Los Angeles for SpoilerTV. (She's a big fan of Kensi and Deeks!) She also writes SpoilerTV articles on other great shows.