It’s traditional for a series finale to, you know, wrap up things.
NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Episode 21 took a much different approach in its conclusion.
Callen and Anna’s storyline took its next natural step, which was the highlight of the finale. Beyond that, almost every other storyline was left hanging.
The only way this makes any sense is if CBS announces the latest NCIS spinoff this week.
The only other possibility was that producers didn’t get word of cancellation in time to rearrange the final season adequately. That doesn’t seem likely, as cancellation has been possible for the past few years.
Before anything else could happen, the team had to wrap up its current gunrunning case as quickly as possible to allow time to address all the personal storylines (or so we thought).
Sam and Callen rather expeditiously got out of their threatening situation unscathed, although the Challenger wasn’t nearly as fortunate.
You would think finding out the AFT agent who recruited OSP for this case was in league with the gunrunners largely should have cleared Newsome. But why go for the obvious when you can seek the convoluted? Newsome’s loyalty remained in doubt.
This resulted in too many overwatch scenes, with the obligatory Deeks riffing and Kensi eye-rolling. It’s their thing, so there had to be an unhealthy dose of it in the conclusion.
Fortunately, Deeks determined they could speed things along by moving overwatch closer to the action, leading him to distract the guard by pretending to look for his pet snake. At the same time, Kensi planted cameras on the vans to check out their contents.
Being nearer to the house also meant they were simpler to find as Kensi got ambushed by a surprisingly unarmed guard. Those two and Newsome had cleaned out the security and recovered the weapons a few shots later.
Newsome tried to be sociable, chatting with Kensi and Deeks afterward. But some Deeks went a long way and reaffirmed Newsome’s choice of lone-wolf status.
The more enjoyable part of the operation was Nina’s helping Sam and Callen infiltrate an illegal financial network.
Castor, the OSP’s resident sitter, finally got to converse. Unfortunately, most of his dialogue featured him being ragged on by Nina.
Nina had a viable plan to withdraw the funds she needed to pay off Switch (Sam). They occupied the outpost’s staff while Callen snuck in to access the air-gapped computer.
Another stray guard led to another firefight; the net result was that the data unloaded to Ops led to the gunrunners’ boss. It was case closed by the halfway mark, which took a bit too long.
Let’s start with the storylines that weren’t even addressed in the finale.
Sam’s plan for Richard to enter a drug trial for his increasing dementia was covered on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Episode 20. Other than her catching Anna’s bouquet, Fatima’s future wasn’t touched upon. Finally, Kilbride’s relationship with his son Alex wasn’t mentioned.
This meant the other four squad members received some resolution. That’s more than half of them.
Let’s go from least to most interesting.
Rountree’s sister Jordyn had an encouraging interview at one of her grad-school choices. Then they received a settlement offer from their suit against the LAPD large enough to change the course of their futures, should they accept it. But we’ll never learn if they will.
Then Kensi’s stomach discomfort took a surprising turn. It wasn’t that Deeks’ leftover shwarma that she’d eaten had gone bad.
Instead, Kensi’s doctor called to tell her she was pregnant and that it was normal for couples trying too hard to get pregnant actually to get pregnant after they stopped trying.
Kudos to Rosa for handling the baby news excellently, being excited about becoming a big sister rather than worrying about how Kensi and Deeks would treat her after they had a child of their own. She knows they love her and is secure in her place in their lives.
Kensi’s pledge to keep her pregnancy secret didn’t hold up, as Anna remarked how Kensi looked like she was glowing. Kensi had to have told her.
And wouldn’t you like to know if Arkady and Roberta ever become a couple?
Callen and Anna’s ceremony had been heading in this direction for weeks. Much of the burden of planning had fallen on Anna, thanks to workaholic Callen. She was severely stressed out, partly due to Arkady’s “help.”
Callen had eyes and made the right call to line up a City Hall ceremony, inviting just the essential guests.
A highlight was Sam and Callen’s warm moment before the ceremony when they set aside the wisecracks for a moment to say how they really felt about each other.
The ceremony was simple but lovely as the couple finally wed after all the travail in their relationship.
Hetty did make an appearance of sorts when the mysterious Muslim man showed up with a letter from her for Callen. It was a heartwarming moment with the voiceover of Linda Hunt reading the letter.
But that twist ending … huh? The plane tickets to Morocco were really from Nell, who lured Sam and Callen there to work with Sabatino, Nate, and a new guy to rescue Hetty from her latest misadventure.
And that was it, after 14 seasons. A cliffhanger with no other episodes scheduled. Are they going to clean that up on the mothership? Or is there another surprise coming?
To revisit favorite moments, watch NCIS: Los Angeles online.
What did you think of the finale?
How did you like Hetty’s appearance?
What’s up with that ending?
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Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.