NCIS: Los
Angeles – The Fourth Season (2012 – 2013/CBS DVD Set)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: A Episodes: C+
It has
been a while since we’ve seen NCIS: Los
Angeles, but we pick up on The
Fourth Season with more of the same crime action going on as it did in the
first two seasons as reviewed at these links:
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10547/NCIS:+Los+Angeles+%E2%80%93+T
Two
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11185/Hawaii+Five-O+%E2%80%93+The+Fi
Picking
up from The Third Season
(unreviewed), Cullen is accused of murdering a suspect in cold blood, but that
is the least of their problems, as murderers, terrorists and extremists fill
the streets of LA with drugs and guns, Cullen and his team must face the
various ghosts from Hetty and Granger's past. They will have to go undercover and lives are
on the line when they discover sleeper cells with nuclear weapons in the United States
and “failure is not an option”.
We get
more action, explosions and gun fights with NCIS: Los Angeles with its own West Coast style, but doesn't stop
them from going international. To recap,
the team is made up of a group of agents directed and given assignments by
former intelligence agent Hetty, whose past is shrouded in mystery with the
equally mysterious Assistant Director Granger. The team seems to works in pairs, Cullen and
Sam as field team leaders, Kensi and Deeks acts as inspectors, undercover
agents, or point man (or woman) for the team, and Eric and Nell as their nerdy
tech and computer specialist.
NCIS: Los Angeles is a poor man’s version of NCIS, a hot spin off of the very long-running original series. It does a West Coast version of NCIS with a younger crew geared to more
action than solving a murder mystery and the characters are a bunch of agents
made from various agencies rather than of military background, and their cases
are rarely or very loosely related to the Navy. The plots tend to be following, interrogating
and just shooting the bad guys, while the characters have a tendency for
insubordination and breaking the rules, but they are always in the right and
above the rules because of the patriot act and national/homeland security.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is just too overstylized and maybe more
than the series began on, while the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes on each show
need lossless badly and are too much in the front channels. The combination is weaker than expected,
especially considering how much better the earlier episodes played on
Blu-ray. Extras include sound off of
team NCIS, interview with Chris O'Donnell, assembly of NSIC headquarters, and
reflections and commentary from cast and crew.
Wish we were having as much fun as they apparently are.
---------------------------------------------------------
Endgame - As Cullen faces the charge of
murder, Hetty resigns in order to solve the case.
Recruit - After a drone strike with a
body of a dead Marine, NCIS investigates a possible leak in the U.S.
military.
The Fifth Man - Four men from an online video
game has been murdered, but they are related to a military program.
Dead Body Politics - NCIS must protect U.S. Senate
candidate.
Out of the Past - Sam investigates after an
ex-CIA friend is found murdered.
Rude Awakenings - NCIS discovers Russian sleeper
cells with nuclear weapons hidden in America for decades.
Skin Deep - NCIS must recover a stolen top
secret military robotics technology.
Collateral - A CIA agent from Hetty's past
is found murdered.
The Gold Standard - NSIC must recover $70 million
in gold when it is stolen from a Federal Reserve truck.
Free Ride - The team investigates a NCIS
agent murder on a battleship at sea.
Drive - A woman from Deeks’ past
uncovers an international car smuggling ring and now she is missing.
Paper Soldiers - NCIS investigates after a
private investigator is found murdered investigating a military body.
The Chosen
One - NCIS must
stop an extremists group from a terrorist bombing.
Kill House - When a group of Special Forces
was ambushed on a mission, NCIS must discover their intelligence
breach.
History - NCIS finds a new radical group
that resembles a group from the past.
Lokhay - Sam breaks protocols to help a
man who saved his life long ago.
Wanted - The murder of a hitman signals
the return of nuclear weapons dealer Sidorov.
Red - NCIS partners up with mobile
NCIS HQ.
Red-2 - The team is split up to track a
terrorist.
Purity - The team must stop an extremist
group from poisoning the entire city's water with cyanide.
Resurrection - The team must convince a young
guitarist to rat out the mob boss, a man who's been the closest thing to a
father for him.
Raven & the Swans - NCIS investigates a mysterious
woman with ties to Hetty's past.
Parley - While working undercover Deeks
gets involved with a young woman who stole a fortune in diamonds.
Descent - The hunt for the lost nuclear
weapons continues, as Deeks pays the ultimate price for being an undercover
agent.
- Ricky Chiang
