DVD Reviews

NCIS: Los Angeles - The First Season - DVD Review

By Patrick Luce Oct 5, 2010, 15:13 GMT

The Office of Special Projects (OSP) is a clandestine division of NCIS and is located in Los Angeles, California. They go deep undercover to capture criminals that are threatening national security. They have access to the latest technological developments. The team includes G Callen, the chameleon; Sam Hanna, Callen\'s partner and a surveillance expert; Kensi Lo, the adrenalin junkie and Nate Getz, the Psychologist to help the team with the ...more

NCIS: Los Angeles - The First Season does an excellent job separating itself from the original NCIS series, and giving fans a reason to like the new series on its own.

The show features a slicker feel, a little less comedy, and amps up the action. Like NCIS, it also features an ensemble cast with great chemistry.

Led by Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J, NCIS: Los Angeles features standout performances from its cast of fresh faces including Daniela Ruah, Barrett Foa, Peter Cambor, and Adam Jamal Craig.

It also benefits greatly from the brilliant performance of Linda Hunt. The series might be anchored in action, but Hunt brings the laughs and steals every scene she is in from the two macho male leads. She is the reason I quickly started loving the series and was willing to continue giving it a chance when a few episodes stumble.

The first season serves as a way to meet the new team; establish the characters and the team’s chemistry; and demonstrate how the series is going to be different from the original NCIS.

The show’s writers do an excellent job of giving the series a different vibe thanks to the squad specializing in undercover work and the cases seeming a tad grander than the simple murder episodes of NCIS.

Instead of solving who killed some military officer week to week, the NCIS: Los Angeles squad seems to focus on national matters (such as money counterfeiting or national terrorist threats), and is led by former SEAL Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) and mystery man G. Callen (O'Donnell).

Callen and Hanna are great as partners, and the two actors have great banter back and forth. The two characters appear to be friends, and look out for each other. They often clash in their method of approaching a case, but the job always gets done.

Callen is mysterious and provides the show with its season long story arc as fans slowly learn more about the character (for instance we have no idea what the G stands for and know he comes from a troubled childhood that saw him bouncing around from foster home to foster home).

He is a little bit of damaged goods, but believes in doing the job and benefits from the guidance of Linda Hunt’s Henrietta 'Hetty' Lange – who is twice as tough as any of the male leads despite being half their size.

Hanna believes in doing the job and doing it right. His SEAL background is what defines his character and his beliefs (something that is put in question during an episode concerning rogue SEALS). Like Callen, he is guided by Hetty into broadening his belief system, and will do anything to save a fellow teammate. He also seems to be Callen’s guardian angel and is always on the lookout to keep Callen out of the danger he tends to get into.

The rest of the ensemble cast fill in the gaps with Special Agent KensiBlye (the strikingly beautiful Ruah) providing a strong female character that can hang with the big boys; tech Operator Eric Beale (Foa) giving the show laughs and making sure it stays up on the latest gadgets; operational psychologist Nate Getz (Cambor) trying to fit in with all the action while giving the show a psychological breakdown of each episode's baddies; and Dominic Vaile (Adam Jamal Craig ) filling the show's probie spot.

The series starts a bit rocky, but quickly finds its stride and hooks you thanks to the chemistry of its cast, and the slick fast pace of each episode. There is a formula in place, and watching episodes back to back makes it stick out a little more than watching them on a weekly basis.

Still, the cast and creators keep the show moving and provide plenty of action mixed with laughs so the formula never gets tedious.

Since it has such a different vibe from the original, it really isn’t fair to compare it to NCIS. The writers do an excellent job of not having NCIS cast members pop up in the spin-off show – although the crossover episodes of NCIS kick off the season set and NCIS’ Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) appears in an episode.

The season one set comes loaded with special features that take a look at the making of the show, further introduces the characters and their settings (their headquarters is greatly different than the cold office setting of NCIS). The features will be enjoyed by diehard fans of the new show, but help get new fans informed on what to expect from the series.

NCIS: Los Angeles - The First Season is a great start to the new show and does an excellent job separating it from NCIS while promising big things from season two. The show does follow an established pace and formula, but is still well-worth watching thanks to the chemistry of its cast.

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