florerr

Ladybird16

My below thoughts might sound a bit depressing, but it's how I've personally been feeling about this show the last few years.
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Truth be told, even before the plug was officially pulled, I had my suspicions about this being the last Season.

Lots of signs were there: 10 pm time slot is terrible during football season, Budget cuts were getting worse, main 4 were forced to take 4 random episodes off, writing quality was getting really subpar, and CBS needed a long running costly veteran to pull. Even the big numbers that whole 3 part crossover pulled in wasn't enough to save it.

And honestly, with there being less BTS content then ever, it felt like everyone was getting tired of trying to promote the show with how lousy it was getting. Seemed to me like everyone was just waiting for Hetty to return so they'd have something big to promote.

This whole Season, was just really subpar. Main 4 were stuck with 4 random episodes off, which really seemed to mess with the whole team feeling. Whatever personal issue everyone was dealing with was brought up at random times. Felt like there was way more talking then action. I didn't really care about endlessly hearing about Densi raising a teenager, or whatever Fatima and Roundtree were going through, I just wanted to hear about Hetty finally being found and her and Callen finally getting to talk again. And of course, that was shoved aside as well.

The happy feeling I had with this show basically slowly dimmed with Season 10, and it's felt like everyone has just been going through the motions since that Season ended. Teases going nowhere or being dragged out to infinity was really frustrating. And it felt like the only thing keeping me going was the endless teasing about Hetty.

As for if there's any moments from this Season I enjoyed, it was nice to see the neat way they inserted Hetty into the crossover, and I was more then happy to hear of the peaceful way that whole Subject 17 stuff ended, and I'm glad it ended with Callen and Sam finally getting to look for Hetty. Retrospective was also lovely.

Maybe after a few months have passed, and hopefully sometime after these Hollywood unions work out their issues, folks will regroup and think of some ways to give fans what they've been waiting for a very long time. Like maybe a Hetty prequel or a big movie on P+ showing the rescue mission and the happy reunions (which sounds a lot better then 2 42 minute episodes overstuffed with ad breaks.).

All and all, I loved this show when it was in it's glory days, and I wish life circumstances didn't affect everything as much as it did. And I wish this Season was planned out better.

Here's to hopefully getting some kind of satisfactory reunion in the future that we can all love. 🍷

florerr

I get your frustration.

I still have around 6 episodes left from the show, and while I did enjoy season 14 in general - it has changed, and left quite a few threads open.

I would have prepared to have Hetty somewhere happily retiring, or out of harm's way instead of basically disappearing and just switching locations. But at least they were able to fix the mess they made with Callen's past...

Ladybird16

I thought for sure Hetty would've shown up for the wedding, or at least at the reception. I love hearing her voice, but it would've been better to see her 1 last time. I hope their search gets an update next Season on either of the NCIS's

florerr

I guess they did the best they could with Linda's availability...

that Sam will confirm that Hetty has been found next year, when he pops up in Hawai'i...

Ladybird16

Yeah.

shinebrighterxx

Thanks for starting this thread
I'm too tired to read the posts for now so I'll come back later in the week to respond better

florerr

Take your time!

Since I'm making my way through the latest seasons, it was in my mind to start the season threads, as I'm not that good with the episode-to-episode posting

shinebrighterxx

Understandable that you feel that way . Honestly I think they wrote themselves into a box they couldn't get out of. Linda wasn't available, but they kept hoping she would be. They should've just wrapped things up for the Callen/Hetty storyline a lot earlier, then if they got Linda back great, if not at least they aren't dragging things out or making things worse.

It is unfortunate that everyone had to have four episodes off. It is more noticeable for the four leads, but everyone still had their 'missing' moment. These absences made for harder storytelling. They couldn't carry on storylines, instead they jumped around a bit all based on who was available. Sometimes things just didn't fit right. But it is what it is, & they didn't do too bad with what they had to work with. Honestly they were lucky they got this season, they weren't sure if last season would be the last, so I think they just wanted to wrap up as much as they could & fit a lot in. They had ideas, started things they couldn't finish, & that is unfortunate. But that was their little sparks of hope that things would turn out different & CBS would give them another lifeline.

I'll never understand why LA was ever moved to a Sunday. It seems like a silly day of the week to be airing a primetime show. It survived there for a very long time though. So to me it was the writing & dragging silly storylines (like the Hetty one) out which did it harm more than the day or timeslot

florerr

The Sunday timeslot fit them for years

Yeah, there biggest problem was not wrapping up the Hetty-storyline when they still had a chance.
I didn't mind the change with Kilbride as he was good, and the actor is/was amazing - but Hetty should have quietly retired instead of going off on an "adventure" for years...

... yes, the minus 4 episodes are very noticable in this season - especially that it made things odd at times... I didn't the personal storytelling challenges, as that still made the show - but things definitely stayed unfinished...

shinebrighterxx

It did work for them, yes. If it had been a new move it could've been their downfall. I think the later timeslot just was CBS showing that they'll air it but they know it has run its course

Hetty retiring would've been better. They still could've had her come back if Linda was up for it. She still could've appeared. They needed to face reality that she couldn't easily come back & write her out though. Not tease her for years.

It was fine for them to be gone, but I don't think it was handled well. It felt choppy I guess? They'd be working on one thing then have to jump to something else because that actor wasn't in the next episode.

florerr

Yep, retiring with a chance of reappearing would have made a lot more sense

Yep, if they would have planned better when to address certain storylines in one go, instead of playing around with the "available ingredients" for every single episode this season, it would not have been so odd at times...

... we had at least one episode with Kilbride in ops, and even one where Runtree's ex was the accompanying agent... it was just odd pairings, and presents or absences throughout this season

shinebrighterxx

Yes

Maybe they didn't have the time to plan it all out? But it did need better planning so it wasn't as jumpy. It was always going to be odd having the cast coming & going though, especially when it was everyone who needed to have four episodes off. That's a lot to work out

Exactly. Whoever was available was roped in to do things

florerr

And it worked out, but it also left an odd taste...

... olus I would have loved to see some of the side stories explained. Kilbride's son & ex-wife, Fatima & the other agent, or even Kilbride's assistant would have had mode story time dedicated to them whenever the main 4 just wasn't fully there

shinebrighterxx

Exactly. It is a shame when they brought Kilbride's son up as by that point there wasn't time to fully explore it. I get it was setting things up just in case, but it just wasn't necessary when they could've used that time for wrapping up other stories.