NCIS: Los Angeles Review: A Spy in Love

This week the Office of Special Projects of NCIS: Los Angeles tries to smoke out a North Korean spy. The case seems cut and dry considering the dangers North Korea poses, however not everything is as it seems.

NCIS is tasked with protecting the Commander of the Pacific Command while he’s in town. Granger doesn’t much care for the situation, but Hetty is has her reasons for insisting on this one (to which she will later reply something about being in the right place at the right time). They don’t expect trouble, but they encounter protesters. Sung Ahn, a South Korean Intelligence Officer, informs NCIS that someone in the meeting may have ties to North Korea. Hetty instructs the rest of the team to remain at their stations, and let Sam infiltrate the South Korean security team. Sam proves himself to the team and gets bonus points for pointing them in the direction of a good, local karaoke bar. James Kang, a South Korean Assistant Attache, is a person of interest after a series of suspicious behaviors, not the least of which is that he is not allowed a Concealed Weapons Permit.

The team figures out Kang has been using a nurse who visited South Korea on a relief trip to transfer information. Kang is really a North Korean spy, but he was forced into the life against his will when he was a teenager. He used this trip the mission to seek asylum in the United States because he wants to trade in his life as a spy for a life with the nurse he fell in love with. Kang failed in his mission to deliver the codes of the Sanctuary Missile System to a mole for a security firm. If you fail in your mission, you don’t live to tell the tale. North Korean spies then wage war in a massive shootout with Kang, his girlfriend Dawn, Sam, and Granger. They win the battle, round up some more North Korean spies for good measure, and make arrangements for Kang and Dawn to be placed in a safehouse together.

This week’s personal story keeps in line with the struggles of spies in love. Kensi’s lack of cleanliness is going to be a lifelong struggle for Deeks at this rate. He’s already struggling with living with Kensi’s mess, and he can no longer look at her desk at work. Love means accepting your partner’s flaws. If a nurse can stay with a North Korean spy after spending a day getting shot at, Deeks can accept Kensi’s flaws. Accepting Kensi’s messiness is a small price to pay when he can see the look on her face at her father’s medal which Deeks had framed.

In the end, no amount of undercover spy missions can stop true love.