NCIS: Los Angeles takes a stand on behalf of veterans with PTSD this week. It’s an emotional case for Kensi, as she is tasked with taking out a sniper with skills all too similar to her own.
Connor Rutnam is a former Marine sniper who escaped from the VA hospital where he was receiving treatment for PTSD. The team’s worst fears are confirmed when Nell discovers that Putnam has been constantly watching clips on the Internet where another sniper shot and killed innocent students while in need of PTSD treatment himself.
What is more disturbing is that someone was waiting for Putnam on the outside. Callen and Sam are able to track down the car via a very smart homeless vet, who no longer trusts the system that let him down. In the meantime, Deeks and Kensi work undercover at the VA and find that one of the nurses was stealing medication from the hospital to sell on the street, but he had nothing to do with the drugs found under Rutnam’s bed.
The nurse is able to lead them to one of Rutnam’s fellow soldiers, Mark Simmons, who seems to have drugged Rutnam with scopolamine in order to do the bidding of a right-wing extremist group. First, the white supremacist group a few weeks ago, and now this? Seriously people, what is with all of the hate?
After a shot is taken at a protest, the team pulls in the leader of the extremist group. I can only take about ten seconds of this racist garbage, but the team is able to prove that he is not involved in Rutnam’s escape. It turns out Rutnam’s manipulation is courtesy of his friend Simmons, who has been working with Al Qaeda. Using an American sniper to start a new war with Muslims is easy to do when he’s been drugged up. In order to stop an assassination attempt of a well-respected Muslim, Kensi must take a sniper shot at Rutnam. Her hands are steady, but luckily, Sam and Callen arrive in time so that the only shot Kensi has to take is at the rifle.
Parallel to the life and death situation, there is an ongoing conversation among the agents about children. Deeks decides to become a Big Brother mentor, and this starts up the conversation of having kids. Sam, as the only member of the group who has children, warns his friends that talk is cheap. It is the reactions that come out of this talk that are interesting. Deeks’ mentoring inspires him to talk about this experience as a precursor for having kids of his own someday. This causes Kensi to stand up just a little too straight with a petrified look on her face. The other surprise comes from Callen, who says that with Joelle by his side he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of starting a family one day. I give major props to Sam for describing Callen’s hopes to have “little lowercase g’s running around.” I also get the feeling this isn’t the last we will hear on this topic, at least where Densi is concerned, especially since this isn’t the first time this topic has come up.
How moving was this important story about the need for more help for veterans with PTSD?
[Photo via CBS]
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