Remember the line from A Few Good Men: 'YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!'? Well, it kind of applies to this episode and how I'm feeling about it. (Not to mention, there's a Hetty quote here that goes 'The truth is a fickle thing'). I'll get to that in a bit.
Basically, this whole hour was about rewriting Callen's past (first, it was he was in a bunch of foster homes and then met Hetty when he was a teenager when she took him in. Now, it's been changed to 'was apparently in a government program meant to train him to be a spy when he was just a kid', and that he apparently knew Hetty from as young as 8, however that's supposed to go.), going after his crazy ex girlfriend Joelle, and a lot of other junk.
The parts I liked:
Sam trying to tell Callen to move on from digging around the rabbit holes of his past. (seriously, lots of kids are trained at very young ages for a number of activities! What's the big deal here? This was back in the 70's, during very difficult times!)
Hetty and Kensi's talk. I loved their talks in Seasons 1-3.
Hetty and I are both night owls. (well, I'm a recurring night owl.)
The familiar banter and humor, and the teamwork.
Callen sending Zasha to look after Hetty
The parts I hated:
The way Callen acted towards Hetty in the burn room. Back in Season 4's Raven and the Swans, he found out about her training orphans to fight crime, and that confrontation was bizarrly similar to this one. The difference was: That confrontation ended with them being on good terms, this one, Hetty left before they could make up. Which begs the question: Why did he blow up at her in the first place?! (or the real question: Why was that scene forgotten in the first place?!)
Every time that bitchy admiral Kilbride talked. Just, why was he kept?! I know the actor is well known among a lot of old folks, but come on! What good is this fool?! From that confrontation with Callen in the armory, to bringing up what happened to Hetty in Season 9 in a very inappropriate way, just. Why was he kept? He's worse then that awful woman that was temporally Hetty's partner in Season 9!
And the part that made me want to explode in anger:
These few words right after the opening credits:
'Special Guest Star Linda Hunt'.
Yeah. You read that correctly. The living breathing heart of this show, is now just a 'Special Guest Star' instead of a Series Regular. (even though she's in the opening credits next to Kilbride AND is listed in the future episode press releases by CBS under the Series regular list!)
That massive punch in the gut, made every single promotional article and Tweet that I've read about Hetty returning, a massive, stinking, lie!!!
CBS has lied to me, the producers have once again lied to me about the possibility of more Hetty, and I hate it so much. There really is no respect for older actors anymore, is there? (yet, older actors in stuff I watch on Hallmark get much better respect!).
Ever since July 3rd, 2018, when Linda was involved in that accident. I kept hoping that she would return full time one day. Yet, every time that 1 of the producers said that she would be back more, she only ended up being in a few episodes. And it's been happening since Season 11. Just 1 promotional plug after another, all to get fools like me to tune into the episode all so excited at seeing her, for 1, stinking, episode.
You know, I may not know the whole truth behind her extended abscences, and I don't know if I ever will. But I'm now starting to wonder if there ever WAS a plan to bring her back full time, or if that was another lie told in interviews to get us to think that she would be around more. Or who knows, maybe this was the plan all along: Just push the old lady boss aside and send her to foreign countries on missions that never get seen unless something goes horribly wrong and focus more on the married couple that is becoming more annoying with their endless baby talk with every episode!
You know, (again), I've seen the producers say all this sweet sweet crap about how 'special' Linda is, and a lot of other hooey. Well, how 'special' is she that these kind of stunts are pulled, huh?! And if this really was her choice, then why not just SAY that this was her choice to work part time??!! This is absolutely disgraceful. And looks like another example of elder abuse that I've seen since March 2020, and who knows how many other old actors have been treated horribly this past year because of this awful government!
Back on Topic:
Sigh. Long story short: Hetty is back in Syria, cleaning up a mess she made in Season 12, no idea what it is, or how long it'll last, but I imagine it'll be for a long time.
Here's the painful truth that I realized after that episode: All that hoping for Hetty to return full time? Everything I endured since Season 10? It was all for nothing. That alone, stings far more then this stupid episode. And fully proves that July 3rd 2018 is the day that this show started it's never ending downward spiral. Because what are you supposed to do when you want to push aside your best actress? Turn the most popular couple into a baby obsessed mess? Rewrite the top agent's history again? Apparently so!! (sarcasm)
If this is the sad direction that this once great show wants to go on because well, 'restarting and reinventing is exciting!', then I think I'm going to have to take a small step back and start recording these episodes and reading spoilers on Twitter to determine if I want to watch the episode. In fact, that is exactly what I plan on doing with next week's episode, which according to the press release, is going to be about liberal politics and more eye rolling baby talk.
Sigh. :( I have no idea if Linda chose this, or if the producers made that decision for her, (I don't even know if I want to find out that answer!) but I do know this: The terrible writing? The 'promotional stunts that only last 1 episode when they're worded to last much longer'? That is all on the producers and writers, they only have themselves to blame. And if it turns out that they told Linda to only be part time? Then they deserve to be fired.
The truth really is a fickle thing. How about that?
My only wishes now, is not only for Hetty to avoid ending up in captivity (with my dumb luck though....), and for her to get help. Because she's been through some serious shit that nobody knows about and it's affecting her deeply.