Friday, March 11, 2022

Flashback Friday: NCIS LA Season 9 Episode 14: Goodbye Vietnam

 




Today marks 4 years since the greatest episode of NCIS LA's 9th Season aired. Figured a bit of a deep dive into this episode was appropriate. (This is also probably my most ambitious article on here yet!)

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At the start of Season 9, Hetty disappeared and went off to Vietnam to negotiate for the release of someone she thought had died years ago. Very noble effort. Unfortunately, things took a really, really, REALLY bad turn, and she needed help.

Her team risked everything to save her, even teaming up with a few old cronies that she worked with back during the war!

It was an intense episode, filled with plenty of laughs, lots of love, and some things that I wish I could unsee because of how awful they were, and most of all: A very emotional reunion, like this:



(Plus, this episode has seriously one of the best revenge scenes of the whole franchise! 😁)

This episode had 1 job: Reunite the team with their true leader, and it did. And they stayed together for the whole rest of the Season. Back then, that is what I wanted. And unfortunately, it's what I'm still asking for to today.

This episode had a very special thing, a thing that has been my absolute favorite since the Season 3 premiere: A team looking out for their loving boss. (and believe me, that is something I really need to see now more then ever!), and it also had something that these last few Seasons have been sorely lacking: The family feel.

Fans everywhere loved this episode, (It even trended on Twitter along with #Hetty!!) because believe me, EVERYONE wanted to see Hetty back with her team by then!! 😁 Which is also why this episode has the highest rating on IMDB for Season 9.

This was a special episode, albeit being a bit dark, and I wouldn't trade that moment in that pic above for anything.

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1 of the best parts about this episode, is the promotion it got.

Back then, CBS actually paid attention to this show, and so did other sites. Not only did this episode and the 1 that came before it get plenty of promotion from a few sites, but they also got great trailers! (yes, back then, CBS gave this show great trailers instead of generic 10 second trailers that don't do much of anything.). Like this big extended trailer down below:

https://tvline.com/2018/03/03/ncis-los-angeles-season-9-episode-14-hetty-rescue-trailer/

I felt my heart racing the 1st time I saw this trailer!! It was THAT good! Like, THIS is how you promote a huge episode after the show has been on a month and a half long break! 👏👏👏

The hype this episode got was incredible. I hope to 1 day see that kind of hype again, maybe a few months from now?

It wasn't the highest rated episode of Season 9, (that honor goes to to Episode 13), but it was very much appreciated!

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Another reason why this episode worked, was help from the cast in promoting it as well.

Back then, they still promoted big episodes, and they went all out on this 1! They started promoting this episode all the way back in November of 2017 when the 200th episode was about to air.

It first started with 2 interviews from Renee with TV Line and Parade magazine, then Entertainment Weekly spilled the beans when they answered a question about a guest star for the episode, then the actual BTS pics for the episode itself when it was filmed, then the first look pic for Episode 13 from TV Line hours before the Christmas episode aired:

Then came the actual promo pics themselves for Episode 13, then came it's intense looking promo that sent my heart racing!



Then came EW's preview with some promo pics from Episode 14:

https://ew.com/tv/2018/01/21/ncis-los-angeles-hetty-rescue-mission/?crl8_id=8c9d79ea-1903-421c-8bcb-e002b4e00ed0





Then came the press release, then more pics, then the sneak peaks, and a couple of interviews!

https://parade.com/652775/paulettecohn/ncis-los-angeles-star-daniela-ruah-on-the-rescue-mission-to-save-hetty-the-kensi-wedding-and-more/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

https://tvline.com/2018/03/10/ncis-los-angeles-season-9-eric-christian-olsen-hetty-rescue-preview/

Them after a few BTS videos, came the episode itself!


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And the absolute best thing this episode did: It gave Hetty and Callen some truly great moments. From their embrace after they get to her, to him just offering her a gun to carry out her justified revenge (almost like he knew exactly what she was thinking about from the 200th episode. 🤭),


to him letting her rest on his arm while they flew home. It was all sooooooo sweet!

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 This was Season 9's greatest episode. And I hope that Season 13 tries to do an episode that is similar to this in a few ways.




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