Missing

It's the end of summer and nothing to watch, so I gave this a try. It's the first season and it's been mediocre, yet watchable. This episode, however, was intolerable. Bad writing, bad directing, bad acting, it's as if everyone forgot how to do their job all at once. So many cliches so terribly executed. Makes me want to give up on the whole series.

I don't consider NCIS to be award winning drama, but at least it's usually entertaining in a mind candy sort of way. NCIS- Los Angeles tries to capitalize on the original show's popularity, by adding more glitz and glamor. The good guys ride around in a big-assed Cadillac SUV, have all of the high tech gizmos and work in artsy Pier One decorated offices. That's about all it has going for it.

I cannot believe how many clichés they managed to pack into one hour in the episode "Missing". The plot is senseless, the dialogue is abysmal, the staging is textbbok D-grade action TV, the acting is heavy handed, even the background music sucks. This is the worst television drama I've seen in at least ten years. Everyone involved in this dismal production should be embarrassed. I wasted one hour of my life in sheer disbelief. Worst of all, it looks like a two-parter. I won't waste another minute on it.

While I agree with some points in the pre-existing review, I must disagree with some others. Until now this show has been a huge disappointment when compared to its parent show, the ever-reliable "just" NCIS.

Against NCIS L.A.: the pimped-up look which is unintentionally hilarious, lazy plots, average scripts for actors not exactly known for character acting, action scenes that mistake themselves more for being cooler than they actually are. I could nitpick it for longer, but the failings are pretty much obvious to pretty much everyone.

Then comes along a pleasant surprise like this. Ironically, "Missing" has what the other episodes have been missing: *heart*. Action and character moments both succeed. It's like watching an entirely different show. Then again, this episode *is* a Format Breaker, so from the moment the writers pitched the idea, this had better chances of standing out from the crowd than the rest. And the ending succeeds like the endings of no previous episodes: it makes you *want* to keep watching the series. Now, let's hope this just doesn't turn out to be the only lucky episode that managed to achieve 8/10 greatness (though not a classic by any standards).