When Russians demand extradition of Callen's father, Callen decide to stop it by offering them another person; Anatoli Kirkin. Deeks warns Callen and the rest of the crew that, if extradited, Anatoli will be tortured and killed. To that Callen points out that Anatoli also got people killed. Team seems to be fine with it, so Deeks shrugs his shoulders, plays along and the manhunt begins.
Episode Warrior of Peace superficially tackles very serious moral subject: justification for violence.
What right did Callen had to randomly choose Anatoli to be tortured and killed? What gave the rest of the team the right to engage? Who gets to decide, and on what grounds, whose life is more important? Are there any consequences for such behavior? Are there any moral dilemmas or repercussions for those involved?
The fact that someone else is a bad person does not justify me being a bad person. The fact that someone else has stolen does not give me the right to steal. The fact that someone else has killed does not allow me to kill (that person or another). That is not how the justice works, and should definitely not be the way police (or any other government officials) should behave. Unfortunately argument: he is bad, so I can do this or that, or they are bad, so we can do this or that, or that country is bad, so ours can do .... has been used so many time and has resulted in violence, injustice and harm. Therefore it is kind of worrisome the superficial and uncritical approach on this interesting and timely issue.
The episode did not provide any answers, and it failed to use this morally challenging situation for character development, tension building, unexpected plot development or to motivate viewer to reevaluate his/ hers personal stances on violence and justice. Instead, it proceeded with black and white solution that was obvious from the very beginning, cheap humor at the expense of gay people, and was, all in all, very boring.
