9 Things We Need to See by the ‘NCIS: LA’ Series Finale

Linda Hunt, Daniela Ruah, Frank Military, Barrett Foa, and Renee Felice Smith in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Robert Voets/CBS; Ron Jaffe/CBS; Cliff Lipson/CBS

NCIS: Los Angeles will be ending with its current 14th season, and before it wraps on May 14, there are quite a few storylines that need to be wrapped and things we’d like to see.

Showrunner R. Scott Gemmill said in a statement following news breaking of the upcoming farewell, “we look forward to delivering an end to the series that is both satisfying and does justice to these beloved characters,” so we think the CBS procedural will deliver on at least some fronts.

But will it have time to close out the ongoing storylines involving MIA Hetty (Linda Hunt), the threat against Kensi (Daniela Ruah) that is Kessler (Frank Military), the body stitchers case, and all the answers still to be found about Callen’s (Chris O’Donnell) past, feature a couple of certain character-specific named episodes, and more? Scroll down as we take a look at those and other things we’d like to see in the remaining episodes of the NCIS spinoff.

NCIS: Los Angeles, Sundays, 10/9c, CBS

Linda Hunt in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Robert Voets/CBS

Hetty

Thanks to an audio message during the NCISverse crossover, the good news is that we know that Hetty is alive. The bad news is we haven’t gotten much of an update on her mission in Syria in quite some time. It seems inevitable that the team will be heading overseas at some point to help her, but we just hope that there’s enough time to give that the justice it deserves — and that we get as much Hunt as we can in the process. And let’s just hope we get one more scene of Hetty at her desk in the office before the end.

Daniela Ruah and Frank Military in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Ron Jaffe/CBS

Kessler Taken Care of for Good

The sociopath who has very memorably and disturbingly threatened Kensi’s life is still out there, and while the last thing we want is for him to come anywhere near her, Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen), or Rosa (Natalia del Riego), it feels like it has to happen. Plus, Ruah and Military were so good facing off in Season 12’s “Raising the Dead” that we want to see that again.

Eric Christian Olsen in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Ron P. Jaffe/CBS

The Body Stitchers Case Closed

First introduced in Season 9’s “The Monster,” the case involves a network of serial killers who chop up bodies and sew the parts back together in a twisted Frankenstein — and they’re put on display. In Season 14’s update, “The Body Stitchers,” the team realized too late that FBI Forensic Psychologist Mark Collins (JD Cullum) is actually “Vincent,” the “Master” of the network. Last we saw, his plan was for the network to “lay low for a very long time” but that when they returned they “stop making conventional bodies.” Could this just be a case we never see them solve? We hope not.

Chris O'Donnell and Bar Paly in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Ron P. Jaffe/CBS

Callen and Anna's Wedding

What better way to end the series than with Callen, who began it with so many questions about himself (like his first name) getting married? It would be the perfect celebration to bring everyone together (including some familiar guests), allow him to have gotten the answers he’s wanted (more about that shortly), and give them enough to time to first bring back Hetty because she needs to be in attendance.

LL Cool J and Eric Christian Olsen in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Monty Brinton/CBS

"Hanna, S." and "Deeks, M." Episodes

We’ve gotten “Callen, G.,” “Lange, H.,” “Blye, K.,” and “Granger, O.” episodes over the years. This season seems to have been setting the table for a “Deeks, M.” episode, and it has to be inevitable that we’d get the “Hanna, S.” one as well. Sure, there have been multiple episodes focused on both Sam (LL Cool J) and Deeks, but it’s not quite the same.

Barrett Foa and Renee Felice Smith in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Cliff Lipson/CBS

Eric and Nell Return

Barrett Foa and Renée Felice Smith both exited at the end of Season 12, with Eric and Nell going to work at the branch of his tech firm in Tokyo. It might be too much to ask to see them not only back in some capacity (perhaps to attend Callen and Anna’s wedding?) but also work a case with the team to put them back in Ops once more, but hey, let’s dream big.

Gerald McRaney in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Sara Mally/CBS

Kilbride’s Son

Kilbride’s (Gerald McRaney) estranged son has come up before, particularly in conversations about parenting with Deeks, and his ex-wife is coming in, played by Marilu Henner. She’ll be trying to bring Kilbride and his son back together, and while it’s entirely possible that could leave with the promise of that happening someday — but his son not quite being ready — we do hope to see it onscreen.

Chris O'Donnell in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Sara Mally/CBS

Answers for Callen

Callen has a lot of questions for Hetty once they reunite, including about that program he was part of as a kid. And as part of that, he also has to track down Pembroke, who’s clearly still haunting him (as seen earlier this season). We just hope that he can get what he needs before his wedding (and no, we don’t mean in the first half of the episode with the celebration).

Chris O'Donnell, Daniela Ruah, Eric Christian Olsen, and LL Cool J in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Michael Yarish/CBS

A Sense of the Team's Future

Over the years, there has been talk about who might take over as operations manager for Hetty; Kilbride has since come in to lead OSP. But could we find out that Callen will, in fact, one day take up that role? Could we hear more about young agents that Sam wants to train to be like them? Will Kensi and Deeks once again talk about continuing in their dangerous line of work when they have kids to consider? (They did wonder if they should tell Rosa about him getting shot at in the crossover.) Will the series end with the team still working together and just a hint at what the future could hold, or might we see at least one or two of them moving on to something new?




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  1. G

    GoldMustache

    Who cares about Kesler? The same goes with the body stitchers two plots that will be just wasting our time. The same goes with Kilbride’s son. Sorry great actor annoying character wage of time . The last episodes should focus on the team Callen/Sam/Deeks and Kensi seeing them . Callen wedding with Hanna and Hetty finally telling Callen everything. Nell&Eric I hope will be there along with Nate.

  2. T

    TUF

    -Hetty coming home is an absolute must, along with Callen getting married.

    Everything else is unlikely to happen because there's just not enough time to get to them all.

    My idea of an ending is everyone being happy at work with 1 last shot of Hetty in her office with her tea or whiskey, no one dying or messy quitting.

  3. G

    GoldDucky

    I hate the fact that this is the end. So many more shows that need to be canceled.

  4. G

    GoldGlasses

    Too many things. Forget catching up with the body stitchers. Nobody cares about Kilbride's son so late in the game. Kill off Kessler in one episode. Don't need a Hanna, S. or a Deeks, M. episode now. What else do we need to know we don't already know about either of them? The writers can't introduce something new and shocking about them at the end of the series. They need to bring Anna back for most of the remaining 11-13 episodes and not just the wedding episode which should be its own episode and NOT the finale. The finale should be about the entire team and the wedding episode should be about Callen and Anna. We should see Raymond again. Is Densi going to legally adopt Rosa? Hetty HAS to come back and explain what she's been doing and Callen's past. It'd be nice to see Beale and Nell again and Nate. Pretty sure we'll see Arkady and Roberta again and maybe even some other guest stars like Talia and DeChamps

  5. R

    RedRocket

    Get rid of original after mark left ncis should of died with him get rid off the other 2 pointless ones hawaii and new Orleans hawaii never heard of and new Orleans is complete garbage ncis la was fantastic and always will be sad news goodbye ncis la will miss you all

    1. J

      Jena

      I think original NCIS is energized, and more interesting now,

      And NCIS-New Orleans has been off the air for almost two years now.

    2. C

      CyanPumpkin

      NCIS is better without Mark Harmon. Fresh characters and fresh plots have made it worth watching again.

  6. E

    Eric H

    They really shouldn't have left so many hanging storylines or things that needed to be done this far into its run. The show wasn't exactly getting younger and the writing has been on the wall that cancelation could be near.

  7. R

    RedSeahorse

    Wishful thinking. Whatever plot points were not closed by the end of season episodes already written and in production are mostly it.

    They sent the writers back for one closeout episode.

    If the planned end of season isn't the wedding then that's is.

    If they wrote a traditional cliffhanger that has to be resolved. And most of that would have already been plotted.

  8. G

    GreenPretzel

    I think it would be a shocker that Hedi is a double agent working for the USSR. The program Callen was in was to take Russian kids and get them into US intelligence.

    One the USSR collapsed the program ended and Hedi stopped working for them.

    Putin started back up and Hedi has been using cover of Syria to get up to speed in Russia.

    She returns and is arrested, along with Callen and the office is shut down because tained.

  9. J

    Jena

    I don't care about most of this stuff. This show should stay out (and should have stayed out, over the years) of agents' personal lives.