NCIS: Los Angeles - Black Budget - Review

The fifth episode of the current season was pretty cut and dry. The episode featured some good showdowns and a few laughs and funny moments; but overall it was mostly a “get in, get out” plot week. There weren’t a lot of exciting character scenes with our favorite NCIS players. These are never my favorite episodes. While every episode can’t be a perfect 10, I found this to be the least interesting episode of the season so far.

Plot Summary

“Black Budget” centered on a shooting at a Department of Defense accounting and contracting office which oversaw the finances for covert government operations. When one survivor of the shooting, Milton Mulrooney, goes missing and turns up in the sex district of Tijuana, Sam and Callen go after him to find out what’s going on. At the same time, Kensi and Deeks talk to the head of the office who was away at lunch when the shooting happened.

While Kensi and Deeks believe their guy is involved, it turns out they are wrong. Meanwhile, Sam and Callen track their man to a brothel, where a woman takes them to her family’s home. That’s where Milton is kicking back and enjoying food and a pedicure from his fiancée, surrounded by her sisters, mother and grandmother.

But in both the brothel and the house, they are followed by a group of men that appears to be the Delta Unit of the military. Normally good guys, this time the Delta Unit is accused of defrauding the government out of $41 million. It turns out Milton was not a victim. Instead, he was working with the money launderers – or rather, they were working for him. And they need him alive to get the money they’ve been promised. But Sam and Callen are ready to fight. So they give the girls a little pep talk, give the mother a big knife and prepare for the fight. Just when it looks like they are out of bullets and out of options, Granger comes in and saves the day. It turns out he teamed up with the real Delta Unit who had been tracking the group slandering their name. The bad guys were actually arms dealers.

Thoughts/Analysis

I found the Mexican women in the home (and their interaction with Sam and Callen) probably the best part of the episode. They were goofy but still amusing as they fought over Callen and the mother told Sam he had a voice like honey. I especially loved when Sam gave the mother a huge samurai sword-looking knife and she told him, “You might be sexy but you’re loco. Who do you think I am? Zorro?” Of course Sam told her he knew she could use it and sure enough, the mother used it to save her daughters. I knew that was coming but it was a nice scene. Sam and Callen are always encouraging people in vulnerable positions, which shows their character.

Because of that, the two ending scenes held the biggest payoff. As the women thank the partners and reveal that Sam told them Callen was lonely, they hit on him again, wanting him to stay. (I loved that wink of Sam’s as if to say, “Gotcha!”) But just when I expected Callen to annoyingly dismiss the idea, I was surprised to find him playing along and acting like he wanted to stay. That was a fun reaction for Callen. It showed his respect for the women. And it was even a better surprise to learn the partners had left behind over $90,000 with the ladies, reasoning it was laundered money the Treasury would destroy. Again, the two partners constantly show compassion for others in need. And apparently Granger has a pretty big heart, too, as he allowed them to do it.

Sam was also pretty amusing in the brothel scene, getting into his “character.” And I loved how Callen teased him about his playboy attitude.

As for Kensi and Deeks, I enjoyed how Kensi harassed her partner for eating chips at a crime scene and then wanted some herself. Their “tickling the conspiracy bone” conversation was fun. And Deeks was also his typical flippant self when they were interrogating their suspect. Before the man could request a lawyer, Kensi told him not to use the “L” word and Deeks said he could definitely use the word lesbian, just not lactation. Oh, Deeks. So funny. These two just work well together and play off each other perfectly. The best example was when Kensi acted like a game show host saying, “Tell him what he’s won” and Deeks didn’t miss a beat before going into his game show spiel about winning a trip to prison. They really have to be on the same wavelength to pick up that easily on whatever the other is thinking.

Just like I feared, when it came to Hetty, her troubles in Washington DC were not even mentioned. That seemed strange after everything that happened last week. Apparently nobody is bothering her anymore about her Afghanistan decisions. But I have to wonder what happened to Congressman Thomas and his mission to make her answer for her actions.

I also think that Nell and Eric have been grossly underused this season, especially Eric. Aside from Nell’s shoot-a-man storyline that was so quickly resolved, these two have been almost extraneous to the stories this season. They do their work in Ops and contribute to the furthering of the plot but they haven’t had big roles outside of that. I’d really like to see more from them.

Other Random Thoughts

• Did you notice that Sam knew exactly what the North Zone of Tijuana meant and quickly identified it as the sex district? That made me laugh.

• With Sam loving his cars so much, it was funny to see him forced to get in what he described as a “clown car” in Tijuana. He looked like he was stepping foot into a pile of garbage, not a working automobile. This was one car he didn’t mind Callen driving.

• I thought it was strangely atypical for Sam and Callen to push the taxi driver out of his cab at the brothel and then leave him at the scene with armed men headed his way.

• I was surprised that Callen kept using the real DEA agent’s name every time he flashed the man’s badge and identified himself as a DEA agent. That’s messed up! As a sometimes undercover officer, you’d think he would understand where the man was coming from and not try to give his identity away to random strangers.


What did you think of "Black Budget?" What did you like or dislike about the episode? We love to hear your thoughts so please join our episode discussion below.

About the Author - Tonya Papanikolas

Tonya Papanikolas is a freelance journalist who loves covering entertainment and television. She spent more than 10 years as a broadcast news anchor/reporter and now does everything from hosting to writing. She loves covering NCIS: Los Angeles for SpoilerTV. (She's a big fan of Kensi and Deeks!) She also writes SpoilerTV articles on other great shows.