1x02 The Only Easy Day

An enjoyable episode. Sam is emotionally involved in the case being the Navy Seal. Its Dom 1st day on the field. And Kensi is surprisingly allowing Dom to drive. Case is primarily investigated by Scallen with Nate getting important piece of info for the case when with Rose and Kensi-Dom just run surveillance and errands for Callen. Otherwise, equal focus on all characters as far as their personal characters are evolved.

Episode	1X02 - The Only Easy Day	The Only Easy Day - what is it ? This is the Navy SEAL’s Motto - The only easy day was yesterday. The story touches Sam closely as he is a NAVY SEAL. He keeps fighting for the three 3 Navy Seals involved in the case as if he was fighting for his own honor. Like the sacred wow he took, never leave a man behind, Sam does his best to save them from the trouble they are in.
Writer	R Scott Gemmill	He is one of master backstopper for NCIS and Navy work as he has worked on JAG, through which NCIS spin off came and which now gives us NCIS LA. He gives us action packed procedural drama involving Navy professions in the crime dramas. In this story, Gemmill takes close to Sam to find out who he is actually.He was and is a Navy Seal. He takes care of the Seals as his own. And inspite of Sam being the most important subject of the story, Gemmill does not lose focus on any of his character. He covers Callen’s coveting to become Sam’s brethren like his Seals, Kensi and Dom’s training, Nate and his growing interests and finally starting to develop Hetty’s character.
Director	Terence O Hara	Though the story has Scallen investigating the case, Gemmill's story makes O Hara focus on all of his characters. We can immediately sense how Linda Hunt transitioned from introductory 1x01 episode into much more confident and authoritative manager than the last one. In the last episode, Callen overpowers every other character, but in this episode, inspite of the case being emotional for Sam, the focus on other characters is not lost by the director.
Episode Summary	A video footage from a double Homicide case is forwarded by Vance to NCIS LA team. He wants the team to investigate who were the three unidentified men were who were using Navy sign language.	Sam recognizes one of the Unidentified man as Holgate whom he trained when he was a Navy Seal. He was last working with him in Bosnia. The investigation leads them to finding out the 4 member Seal team of Holgate, Jackson, Ramirez and Raspin. Ramirez, who is now a Cop is shot dead in a grocery story, apparently by a drug dealer. In order to provide for his widow, his friend Jackson wants to steal money from the same drug dealer and give it to Ramirez’s widow. However, he is shot and therefore cannot make it and two days later dies. Holgate and Raspin realize that Jackson is not to be found, so search for him, take the money and lay low, until NCIS team shows up at Holgate’s workplace. The investigation leads the team to apprehend Raspin for questioning, who reveals that the LAPD Dirty Cop in undercover of the drug dealer shot another man who the LAPD identified as undercover Cop. That puts the team in spot as now they know the dirty cop is targeting Holgate and Raspin for the money. The team successfully completes the mission.
NCIS Personnel Highlights	Linda Hunt becomes a series regular as Hetty Lange and Dom is being actively trained and is now taken onto the field.	A balanced approach to shedding light on all characters. All the 7 characters are equally shown with their skill-sets, their apprehensions and their strengths. The episode is enjoyable to watch and its fun to see all characters get undivided attention. Nate gets interested in Rose at the Coronary Office.
Ops Manager	Hetty Lange Director Vance	Director Vance gets the case, and that is informed by Eric in passing reference. Hetty Lange-Linda Hunt in this episode look comfortable now the character -actor are series regular. Hetty is shown teasing Nate, Sam and Dom. She is shown listening to Bach and she also knows boxing and is able to give a suggestion to Dom. She tells Sam that she may chastize, criticize, scold everyone, but she never mocks anyone and especially him. Through her comment, she advises that Sam should not wallow that his brethren failed him at keeping their Seal traits of Nobility, Honor and Betrayal and instead rise above it all and protect and finish his job as he can. Instead of taking his frustration out by punching the boxing sandbag, he should instead focus on solving the case. And yes, there it is. She has become a Series Regular and the writers are showing her as Knowing All. Hetty knows Everything. And Callen calls Hetty a little Ninja.
Bull Pen Partnership -1	Callen/Sam	Bromance :) They have a lovely banter. We will enjoy watching all their scenes together. Every moment of it. Sam calls Callen a Lonely Wolf. Callen tells Sam that 50% of the time doesn’t listen to Sam and other half he just disagrees. When Sam says he will drop as his partner and take Dom instead, Callen says, that its quite the opposite. The fact that he is so different from Sam is what makes their team great at what they do. By the end of the episode, Callen in his own sweet-aloof manner, offers Sam a beer and asks him not to be hard on his brethren and if doesn’t think that they too act like Seals - never leaving each other and taking care of each other. Sam gives a smile and takes the beer. Sam reveals himself as Navy Seal in the episode and before that he is training Dom, very hard for his job on the field. Nate explains him as Being a SEAL is a big part of Sam.
Bull Pen Partnership -2	Kensi/Dom	Kensi not driving - What a surprise. When did that change ? She is letting Dom drive. But then watching Kensi was fun. She reveals to us what it was like being fresh on the job and trained being a girl, with having to wear bikins, carry guns in thongs and having to pee in bags when in stake out surveillance mission. It doesn’t seem a glamorous job to her at all. Shows herself as the Bad Ass Blye that she is by scratching that car. Dom is trained by Sam and he really wants to impress Sam. Callen, Hetty and Kensi are all supportive of him by sharing his feelings and anecdotes.
Ops Room Partnership	Eric - Tech Operator Nate - Psychologist	Barrett Foa is still our Guest Actor. And so we do not see a lot of Eric. But he is our Intel guy. Nate is good at understanding the facial expressions and seems the team started relying on him too much. And we have Nate interested in Rose working at the Coronary.
Others/GK	Pilates, Ninja, Lone Wolf and Garden Gnome.	Pilates is a system of exercises that promote the strengthening of the body, often using specialized equipment. Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/pilates#ixzz2mvO4NU00 Gemmill throws in three words in the episode which became writers favourite words for the series throughout. Ninja, Lone Wolf and Garden Gnome. Callen calls Hetty a little Ninja, Sam calls Callen a Lone Wolf and Rose mentions a Garden Gnome, which is fondly used for Hetty or a Surveillance Camera and together fondly names as Hetty Cam by Eric Beale in 5x02 Episode.

	Crew for The Only Easy Day
Writers	R Scott Gemmill
Writer's Assistant	Gregory Weidman
Directors	Terence O Hara
First Asst Director	Eric Pot
Second Asst Director	Ellie Smith
Story Editor	Dave Kalstein
Executive Story Editor	Speed Weed
Consultant	Tim Clemente
Co-Producer	Rick Tunell
Producer	David Bellisario
Consulting Producer :	Matt Pyken, Gil Grant
Supervising Producer :	Lindsay Sturman
Co-Executive Producer :	John Peter Kousakis
Executive Producer :	R Scott Jemmill
Assistants to Executive Producer :	Erin Boradhurst, Chad Mazero and Dana Scanlon
Production Designer:	Thomas Fichter
Director of Photography :	Victor Hammer
Editing :	Lee Haxall ACE
Music :	James S Levine
Unit Production Manager :	Rick Tunell
Casting :	Suzanne Bluestein. CSA and Jason Kennedy CSA
Casting Associates :	Anthony J Kraus and Meredith Forney
Costume Designer:	Darry Levine
Art Director :	Mathew Jacobs
Set Decorator :	Peter Gurski
Property Master :	Steven B Melton
Make-up Artist :	Trefor Proud
Hair Stylist :	Brooks Stenstrom
Production Coordinator :	Russell Dague
Assistant Prod Coordinator :	Laura Starks
Production Accountant :	Mathew Klipper
1st Assistant Accountant :	Dana Micahaelsen
Location Manager :	Tony Salome
Stunt Coordinator :	R A Rondell
Special Effects Supervisor :	Don Frazee
Production Sounds Mixer :	Mark Weingarten
Construction Coordinator:	Mike Brooks
Transportation Coordinator :	Dave Bassett
Script Supervisor :	Diana Valentine
Script Coordinator :	Jimmy Donchey
A Camera Operator :	Russell McEllhatton
B Camera Operator :	Fred Iannone
Post Production Supervisor :	Christopher J Molnar
Assistant Editor :	Eric J Lucas
Post Production Coordinator	Chris Tracy
Music Editor	Mark Wiki
Theme by :	James S Levine
Multi Media Coordination :	Justin Maradiegue
Specialized Imagery, Software and Promotional Consideration :	Lockheed Martin Corporation and Pictometry International Corporation
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