Neric in Making

The hype today about Neric News for Episode 5x18-ZeroDays; with the TV Line interview prompts me to review the spoiler news and finally I understand, indeed how the NCIS LA Scribe actually intended to develop to the Neric Arc. Things are not just with the mistletoe kiss last Christmas. Their friendship is actually being explored with certain amount of possessive feelings for Nell from Eric Beale. If we look at it carefully, the problem with Neric to happen is because of Eric Beale. He is too disinterested or the socially awkward for Nell Jones, the suave and smart Intelligence Analyst, who not only is a Geek and understands Geeks, is also able to go on a triple date with Kensi and Rose and generate a lot of interest in her. 

Then where does this leave Eric ? Well...either he should be interested or not. I see that writers are taking care with Eric Beale and dressing him up for the occassion, literally and figuratively. Hetty dressed him up in 5x02-Impact, warned him to maintain a code of conduct on dressing in work-place in 5x06-BigBrother. But it was infusing Eric Beale with possessive feeling in 5x05-UnwrittenRule that officially flags of certain amount of interest in Nell. And in the next episode, we have Nell tracking Eric to Gym to show us that Nell does miss her work-partner. For that to reach that point and go beyond it to keep it sustainable, we had R S Gemmill provide the backstopping in 5x02-Impact for Neric as the Story Arc to watch out for. Gemmill continued to explore the story arc by team leading the NCIS LA Writer Scribe to develop Neric.  He showed it beautifully it 5x14-WarCries. Neric - They looked cute together. I felt a great improvement in Neric chemistry even if there was largely a friendship shown there. Something about the two was sweet and we get an emotional presence in their friendship and not just a story arc.

5x18-ZeroDays is a full blown episode about Eric and Nell with three story arcs being focussed in parallel this season along with Densi Arc. Though on a emotional connection level, 5x18 misses the bus, it actually gets a lot of hops connected in the journey towards Neric as the destination.

- Nell Jones -In and On the field

- Eric Beale -The Smart Guy

- Neric in Making

Both in 5x18-Zero Days and 5x23-Exposure, we have Eric explicitly showing his emotional inclinations towards Nell as he feels threatened or overwhelmed under the circumstances. Zero Days was about threatened with competition from his college friend Ira Wells. Eric behaves quite maturely all the time,telling Ira off to stay away from Nell in a polite manner. Exposure was about Eric feeling threatened of losing his friends. Eric feels something for Nell, imagining what if it were the doomsday and he had not yet told her what he wanted to say to her most. It was cute of them exchanging personal notes to each other. Its still a secret what Nell and Eric wrote to each other as they had agreed never to talk about it. But they were full of smiles. In both of these episodes, what is developed is the maturity of Eric towards Nell. Unlike Eric exposing himself to Nate about kissing Nell under the mistletoe in last season, this season, we have Eric feeling territorial, protective and caring about Nell. Cute is the word for Neric with slight right to claim affection.

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NCIS LA ‏@NCISLA_CBS                                                                                             May 6

What did Eric's note say? Weigh in w/ the CBS app & get #NCISLA extras when u Sync http://bit.ly/1m1MTYE  @BarrettFoa pic.twitter.com/4qsRXdhU5B

NCIS LA ‏@NCISLA_CBS                                                                                                    May 6

Is Beale about to make a move for Nell??? Tonight's #NCISLA Sneak Peek: http://bit.ly/1jxsJ9L 

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TV Guide ‏@TVGuide                                                                                                 Mar 25

Find out why Tuesday's #NCISLA is "a game-changer" for Eric and Nell. http://tvgd.co/1lk2PZo  @BarrettFoa @reneefsmith

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Christine Park ‏@christineeepark  Mar 26

A great day with @BarrettFoa & @reneefsmith! Hope you all watched #NCISLA and enjoyed the episode #KCAL pic.twitter.com/fYSO5yilnB

Eric Beale - The Smart Boy

Season 5 has paid some attention to developing characters of Tech Operator Eric Beale and Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones. 

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ChrisDaisy ‏@ChrisDaisy405  1h

@BarrettFoa @fiona1wallace & the end of 5x06: Eric being acknowledged as the smart 1. That scene was really sweet! pic.twitter.com/pdbFJO5VfB

Recently, you may have seen me writing about Nell Jones In and on the Field . The prompt was ofcourse the Episode 5x14-War Cries where Nell showed her prowess in self-defence through her handling her opponent with a knife. With that fight she proved that she was fully ready to be on the field, unlike the "how to deal with unprepared challenge' in 4x14-Kill House last season. Nell Jones has been going to field at various times as needed throughout from Season 2 where she began her field assignments from 2x06-StandOff.

Same is the case with Eric Beale. My prompt this time to write about Eric is 5x18-ZeroDays episode, an episode very much dealing with IT People, Hacking etc. Zero Days itself is the IT concept of that challenge which can be tapped by a Hacker which has not been even addressed by the developer. And that makes me write about Eric Beale-The Smart Boy. 

It was Dave Kalstein's 1x03-Predator where we were given a little peep into Eric Beale's character, about how much he is so focussed and stressed about achieving the mission objective. Nate psychoanalyzes him as a person who keeps pressing the elevators buttons even if he knows its not going to come any sooner that it supposed to take time. It is the moment when Nate observes Eric being totally edgy with impatience at the kaleidoscope search not giving him fast results. We are informed that Eric is a surfer and uses a lot of surfer lingo that others cannot much understand. He dresses in beach-casuals. But that is just him and his looks. But his work shows him as him being the best at his work. He is a Hacker himself working for the Government against the rogue hackers on his watch. He helps Kensi get on with guest lecturing the superior hackers, and he also hacks into Joel Hardy’s laptop to know whereabouts of the rogue Drone. Eric Beale as the Tech Operator, explains us the two NCIS technologies that they use vastly - The FacialRecognition software search and the Kaleidoscope Search which is a visual search that scans live feeds from traffic cams through inputting of search parameters.

This year Eric Beale carries on with same traits as introduced before. He is smart, impatient, is geeky, wears casuals and keeps experimenting with his whistling calls for the Agents to come up to Ops Room for case hearing. On the surface, its not at all visible that anything much has changed for Eric. But subtlely things are changing this season for him. Inspite of the E-bot jokes on him for the rest of the team, who are irritated of his knowledge that they cannot understand, we as viewers see that increasingly, cases are coming that are going nowhere and only Eric along with Nell's partnership, give an insight into the cases that the team are working on. We are impressed with his skills in Gemmill's episodes 5x02-Impact, 5x14-War Cries , in Jordana Lewis Jaffe in 5x06-Big Brother, Andrew Bartels' 5x18-ZeroDays and Gil Grant's 5x20-Windfall. These episodes take us close to a real life NSA Employee who works for Government and is a hacker for Government related Security Projects and need all surveillance skills that allow security agencies to do their work. They are as much agents, detectives and soldiers on the field with their prowess about using technologies.

Eric worked against D7 Company to unearth information that they were trying to hide. You can read about that in my episode analysis of 5x02-Impact . In 5x14-WarCries, we see that it is because of him that D7 changes its tactics and shuts down its Ops and floats for itself a new entity. In that episode, Eric further helps Kensi run the surveillance for her in Afghanistan, unknown to his boss Hetty Lange under the very eyes of Assistant Director Owen Granger who flies to LA to find out who is helping Kensi. If you ask me it needs skill more than friends. Friends can help you having your back, but you also need to have that "extra edge" for which that gladly have your back. And that is Eric Beale equally to Kensi and Nell like they are to him. Its team work and Skill.

In 5x06-BigBrother, Eric was given a peep into his hacker mind and personality. A solo like we have seen episodes about him from Season 1. Like I remember him and the Drone Episode 1x03-Predator. All this just keeps pointing out to Obama Administration, which was directing that War on Terror can be also fought through remote targeting and not just actually in the field. The extensive use of Drones Air Strikes began under Obama and so had NSA spying and surveillance increased, to the point it got abused and exposed by a whisteblower Edward Snowden. And Big Brother is exactly that story. Through a story about a Teen Hacker, we are shown Eric Beale the Smart Guy, who actually understands when to hack and when not. The purpose is what counts for his way of work.

In, 5x18-ZeroDays takes us into Eric's blast with past in the form of his friendship with College friend Ira Wells. Ira's successful life-style, adds a Hacker's Dilemma to Eric, who then has to decide for himself, why he is at NCIS...something that even another favourite character of the series, Deeks; undergoes periodically. Isn't it surprising that both these guys are surfers and sork of geeky fellows ?!!  As a free-lance hacker, Eric could have made a fortune like Ira does, but instead he chose to work for Government with much lower remuneration and continues to be proud about that. When Hetty does not allow Eric work with Ira, he feels dejected, but by the end of the episode, when situation reverses, Eric feels all grateful about the position he has in Ops and the support he provides to NCIS. It shows us, how he too needs appreciation like the others and also how only a few can understand him what he does for the nation. It is only like his boss Henrietta Lange, who has been with Internet Development, can appreciate what kind of an asset Eric Beale is to the team. So much that she takes special interest into grooming him into wearing trousers, make a gentleman out of him. Why? Because he has started liking Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones. Its that sense of pride and confidence in himself, that prepares him into going into the field and finish his mission about tweaking the geo-satellite to mask its coordinates in a bid to avoid nuclear missile attack on San Francisco. 

Towards the season ending episodes, Eric comes across to us as maturing one, enough to take on equal aged young Agents of the team who are also his friends. He already had been teasing Deeks to stop being child in the previous episode about the workload that makes one be exhausted. In 5x20-Windfall, he is mature enough for Hetty to feel confident about his deductive skills and ask his assessment about Kensi, after her return from Afghanistan. Eric admits to Hetty that Kensi is bored and restless but emotionally is rock-solid. Hetty is also confident, though exhausted, Eric would survive the work alone without Nell in the Ops room, if situation demands that he has to work alone. After all, she had been preparing him from 5x08-Fallout to think like Nell, when he feels likes he needs her support.  And in 5x20-Windfall, we actually start seeing Eric, knowing exactly what Nell would do to support him. We see through the case investigation in retrospect, how much Eric and Nell actually keep applying their inductive and deductive methods at gathering Intel and provide leads to the Agents on the Field. They know to dig for clues within given virtual datasets. And this comes out starkly as Eric feels exhausted with the amount of data-mining he has to do all by himself, when Kensi is assigned to work with him. Neither Kensi is motivated enough to take enterprise until ordered by Eric nor Eric is motivated enough to delegate work to Kensi until she asks for it. Eric Beale is not the same person as of Season 1 where he could use Kensi's help in whichever form he gets. Now Eric after having worked with Nell Jones, misses her at work for how much she shares his Intel gathering work and how she complements and supplements him at work. After getting used to that level of higher skills, Eric just cannot adapt to non-technical team members such as Kensi. He feels relieved when Nell joins him in Ops room for few minutes and they get to cracking on important piece of info.

I am sure, we are going to see more coming our way in the left over episodes of this season. And I shall continue updating that...

Cashkend ‏@Cashkend_o  Nov 19

#NCISLA #Fallout + #maps + #Eric + glasses @Ladydi2000 @BarrettFoa pic.twitter.com/hWX3lMPUKb

Hetty - Grooming the Boys to become Gentlemen deserving her "Mr"

We all know that Hetty was a Costume Designer/dress maker in Hollywood. Presently at NCIS OSP, as the OPS Manager, she maintains the wardrobe for her Agents's backstopping roles. She is very careful about how her Agents dress and how they carry themselves. Its a job that she does with passion.

Season 5

Hetty turns her attention this year to her boys Eric and Deeks. She is grooming them to become the gentlemen that their woman should be pleased to look at and feel proud of them. Previously, Hetty has paid attention to only Callen. It was seen and felt by us in Season 1 and 2 when she shows Callen what he needs to wear and where he needs to stay. She arranged for his wardrobe and a residence that he could call as his own. She even advised Nate once how he should be dressing. This year as Densi story gets more serious and as Nell gets more and more out in the field, Hetty cannot but feel the pressure herself what those two smart and tough girls like Kensi and Nell can do her two geeky-surfing boys with their quirky habits. She needs to start before the girls mark her boys down! She needs to keep her boys in the game...A Game if we can use ECO (Eric Christian Olsen) lingo!

Scenes from 5x18-ZeroDays

Eric Beale

5x02-Impact- Hetty gets Eric pants, full length pants, that Eric hates them so much that he enters the incinerating room to incinerate his pants. Its Nell who actually saves him the embarrassment of being seen in underpants. She does help him by cutting his pants. But that one day's ordeal is enough for Hetty to stamp in Eric's mind that he cannot be imagining himself in Half-pants for the rest of his life. Eric is no more free to say that he can do what his Beale Clan has been doing for ages! 5x06-Big Brother -If that was not enough, Hetty in Big Brother reprimands Eric for breaking even the relaxed code she allows for the NCIS OSP employees and that he cannot think of breaking even that, else she would have to revoke her allowance of half-pants for Eric. In 5x08-Fallout, Hetty advises Eric to see what Nell sees and not just depend on her when trying to find the leads. 

Its quite significant development to see that Hetty is being tough with Eric. It shows how she wants him to be perfect for Nell Jones. We know how Hetty loves her female employees. She is grooming Nell to take after her. So she deserves the best. And if Nell likes Eric and Eric likes Nell and there is a Neric on the horizon, then Eric has to be groomed as Nell is also being groomed. And we start to see Eric Beale gaining confidence, managing work all alone by himself, as the season goes by; just like Nell keeps going into the field with confidence. Eric starts manning up for himself and for Nell. We can see his sense of pride and confidence when he tells Ira what he has to do and that Nell has Hazel colored eyes. That is what 5x18-ZeroDays is about to an extent. About himself and his sense of purpose and interest with NCIS and Nell Jones. He complements them as much as they complement him.

Marty Deeks

This year Hetty has been paying attention to Marty Deeks every episode, for the sake of story arcs around him. There is the PTSD Story arc that needs her attention over him to get him back to work and recover from it. Then we have her paying attention on him to sail his ship with Densi. If we leave those arcs and just single out Hetty's compulsion to dress her agents into good looking attractive gentlemen deserving her 'Mister', then I have to say, I liked Hetty's attention to Deeks looks, manners and grit becoming of a gentleman in 5x10- The Frozen Lake and 5x13-Allegiance. 

The Frozen Lake grooming was an Undercover Ops, but the dressing needed to be convincing for the success of the mission. It also meant winning Kensi's trust and interest back in Deeks. The killing looks that one cannot ignore! 5x13-Allegiance, we have Hetty taking serious turn with Deeks, warning him not to be profane with his language or habits. He is now himself getting interested in being an Agent now that he feels at home with everyone there, with or without Kensi's presence and Hetty's support and he has Kensi in his life now. Hetty asks Deeks to be careful with his instragramming habit of posting Selfies. Little she know that Deeks is messaging Kensi by the means of Instagramming. Now that is a topic we can discuss at other times, but what is interesting here is Hetty asking him to keep his cover protected. And now coming to the most important part. Adding a Curb to Deeks guttery ramble. She shows him how in a 10 second ** test Deeks has 4 sexual references to make. Its not funny anymore to her and she lets him see it that she needs him to take care how he lets his mind run. He is no more a teen boy fishing for excitement, but going out with a girl he loves.

Post 5x13-Allegiance, Hetty starts getting tougher and tougher on Deeks. More so because, she knows Deeks is in a tight spot with regards to his relationship with Kensi. Hetty though supporting it, as a boss takes her judgement call to see that Deeks does not compromise National Security by giving any kind of support to Deeks. Her cold treatment to Deeks from 5x14-WarCries begins when she is confident that rest of the team support him and take care of him. Increasingly by becoming a tough boss, Hetty keeps testing Deeks emotions, resilience to duress and accountability. She remains inaccessible to him, though he keeps looking at her for any hints that she might be throwing his way about her cold treatment. So far, from 5x14 through 5x20, Deeks has passed all her tests, but we have to see what else Hetty has in mind for Deeks.

PTSD and Recovery for Sam and Deeks

PTSD - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you have gone through an extreme emotional trauma that involved the threat of injury or death. 

Through 5x02-Impact, 5x05-Unwritten Rule and 5x06-Big Brother, NCIS LA seems to show what PTSD looks like for men returning from action. They hint the most common symptoms that people develop - anxiety, risky behaviour, suicidal acts, Cold hands (Raynaud's syndrome) and stress cardiomyopathy.

For Sam, the emotional trauma he underwent during his torture was relatively easy to recover from. He is a Navy Seal and trained to handle torture and extreme circumstances. Yes, being so close to losing Michelle in the Siderov and Nukes Recovery case in 4x24 and 5x01 episodes, Sam was emotionally under a lot of stress, so much that he lost it with his partner Deeks while on the case. Torture followed him soon later on the mission. And even then, being close to getting killed, the weight that was on his mind was his protective feelings about his wife Michelle who was still on the mission. Sam never actually felt the void emotionally for him to feel the trauma of Siderov's torture. He had his vested interests in the mission and once having saved his wife, he had solid support from his wife and Partner Callen so that he comes to term of feeling the loss that he was almost going to get had it not been for Deeks who saved his life first and then later came on the scene to save Michelle. Like Sam said, he owed to Deeks for the rest of his life for backing him up inspite of him being a jerk with him, while on the mission. 

There were a lot of things happening for Sam over his mind while he was under torture. Likewise once out of it he had lot of support from family and friend. He has a worried wife in Michelle and also has a worried partner in Callen to see through his recovery. Michelle doesn't let Sam do his dishes or Callen buys expensive tickets to Laker's game. And personally, Sam is a tough Seal trained to handle and recover. These were the things that let him quickly recover from his trauma. He explains to Nate Getz, his psychologist, one has to "let go", as there is nothing one can do about it. That is the mantra of recovery from the traumatic shocks. And he loves the fact that people care about him. But then it also adds to his anxiety. He is anxious about that day, when he loses it, when he is unable to let it go and he is unable to reconnect to rationality, and what would be the consequences for those who depend on him to protect them. Sam confessed to Nate, that his trauma is beginning to get "cumulative" and his worry is about his ability to "reconnect" like always. He worries about that, but for now decides to push it to the back of the mind and enjoy life without worry, with his loved ones.

For Deeks, the recovery from his emotional trauma is not not so easy. Unlike Sam, Deeks had contrarian situations. He had been singled out in the mission from the rest of the team and was kept on overwatch for Sam. Sam did not want him. Deeks felt himself as the third wheel. If this was not enough, there was an emotional drift between him and his partner Kensi Blye. Amidst solving their issues, in the heat of the moment he kissed her, but they did not have time to discuss what it meant. The emotional drift transformed into the white elephant in the room for them. All of this was taking a toll on Deeks mind with actually none to share his feelings, with nothing to feel proud about and just going about doing his job. May be it was becoming a thankless job. May be he was not the cop that he thought he was, if people cannot trust him. May be doesn't belong to NCIS OSP office and he need not be working anymore with the team, if he cannot be treated as par with them or people have doubts about his character and work style. It is this void, lack of support in the form of friends or colleagues and finally the doubts arising within him about his being suited for the job, which adds to his anxiety post Siderov's torture.

On the physical recovery side, he has new teeth transplanted, slowly recovering to have food from liquid to solid food. However emotional recovery seems distant. Instead he slips into PTSD. He starts worrying about voices in his head and starts wondering whether, he is truly a "Shaggy" like his team calls him, or "schizophrenic" like his partner called him. He starts feeling "halfway being a homeless" as he doesn't feel he belongs to anyplace in particular or anyone whom he can go and feel something with him. He starts feeling the drift. Best understood as it starts when he talks to Sam in the hospital, about "Done being a Cop", when he talks to Kensi in the Bullpen at OSP about what he plans to do "I don't know", when he talks to Hetty at his home about him having a case of "Insomnia" and when finally talking to Nate, the OSP Psychologist; about what worries him and why he is unable to sleep. He is worried why his mind won't stop running and what happens if it does not stop. Nate explains that its a positive sign indeed for him to worry about it and that does mean that he is on the right path. 

It is also amply clear to Nate that Deeks doesn't have any support system that he can fall back on like Sam could. There is no one at Deeks home or in his mind a friend who can take care of him or if he could talk to. This causes his concsious mind to concentrate on his worries rather than sleeping and having his subconscious resolve the worry for him by adding a meaning to the torture and trauma he underwent. Nate tries to help Deeks, by providing a possible support in his partner Kensi Blye. As a psychologist, Nate cannot suggest anything, but he just adds that reference so that Deeks can start thinking about something else than his worries. Indeed the thought of Kensi is much more warmer and meaningful than him trying to find an answer to his anxieties in a fast track manner. However, as it seems wonderful, its not that easy to just talk to Kensi, especially now that he kissed her and doesn't know what to do next. Kensi never raised it again. He doesn't know whether she approves it or disapproves it. So what happens next? Ball is in Kensi's court.

Readers can read my other analysis I wrote about the Impact on Deeks that caused a greater trauma to resolve. "The Understated Action and Psychological Drift through Season 4 Ending to Season 5 Cold Opening"

Like Nate and Hetty rightly observe for people dealing with their PTSD, they need to have support systems in place. Hetty starts it with a carrot and stick approach. She makes a visit to Deeks apartment and expresses to him that she needs him to report back to duty, if he does not want her to start looking for a replacement for Kensi for a new partner. It works indeed. All of a sudden Deeks feels "wanted". He means something to his Manager and so she took the trouble of visiting him at his home. Now he has to see if Kensi feels him wanted as much at workplace. But that thought only opens up the can of worms in his mind.  Kensi has been calling him. Repeatedly and he has been declining her calls. Why? Why is unable to talk to her? What has changed? He doesn't know if she is calling him with the sympathy she has for her partner or she actually cares about him. She definitely cares about him. But that care is only for him as her work-partner. Whereas He, loves her. What if she doesn't feel the same about him. He cannot resolve truly, what he has with Kensi for a relationship, just the partnership or something he longs for more from her. Kensi doesn't provide him any hint. It keeps on adding anxiety to his already anxious mind yet to recover from the emotional trauma. Wish he could just sleep! so that he could go back to work and see how matters stand right now with Kensi !

Amazingly, Kensi lands at his doorstep, with dinner in her hand. She wants to avenge Deeks ignoring her Cronuts that she put at his doorstep. She wants him to have dinner with her and also watch a boring movie "Burnt Offering". After all Kensi doesn't just want him as her work partner. She wants him to watch along with her, the bore movies that she loves. She loves them indeed, but cannot watch them alone. She is now wanting to watch one with him. Ofcourse, it may not have been direct saying by Kensi that she loves him. But when has been Kensi been direct with him or said more than what she wanted to say. Kensi does love him. Its a Love Story indeed between him and Kensi. That is how he is able to answer the question that Nate posted about his relationship with Kensi. 

A visit from Hetty, Nate and Kensi suddenly makes Deeks feel at home, come away from drifting into being homeless. He sleeps. Insomnia getting recovered. That was in 5x02 Impact.  Pretty soon from thereon, Deeks starts on his healing journey. The slow journey of Deeks recuperating from his PTSD and his anxiety issues starts through his reactionary approach to interactions around him. The ice-breaking moment is of course him rejoining the team in 5x03-Omni. Hetty gifts him with a new gun but having same safety manual. That's how much well his boss knows him. So does Kensi know his personal preferences about his gun. What else can he want? Two of his dearly loved women taking care of him now. But is he ready for work? Can he shoot? That's his anxiety. Hetty's note to not close the box, forces him to test himself at the firing range.  Kensi's questions if he is back to work, forces him to accept that yes, he is back to work, but one day at a time. After a day of work with hits (diving down to save a woman's life) and misses (failing to gun down a man), Callen states to him, that he cannot accept him back to work if he keeps second-guessing himself. That forces Deeks to look into Callen's eyes and say that he is ready for work.

Deeks anxiety is now centered on Kensi. Kensi had mentioned to him “how she missed him at work". Kensi’s words and actions matter to him. She missed him, then he makes sure that he comes to work regularly. She is worried about him not taking a shot or trying too hard to make him a competitive Agent. Yes, he indulged in wall climbing competition with Callen to make her happy in 5x04 episode. He never ever did that before.He is bent on proving to her and everyone that he is doing good, ready to take any kind of risky job. If she thinks he is trying to kill himself by riding a motor bicycle like in 5x05 episode, because statistics speak so about a PTSD patient, then he wants to prove her otherwise that he is taking care of his health by doing exercise that is good for his heart through a treadmill installed at his work station in 5x06 episode. All of this is going quite overboard with his antics to address Kensi's concerns and make her go away from baby-sitting him. Her answer to his saying that "she does not have to worry about him" is that she does have to worry about him as he is her partner. It is good to hear that but it is certainly not pleasing for Deeks to get saved by Kensi like it happens in 5x05.  This is now certainly directing him to address his anxiety around his "emotional center" like Hetty warns. His emotional center is Kensi and Kensi is certainly more worried about him than she should be. He needs to quieten down for her sake, so she can calm down. Further, he needs to focus and get his emotional control back. He needs to get away from doing what Kensi does, bike rides, competitions etc and instead do what is pleasing to him.

He has to take support from Hetty to find himself back. Without Hetty's support and guidance, Deeks would not have known what he has to do. Those four episodes from Impact to Livelong Day, all have Hetty's push for Deeks to get better. His treadmill idea is not taken seriously and seen as an antic by everyone in 5x06, but Deeks sees it as non-risky diversion for him away from Kensi and infact a good exercise to stabilize his emotions. However, he realizes how bored he is trying it too hard to make any point. He starts letting it go, starts relaxing in his natural way. He is back to taking caffiene, coffee like he does normally. That is the 5x06-Big Brother Stakeout moment in the car, where without his realizing, he starts teasing Kensi like his old self. He is picqued that she doesn't like a moustache and here he is with all that bearded face. He teases her about her dislike for facial hair. Its a small gesture though, but definitely the indolent, easy going, drawling Deeks is back.  

The next episode 5x07-Livelong Day has him finding fun by himself reading about planetary movements, studying Astrology. Mercury in retrogade is fun, but more importantly the case closes with Deeks not only enjoying his undercover Ops with Kensi in a very comfortable way, it closes with Deeks getting the Prairie Tac train to play that he had yearned as a child since he was five. To me that was the moment, when it felt to me that Deeks was cured of his PTSD. His childlike innocence, sparkle, imagination and twinkle in his eye takes him away from all cares and just lets him into his native Deeks state, which he was so worried of losing as expressed when talking to his psychologist Nate Getz. Probably that moment on everything starts making sense. It is also the episode where Deeks plays the undercover part of FRA employee Matthew who suffers from OCD and has anxiety issues on a simple case as Fire alarm ringing. Deeks in clear contrast is far recovered from PTSD issues. He is now playing with those symptoms to work on his undercover role. It is also the episode where Hetty instead of indulging his wishes or chastising him, just teases him with pleasure about his Mercury retrogade talk and also shares his excitement about the old train, though in excitement she does ruin his effort about building the track for the train and spoiling the fun for him. She is confident about Deeks in every way that he was recovered and it was also an excitement within her with the same feelings as Deeks for the train. That settles the matters for everyone including Deeks, that his antics or eccentricities can be fun and emotional for others too. No more anxiety issues and no more Deeks antics in Bullpen to make a point.