Social media can be a nasty place to live.
That was a message that the OSP debated on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 13 Episode 9.
The upshot of the episode appeared to be that people should get a life … offline.
It was good that Fatima and guest agent Aliyah were there to explain everything about social media to the oldsters, both on the team and in the audience.
And with Kensi and Deeks, let alone Sam and Callen, acting as much like fuddy-duddies as Kilbride, there was a whole lot of youth-splaining going on.
It almost makes one think that CBS’s target audience isn’t the one that will be streaming the episode days and weeks after its on-air premiere.
It was hard to like the victim, Gia, and harder still to appreciate the trolls that abducted her and those raising money to have her killed online.
Sure, it was hard to justify that Gia could earn a house in Beverly Hills just by making little video snippets on her phone and somehow gaining followers that wanted to watch her do so.
The more followers, the more advertisers would pay for her to feature their products.
But how different is that from product placement and outright advertisements on TV, really? A pretty face is being paid to sell something either way, although one could debate the relative cleverness of the packaging.
And based on interviews with her employees, Gia was very self-absorbed. But aren’t many her age? And having many tuning in to see her could only inflate her ego.
But despite her egotistical state of mind, Gia didn’t deserve what she got, being abducted by one of her haters.
The trouble was that Gia had so many trolls that Fatima couldn’t possibly have gotten through all of Gia’s postings and the reactions to them by herself.
Reenter Aliyah who spoke the same binary language as Fatima. It was just like the old days, where Eric and Nell would find the key clues electronically and send the team members to make the final arrest.
This episode marks Aliyah’s second appearance after NCIS: Los Angeles Season 13 Episode 8. And she seemed eager to stick around permanently.
So the big question is, who’s leaving? Based on Aliyah’s function so far, Roundtree would be an obvious choice. But then Deeks always appears to have one foot out of the door at all times.
Another cast member could just be added. But on an aging series such as NCIS: Los Angeles, adding salary is improbable. Someone leaving seems more likely.
So what are the early thoughts on Aliyah? She fits in well with the team. But so little has been revealed about her that it’s way too early to tell if she should stick around.
It was another one of those episodes where the squad had to take on a case outside their purview as a favor for another prominent government agency, in this case, the State Department.
The not-so-subtle message examined the value and the cost of social-media celebrity.
Gia’s fans loved her so much that they would donate $10,000,000 to save her. Only there were just as many people out there who wanted to end her, or at least the concept of what she represented — hollow online idolatry.
As the agents struggled to find someone who had a kind word to say about Gia, or at least knew anything about her, they had plenty of time to question the value of social media and debate how hard it is to be both a child and a parent in the modern world.
The discussion was bound to be heavy-handed. But it’s difficult to talk about that topic without sounding like an old fart.
Gia, or the idea of someone such as Gia, incensed so many people that the team had a big old suspect pool through which to wade.
It was good to see that the “poor-me” incel community came in for a special flogging. That’s one of those scummy pockets of the web that no one wants to think about.
It ultimately came down to sorting through the mouthy posers and those who had some ill intent toward Gia. Once Aliyah got a line on who benefitted from the campaign to kill Gia, wrapping up the case didn’t take long.
Of course, the whole discussion of parenting today had to circle back to Kensi and Deeks, a way to revisit their efforts to have a child without really hammering on the topic for once.
One discordant storyline that attempted to be a trace of humor in this episode was the battle over Sam’s parking spot.
Kilbride parked an ancient pickup that resembled the truck that Gerald McRaney drove on Simon & Simon (look it up, kids) in Sam’s spot. This meant that Sam had to park the Hellcat in an area where it was in danger of being soiled by birds. The horrors!
When Kilbride brought up the spot, Sam halfheartedly refused to claim it. So Kilbride decided to keep it. Hilarity ensued.
To follow the Hellcat, watch NCIS: Los Angeles online.
Would you like to see Aliyah stay? Then who should go?
Did the episode make any good points on social media?
Was this worth the long Olympic hiatus?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.