#NCIS: Los Angeles Season 12 Episode 12 Review: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

It wouldn’t be Callen if he weren’t having woman trouble.

Not just one but two girlfriends popped up in different capacities on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 12 Episode 12.

For those keeping score, that was one ex and one … what is Anna these days? 

Definitely trouble. Beyond that, it will have to wait until the couple has a quiet moment that doesn’t involve a couple of other law-enforcement agencies.

It was amazing that the tail Callen hadn’t been able to locate for a couple of episodes finally got caught by him. Did they suddenly forget how to handle surveillance?

What a convenient coincidence that on the same day that Callen nabbed his tail, Hetty popped up from her hidey-hole long enough to send Nell, who finally reappeared without explanation, a coded message of danger.

So the team was nearly immediately going in two seemingly unrelated directions, Callen on a personal mission and the rest following up on Hetty’s cryptic note.

Probably not the ideal time to have the squad’s top sniper slowed by fertility hormones.

I guess that’s going to be the norm. Kensi’s going to have good days and bad days as she adjusts to herself and Deeks’ fertility campaign.

Kensi also better learn how to give herself injections until she enjoys Deeks making a production out of it.

Fatima understands her place in the pecking order at OSP, so she didn’t ask too many questions when Deeks told her that Kensi was suffering from a flareup of an old back injury.

Lord knows Kensi has had enough work-related injuries through the years whenever Daniela Ruah was pregnant. So that excuse was perfectly believable.

But Kensi couldn’t pull that on Nell, her primarily female work friend and temporary boss. And Nell did the right thing supporting Kensi and offering whatever assistance she could provide.

Do you figure Hetty already knows about Kensi’s travails, even though she’s been out of the office seemingly for years?

At least Kensi realizes that this is just the beginning and that things will only get harder if she does manage to get pregnant. Can you imagine how overprotective Deeks is going to be if that happens?

Maybe, as was suggested, it will just be a matter of her body getting adjusted to the hormones. Unless, of course, Daniela is pregnant again, in which case all bets are off.

Deeks and Kensi weren’t the only ones distracted by personal drama, as the Sam-and-Kam show continued.

Yes, Sam overreacted by having Kam stay with him while she unnecessarily takes her classes remotely.

But Kam definitely had some ‘splainin’ to do after the events of NCIS: Los Angeles Season 12 Episode 10.

Especially after she dropped the bombshell on him about maybe not wanting to attend the Naval Academy anymore, that there are better ways for her to change the world.

It’s probably true that Annapolis isn’t big on its cadets being vocal advocates for social justice. You would think the military academies are more about blending in and becoming part of a team, not being an outspoken promoter of a cause.

But their talk left Papa Sam distracted, never a good thing when he’s on the job.

Her not terribly well-thought-out plan was to head back to school and leave a note. Logan, who had met Sam for all of 10 minutes, convinced her that was a bad idea, so she hung around to talk again with her father instead.

This storyline won’t be over until he checks her into Annapolis. 

And how about Deeks managing to calm Sam down with a long-winded personal anecdote? That’s some role reversal for the normally hyper Deeks and the usually mellow Sam.

And how did Hetty know about the assault on the CIA safe house from halfway around the world? Well, that’s just Hetty, isn’t it? Logic need not apply.

So Sam and Deeks’ feel-good moment got rudely interrupted, first by the shootings and then by Carlson, who seems to have different clearances to show up at crime scenes every week.

Carlson seems to have a lot of juice for simply a DOJ Special Agent. There’s more to her than meets the eye.

While she was verbally jousting with Sam and Deeks, Callen and Roundtree were busy stumbling on Anna.

Anna appeared to have thought it was a good idea to keep Callen in the dark as she attempted to keep away from Katya/Kate Miller, who was still pissed off about the events of NCIS: Los Angeles Season 10 Episode 21.

Apparently, an ignorant, paranoid Callen was a safer Callen, using Anna’s logic. 

Instead, she agreed to work with a group of FSB agents who obviously had a different agenda from her, seeking to kill Katya so she wouldn’t fall into American hands.

Katya grabbed Joelle as leverage so that she could get to Anna. Anna was willing to do the noble thing and give herself up so the others could follow and track down Katya.

Only the Russians and the Americans couldn’t play well with each other, and that strategy was soon shot down, literally.

Next, we’ll get to see how well Carlson and NCIS can work together to rescue Joelle. I’m betting there will be growing pains in that relationship as well.

To follow Callen and Anna’s tortured relationship, watch NCIS: Los Angeles online.

Were you surprised to see what Anna had been up to?

What will Kam do?

Will Kensi and Deeks’ relationship be tested?

Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.