NCISLA + Their Handling of the Aftermath of Deaths
despite liking most of this season, i’ve realised there is something that has been missing, something that feels like it is simply there for the sake of it and that has been affecting the quality of the writing and i finally realised last night what it was: after 9 seasons the show still can’t write the aftermath of the death of a character.
i know a lot of people have commented on the fact that michelle’s death has been lingering over the season but i honestly have to disagree. i think a lot of that response has to do with the fans being upset and angry that she was killed off as opposed to emphasising the struggles and what her death has meant for show. especially since, her death hasn’t actually changed anything. aside from the occasional mention - you wouldn’t know that she died because there has literally been no impact from it.
this isn’t even the first time they have done this. it happened with dom and then again with renko and hunter. those characters were killed off and then forgotten about. dom had an entire arc surrounding his disappearance - an arc where characters were constantly talking about him, were missing him and struggling without him and with their own guilt and then after he died, he was mentioned for one episode and then ignored (yes, he was mentioned in s2 but lets not act like being the butt of a joke or a prop for a ship wasn’t disrespectful as hell to his character). hunter was murdered and hetty even said that she was like a daughter to her and was upset for a total of one episode and then she got two mentions in s4 and that was it. you’d think she was a random agent who had zero ties to anyone. she was killed off for the sake of it and to further the whole callen/janvier thing. then you have renko who was introduced in the backdoor pilot, who was shown to have had a good relationship with sam, callen and kensi and then after he died, he was completely erased from the show. all three characters deserved better and none of them needed to die but they showcased that as soon as they were dead, that was it. time to forget about them and move on and act like they never existed in the first place.
now, the show hasn’t done that with michelle but they are damn close! they constantly referenced her death, even her impending death as something that was going to change sam. something that was going to impact him forever and would change the show but it hasn’t. because they haven’t let it happen. we haven’t been allowed to see anything that would indicate that sam is actually struggling. we’ve only been told by the other characters that he isn’t coping. we’ve been told about things relating to sam/michelle eg. their anniversary but we aren’t allowed to actually see it. we haven’t been shown sam struggling with seeing people happy and together in a relationship, we haven’t seen him falling apart even when he is alone, we haven’t seen his anger or contempt for any of the team, we haven’t seen how he is coping with her death, we haven’t seen any indication that his relationship with the others on the team has become strained or that there are problems. and if there were, we would be told about it - probably by callen as he is the one who is telling us everything about sam and that is not acceptable.
this isn’t the least bit surprising but it really highlights that this show doesn’t know how to actually write the aftermath of a death. they don’t know how to handle it. they write these big death scenes, ones that get people talking or get a reaction and then don’t bother to actually follow through. now, i know a lot of people have said that there is a subtlety with sam’s struggles and yes, there might be but there is a difference between subtle and needing a magnifying glass to see it.
they are making sure you know michelle died and that is basically it. she will get the occasional mention or they will hint at something relating to her but that is it. they haven’t showcased anything that gives the impression her death had any impact whatsoever - especially on sam!
