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Keepin' It Real is the sixth episode of NCIS: Los Angeles Season One.

Synopsis[]

A Marine who had been leading a second life as a wealthy playboy falls of the rooftop of a night club with the LAPD believing that it's a suicide given that the Marine had PTSD tendencies. However, things change when Eric Beale discovers that the suicide is actually a murder and while the team search for the Marine's killer, they also attempt to shut down a major counterfeiting ring with the help of a Secret Service Agent.

Cast[]

Main Characters[]

Name Portrayed by Occupation
G. Callen Chris O'Donnell Special Agent-in-Charge, NCIS:OSP
Kensi Blye Daniela Ruah Special Agent, NCIS:OSP
Sam Hanna LL Cool J Special Agent, NCIS:OSP
Henrietta Lange Linda Hunt Operations Manager, NCIS:OSP
Nate Getz Peter Cambor Operational Psychologist, NCIS:OSP
Dominic Vail Adam Jamal Craig Special Agent, NCIS:OSP

Recurring Characters[]

Name Portrayed by Occupation
Eric Beale Barrett Foa Tech Operator, NCIS:OSP

Guest Characters[]

Name Portrayed by Notes
Natalie Giordano Monet Mazur Secret Service Agent
Rick Pargo Gregory Scott Cummins
Jerrold Mulhearn Mark Rolston Gunnery Sergeant, USMC
Alex Walder Brandon Scott Lance Corporal, USMC
Brandon Valdivia Tyler Jacob Moore Lance Corporal, USMC
Denise Burnadean Jones A waitress at the roof-top club Valdivia was at before his death.
Amy Rachael Carpani Another waitress at the club.
Eddie Nicolas Pajon One of Rick Pargo's thugs.

Detailed Summary[]

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The team learn that one of their suspects is on the run.

A major downtown rooftop party is going on through the night. A waitress servers Brandon, a Marine, but he refuses the drink and takes a walk around the party. Brandon receives a call and then ends up falling from the rooftop.

Sam and Callen walk into the operations center who argue about whether good agents are simply born good or can be taught. Hetty summons Callen and Sam up to the operations room where Dom and Eric brief the team on the new case - Brandon Valdivia's supposed suicide at Downtown Apex. The team learn that Valdivia's had a history of mental health issues leading to LAPD declaring his death a suicide and find an apartment linked to him in Culver City.

Sam and Callen check out Valdivia's apartment as they briefly continue to argue about natural vs. made operators. The pair find receipts for copious copies of Guitar Hero and provide it to Dom for further analyzing.

Eric evaluates how Valdivia fell from the roof noticing that he fell in an upturned crucifix position, and had a broken jaw with no bruising concluding that Valdivia was unconscious before falling to his death making his supposed suicide, officially a murder.

Kensi and Callen look around at Downtown Apex and talk to the events coordinator about Valdivia. The event coordinator reveals that Valdivia was quite a host, spending $27,000 and paying in cash. The pair interview the waitress serving him, Amy, who reveals that Valdivia had a good character and frequently hung out with a guy named Alex.

Eric identifies Alex to be Alex Walder and notes that Alex and Valdivia were deployed together and assigned to the same supply unit. Eric and Dom look at the security cameras from the elevator to try and identify the people at the party.

Sam and Callen head to Camp Pendleton and the Gunnery Sergeant reveals to Sam that both Alex and Valdivia were close as buddies but were not the brightest of people. Callen, meanwhile, can't find Walder in the sick bay and presume he's missing.

Kensi and Dom look into Valdivia's bulk buying of Guitar Hero and find that Valdivia was selling the games at half the price he was buying them for. Eric and Dom find that the wholesalers that Valdivia was buying from used banks that were all on the Secret Service Counterfeit Currency Alert and conclude that Valdivia was buying all the Guitar Hero games with counterfeit bills.

Eric manages to track down Walder's vehicle which went off the pier of the Los Angeles harbor. Sam and Callen check out the scene of the accident and try to figure out whether Walder's body might be.

Natalie Giordano, an agent from the Secret Service, talks with Callen and Sam explaining the process that goes into counterfeiting bills and how to identify counterfeits. Giordano elaborates that Valdivia's counterfeit bills were created particularly well to get it passed off at mom-and-pap stores. Giordano decides to assist with the case in order to find the counterfeiter while Sam and Callen find the murderer.

Eric finds a traffic cam that has footage of Walder's car going over the pier and identify Walder walking away from the accident while Kensi finds Walder heading north and then east from the pings on his phone when it was on. Callen identifies that Walder is on the subway given the route and Sam and Callen find him at the Downtown Apex where Sam prevents Walder from jumping off the roof and finds a small, metal item, later revealed to be a serial number generator.

Sam and Callen interview Walder who claims that he didn't kill Valdivia, but rather tried to convince him to stop partying. Callen shares a story about how one of his foster brothers, Jason, looked out for Callen until their foster dad beat him to death. Callen explains that he felt guilty because he didn't do anything to help Jason and through this story, Valder gives up Rick Pargo as the man who killed Valdivia. Giordano knows Pargo as he's been charged seven times with forgery and counterfeiting but the Treasury hasn't managed to convict him.

Eric checks cameras for Pargo's participation in the rooftop party when Valdivia was killed while Nate psychoanalyzes Valder and his rational behind going back to Downtown Apex. Sam and Callen interview Valder once more and Valder admits that they smuggled print presses and plates from doing a patrol in Baghdad. Pargo heard about the counterfeiting equipment and Valder and Valdivia allowed him to make test batches. Pargo determined that the paper wasn't good enough, and Valdivia was suppose to get rid of the bills, but rather laundered them online. Giordano explains that the item found on Valder is a serial number generator and was often used in Iraq where they printed the same 1995 series bills as was found from Valdivia's sales.

Kensi goes undercover as Alex Walder's girlfriend to try and draw out Pargo. Hetty gives Kensi a watch for surveillance and some of the fake money to use to convince Pargo of her cover while Nate identifies Pargo as a classic narcissist. Kensi sets up a deal with Pargo offering him premium paper. To sell the deal, Callen goes undercover as Gordon Taymis, a member of a prominent Canadian paper-making family, while Hetty quizzes him on paper facts. Hetty also hints that Callen should take Giordano out to dinner.

Kensi introduces Gordon and Pargo where the two men set up a deal. Kensi and Callen go over the meet identifying that Pargo must have a partner who killed Valdivia and there must be something up with the counterfeiting production given the oddly generous margin. Pargo confirms the deal through a call and Giordano and Callen meet to set up the paper trade.

Callen, Kensi, Pargo, and his men begin printing money while Sam convinces Giordano to wait for Pargo's partner so they can catch Valdivia's killer. Pargo and his partner, Eddie, betray Callen and Kensi's deal and move to kill them resulting in a gunfire exchange and Pargo's men getting shot while Kensi disarms Pargo.

Dom and Giordano follow the counterfeit money back to Camp Pendleton where Eric informs the team that there's $20 million dollars being shipped out to the Middle East and Asia which the team concludes that Eddie is trading out the real money for the counterfeit money.

Dom helps switch out the money while Sam, Callen, Kensi, and Giordano arrive later to find Mullhearn opening the fake $2 million dollar cash package and arrest him for Valdivia's murder and participating in the counterfeiting operation.

Callen accounts for the $2 million dollars with Giordano and turns down a date with her.

Major Events[]

  • It is revealed that Callen and Sam have been working together for two years and that the next month will be their third anniversary.

Trivia[]

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