NCIS: LA didn’t wait long to dive right into the Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) and Kensi (Daniela Ruah) drama, and in this week’s episode adds more fuel to the will-they-or-won’t-they fire. While Hetty’s (Linda Hunt) getting grilled in Washington, D.C., the Department of Justice comes to LA to question the team in the form of Under the Dome’s Aisha Hinds, who rattles the usually unshakeable Kensi.

“She takes the bait and goes to an emotional place, because they’re essentially drilling her about Jack and about her role in Afghanistan and why specifically she was used,” Olsen tells EW.

After the interview, Kensi and Deeks will share a rare heart to heart—a scene Olsen says is one of his favorite Densi moments ever. “She has this incredible art of self-preservation and the biggest walls because of her failed childhood—same with Deeks, too,” he says. “So when these self-defense mechanisms crumble, which they do in this scene, the result is the most honest and kind of heart-breaking conversation that we have for these characters. It gets to a very real place.”

The duo will get a chance to work through their emotions physically, too. (Get your mind out of the gutter!) They have an intense sparring scene, which they filmed on a day when they didn’t have stunt doubles, so both Olsen and Ruah ended up black and blue. “It ends up with me on the ground and her on top of me landing a series of jabs while I talk smack about her being a pole dancer,” Olsen says.

Emotional and literal fighting aside, will we ever find out what’s in that box? You know, the one that Kensi gave Deeks for his birthday, but when he finally opened it, inside was… another box. Apparently, it will come back into play this season. “The only person that knows what’s in there is [Executive Producer] Shane Brennan, so I am as emotionally invested as everyone else,” Olsen teases, after describing an elaborate late-night plan to break into the studio in ninja gear to try to reveal the secret. “Because I want to know what’s inside the box!”

NCIS: LA airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on CBS.

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Big changes are coming for Densi on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 6 Episode 2.

Series creator Shane Brennan teased it recently in an exclusive interview, so we thought we should talk to one of the players involved in the Deeks/Kensi relationship.

What did Eric Christian Olsen tell us about what we’re going to see and how audiences will probably look at the relationship differently moving forward? And just how will Deeks fold into Hetty’s interrogation story and, also, the tough, competitive Monday time slot. Let’s see what one of our favorite actors had to say…
Kensi and Deeks Have A Moment – NCIS: Los Angeles

TV Fanatic: I talked to Shane Brennan recently and he made it sound like some big steps are being taken forward for Densi. Would you say that that’s accurate?

Eric Christian Olsen: Yeah, I think that as the pieces fall on the floor and the person that you chose to put them back together with ended up playing the most kind of pivotal role in whatever that recovery is. I know that she’s obviously still suffering from what happened to her in Afghanistan. The body reacts in really bizarre, interesting ways [due to] traumatic experiences. Deeks went through that and I think Kensi is going through her version of that, and it comes in waves, it comes in flashes.

I think we have one of those moments where Kensi’s character in a very typical Kensi way, she tries to fight it. But they end up having this kind of conversation about it and it’s one of my favorite scenes that we’ve done so far about their relationship, about navigating the walls of her defense.

I think one of the most powerful tools in her toolbox is the art of self-preservation and she uses that a lot when things get too painful or too emotional. To deal with kind of thinking step by step is learning how to navigate those with her and there’s a really amazing scene that capitalizes on that.

TVF: How was it to shoot that scene because I’m guessing even as actors they are scenes that you guys have been kind of itching to play. Is that accurate?

ECO: I think you’re always itching to play those scenes, and I think the beauty of a show like ours, though, is unlike, you know, family dramas where this happens every single week, the backbone of the show, is because we’re inherently a show about NCIS and about all these crimes, and about these scenes that you get them once every seven episodes or so, you maybe get these juicy moments that are about characters, and they’re about the emotion of the characters. And so, yeah, we loved getting those, and it’s so fun to do them, because first off Dani is phenomenal. She’s a great actress.

I don’t know how other actors work, but it’s like watching Lebron [James] when he’s having one of those games where he scores 63 points. It just happens. And all of a sudden, you’re just like, “That’s it. That’s the take.” It’s so honest. It’s so heartbreaking, so real. And that’s kind of my way to look at all the scenes, especially dealing with my own acting and Dani does it too, if you never feel as if you’re being dishonest then the moments aren’t honest then you’ve got to go again. These moments in this scene are so heartbreaking and so honest and they’re one of my favorites so far.

TVF: Did you feel challenged differently, with these scenes than maybe what you’ve done in the past?

ECO: Yeah, because the stakes are always higher. Like when you go to these scenes in life, the repercussions if it goes wrong, you know, you’re out there and you’re putting yourself out there. When you do a scene like this, it’s the same place, because you’re asking your actors to go to this place and if any fraction of that is false, I think we as an audience detach from it. That’s the great thing about Dani and this scene is they are nothing but honest and seamless, which is what I like to call that kind of acting.

TVF: Would you predict the audience might look at these characters differently after what we see in this next episode?

ECO: Yeah, I think they look at the relationship a different way. I think we have a general idea, kind of who these characters are. I think that Shane and Scott and Frank and all these guys have done such an amazing job with the slow reveal of these characters. One of the things I love most about them as writers is that it comes in the most surprising ways. We get to these places in the most surprising paths. And with this it’s the same thing.

You know, these two characters especially, makes these turns on a dime. In one minute there’s anger and then there’s comedy and then there’s honesty, and there’s heartbreak. And I think that’s what’s true about any character, and that’s what’s true about life, really, the relationships.

TVF: I know in the episode there’s something going on with Hetty and the case this week. How does your character fold into either one of those story threads?

ECO: I think it’s kind of the best version. My favorite kind of version of storytelling for our show, which is that there’s, instead of an A story and a B story, there’s about four stories. And Hetty has been taken by the DOJ, Department of Justice, and is being kind of grilled for her role in Afghanistan about the white ghost, about Kensi and there’s a cover-up and they want to know where the money came from. So, she’s really being grilled, and in the meantime, someone has bought personal information about Hetty because they’re coming for her.

So, we’re tracking that down, you’re dealing with Kensi and her own kind of struggle with what happened in Afghanistan and her past, and relationship. It’s a really incredibly, layered is the B-minus word, but there is a, there’s a lot of interwoven plot line in this episode. It’s a really good episode.

TVF: From talking to Shane and now listening to you, it sounds like things are definitely more emotional this season than what we’ve seen in the past. Would you say that’s true?

ECO: I think we’re at episode seven now. We’ve done seven, rising tension, emotional, high-action episodes. We haven’t had a dud yet and sometimes an episode doesn’t work out, but so far, everybody’s brought their A game. I think moving to Monday night at 10 o’clock, is kind of a rally cry for everyone. We’re all in. The ante has been upped. The most competitive hour of scripted television in that time slot on TV. You’ve got Blacklist. You’ve got Castle, not to mention Monday night football. So, I think everybody’s stepping up their game.

NCIS: Los Angeles Season 6 airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.

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NCIS: Los Angeles’ Hetty is going to lend the Scorpion guys a hand later this month, and EW has the exclusive first look.

Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel) and his team will enlist Linda Hunt’s NCIS: LA character when a lead on an upcoming case tracking down a priceless painting takes them to a Halloween party and they need her expertise to go undercover and infiltrate the event. The crossover episode of Scorpion is slated to air in late October around the spooky holiday.

Scorpion airs Mondays at 9 p.m., followed by NCIS: LA at 10 p.m. on CBS.

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On Monday’s NCIS: Los Angeles, Kensi’s (Daniela Ruah) time in Afghanistan will have tough consequences for Hetty (Linda Hunt), who is sent to Washington, D.C., for a hearing about her handling of the White Ghost mission.

But while Hetty deals with the more immediate fallout, the Afghanistan experience will also have repercussions for Kensi, though they may be less overtly apparent. On theOct. 13 episode, Kensi opens up to Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) about her time there, in a scene Olsen describes as one of his favorite Densi moments of the entire series.

“One of Kensi’s skills is her art of self-preservation that she’s mastered throughout kind of a terrible childhood, which is very similar to what Deeks went through,” Olsen tells TVGuide.com. “The tragic events that happened in Afghanistan for her, she’s fighting so hard to kind of not deal with those things and to try forget those things. And she has a very honest and revealing conversation with Deeks about her kind of inability to do so, to navigate what it is that’s happening in her own head.”

So, in the never-ending will-they-or-won’t-they drama between Kensi and Deeks, will the White Ghost mission and its aftermath bring them closer together, or just put up another barrier between them?

“It’s easy to be friends with people and to love people when everything’s good,” Olsen says. “It’s when things fall to pieces and we have to put them back together, and the people that we choose to put them back together with, that matter the most. And that’s kind of what Deeks and Kensi have become for each other. I think that’s part of the definition of a great relationship. … There’s anger and there’s comedy and there’s humor and there’s a flash of honesty and then the gate’s wide open. … It’s the ones with the highest walls that, when they come down, come down in the most kind of glorious way.”

Both Kensi and Deeks find themselves confronting issues from their pasts that they’d rather set aside and ignore. “It’s a really good season with really great back story to watch these characters come together, fall apart, come together, fall apart,” according to Olsen.

Here are four more teases about what lies ahead for NCIS: Los Angeles.

1. An unexpected friendship?: Deeks is taking some sort of perverse pleasure in watching the tension between Kensi and Talia (Mercedes Masohn), Olsen admits. Kensi’s response to Deeks’ flirtation with Talia (whom Olsen calls “Kensi 2.0”) is “a true only child reaction,” Olsen says. “‘He may not be mine, but he sure as hell ain’t yours.’ It’s a really interesting 8-year-old girl version of herself. And then she hates herself for going there. They’re all honest emotions that they’re exploring, which makes it so fun for Deeks to watch. And Deeks really enjoys this lunacy that he’s the catalyst for.” But that may change once Kensi and Talia start to form a bond. “The second that they kind of find a friendship and common ground, then he’s like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait. I wasn’t planning on this. I don’t like this at all,'” according to Olsen.

2. Ray’s back — and so is Max Gentry. Deeks’ childhood friend, Ray (Channon Roe), will be back later this season, Olsen confirms, and his return will force Deeks to reexamine his alias Max Gentry. “Max is an interesting and dark place for Deeks to go, and I think that — like all [aliases] — is a version of himself that he decided not to be,” Olsen says. “It’s a little too real and taps a little bit too deeply and honestly into his own childhood.”

3. Deeks’ daddy issues: Through the Ray arc, viewers will learn more about Deeks’ backstory and less-than-ideal upbringing. “Deeks has spent kind of his whole life running from his dad and what his dad represents in his life,” Olsen says. “Every time Ray comes back, he’s confronted with not only Ray but with the person that he could have been if he would have continued the cycle that his father kind of instilled in him.”

4. NCIS: LAPD? Though details are scarce, we do know that Deeks will return to the LAPD at some point this season. “We don’t know why he’s sent back to LAPD, we don’t know what the fallout is, but my guess is that as we continue with the fever pitch that is Kensi and Deeks that that probably plays a pretty large role in it,” Olsen teases.

NCIS: Los Angeles airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.

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Callen and Sam are all wet in NCIS: LA Season 6 Episode 1… but not in a good way.

If you remember from NCIS: LA Season 5 Episode 24, the twosome ended the spring in a submarine, with their future looking anything but bright.

The season premiere picks up where we left off and – as series creator/executive producer Shane Brennan told me recently – the episode was quite the undertaking due to the use of a submarine, stunt work and, of course, water to contend with.

But what else is coming in the new season? Brennan had much to tease about Hetty’s big journey in the first few episodes and it seems we’re finally going to see some big emotional moments between Kensi and Deeks that could change their relationship as we know it. (One hint that Brennan offered: this potential romantic relationship won’t be dragged out the way DiNozzo and Ziva were on NCIS)

Let’s dive in, so to speak, to everything Brennan had to say we’ll see in NCIS: Los Angeles Season 6.

TV Fanatic: The premiere is really kick ass, I must say so my first question is what were the biggest challenges in shooting it??

Shane Brennan: Well there were two major challenges and the first was actually the submarine. We did in fact build the tank as well on the Paramount lot so it was a major undertaking. It’s probably one of the biggest set constructions we’ve done on the show and being able to flood it the way we did, all of the stunts that were involved, the water that came through the hull and the pressure, all of that stuff was a pretty big undertaking from everyone involved. And they did an amazing job. I mean, Chris and LL Cool J spent a lot of time wet making this episode…it’s a very big episode.

TVF: Without spoiling what actually happens, are there any repercussions from what happens in the premiere or is the chapter closed?

SB: Well the biggest repercussion to come out of the episode is what happens to Hetty. Hetty does end up in Washington. She cannot get away from that. And the next couple of episodes we find Hetty really under the microscope in Washington, in front of the Senate committee, Senate hearing, and she’s trying to explain to them how she runs her business. If people love Hetty, they are going to love these next two episodes following the premiere.

They are really, really strong episodes. In fact if you look at the season finale for season five, which was continued into the season premiere, the following two episodes from there are also episodes that are to be continued. So we had almost a four episode arc involving the sub and Hetty having to go to Washington and then Hetty’s faced with some pretty intense scrutiny.

TVF: Might that be an opportunity to maybe reveal a little more about her because there’s always so many questions about her past and even her past with Callen and other things?

SB: We reveal a lot about Hetty in these first three episodes. We reveal some pretty fun information, some pretty surprising information and for Hetty it’s not without its heartbreak. We see a return of someone from her past in a fairly major return, so it’s a very Hetty-centric sort of couple episodes after the premiere. The fans are going to love it.
NCIS: Los Angeles Season 6 Premiere Promo

TVF: Tell me where we’re going with Talia being in the mix and this potential triangle with Kensi and Deeks. There are some great scenes in this first episode with them.

SB: Yeah, Mercedes Masohn is just fabulous as Talia. We had such a good time with her last season we said we’re going to bring her back. And the relationship the chemistry between her and Kensi on screen, it’s fabulous. She’s a fun character and we’ll be seeing more of her.

I can tell you that there are some very emotional moments coming up in these first three episodes. There’s one particular moment that is very, very emotional between Kensi and Deeks. I won’t say any more about it other than that but it’s probably one of the most emotional scenes we’ve had on the show actually. That’s something for people to look out for. It is a very powerful moment. It’s kind of heart wrenching.

TVF: Will it change their relationship in a big way?

SB: I won’t answer that. [laughs] It’s an interesting thing because in the moment it may not necessarily, but you have to believe that such a powerful moment, emotional moment between the two of them will have some impact on their future relationship.

TVF: Beale is one of my favorite characters. And I’ve seen Barrett Foa sing. He’s really amazing.

SB: And he can sing. That may happen at some point. I’m not planning it, but at some point we use everyone’s skills.

TVF: What’s Beale’s piece of the new season?

SB: No one else could play Eric Beale but [Barrett]. He’s just fabulous in that role. The relationship that he has had with Nell really caught us all off guard. There’s a great sort of chemistry between the two of them and we’re always looking for opportunities to play that. There are some fun moments for Beale in these first half dozen episodes. He’s actually out in the field at one point so we get him out of the box and we’re always looking for opportunities to explore what Barrett can do because he’s such a fine actor.

TVF: Everything you’ve told me so far, I would say the first half of the season is more of an emotional journey for everybody than it has been in the past. Do you see it that way?

SB: Yeah, we had been slow with the emotional. We have an action sort of fun show but we don’t steer away from the emotional stuff at all. If we feel the characters are going in that direction we’re very happy to explore it. We’re not scared of exploring it. In terms of the Kensi/Deeks relationship we’re not going to do a DiNozzo/Ziva [from NCIS]. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to explore the relationship to its fullest.

I know people can get a little impatient with those things but you can’t rush into any of this sort of stuff because the audience has to see the journey. The have to see the decision making that goes into a relationship and why some things happen and other things don’t. You can’t just leap to it because it doesn’t feel true. And what we’re trying to do with these characters is explore their relationship in a very honest and true way and that can take time because that’s what happens when you have these sorts of relationships take place at work. You have to be very careful with them so there’s a lot more that come in the Kensi/Deeks relationship, not just this season, but next season too.

We also have for Sam a big surprise coming for him later in the season. And we have a pretty big step up in the Callen story later this season as well and we will certainly be playing a little bit more of Callen backstory and some interesting romantic shifts in his life, too.

TVF: I was going to say, are these more personal stories or more professional stories or a little bit of both?

SB: It’s a little bit of both. I mean the fun we have when we work on the show is finding ways to, as I said, explore these characters in what is sort of a fun action escapist type of show and the cast is just so damn good. You can’t resist writing the material because you know they’re going to deliver it. It really is quite extraordinary how they step up to the challenge and how they can sell a big emotional arc in what is a fun action show.

TVF: Let me ask you just about the day shift to Monday nights. How do you feel about that and being away from the Mothership for the first time on the schedule?

SB: Well look, I think NCIS: Los Angeles is so different for NCIS and then when I created the show that was the mandate I gave myself. I didn’t want a clone of NCIS. I wanted it to be different. I think we provide for people who watch NCIS, it’s kind of a flipside of the coin. Let’s go to LA and see what’s happening.

So I think moving to Monday night, that audience we’ve had for almost since the first episode, we’ve had a hardcore group of people who watch the show and they’re going to find the show on Monday night at ten o’clock. I’m not concerned about that at all. In terms of standing alone, we’re following the show called Scorpion, which is a really great, serious show that’s got a lot of fun and action and it’s young and I think they’re great companion pieces together.

NCIS:LA premieres tonight in its new Monday at 10/9c time slot on CBS.

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The Season 5 finale of CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles — as it was titled — left Sam and Callen in “Deep Trouble,” locked inside a small sub rigged with explosives and headed for a target unknown, and with no way to contact their colleagues. Hetty meanwhile pulled another of her disappearing acts, and Deeks realized that three is most definitely a crowd.

TVLine invited showrunner Shane Brennan to teases the Season 6 premiere — airing Sept. 29, in its new Mondays-at-10/9c time slot – and beyond.

TVLINE | Where do things pick up with the premiere? Are you going to, like, show us that everything’s fine and dandy then do “24 Hours Earlier…,” or are you jumping right in where we left off?
We jump right in. We left Sam and Callen stuck in a drug cartel sub that was…

TVLINE | Filled to the gills with ammonium nitrate.
… and we come back right on top of it. It’s just continuous action. It’s a very, very intense opening episode, and at one point both Callen and Sam realize that in order to stop what they’ve discovered is a terrorist attack, they will have to, in fact, die. So it’s pretty full on.

TVLINE | “Assuming” here that Sam and Callen survive, what is the big question surrounding the premiere?
The big question is: How the hell are they going to get out of this? But there are a number of questions, you know. We left a bit of a mystery at the end of last season as to what was actually going on with these terrorists, including: What’s their target? And it’s a very credible target. When Sam and Callen discover that, they realize that they’ve got to stop this thing from happening, but they’re totally isolated. They’re fighting a losing battle. Meanwhile, back at Ops, the question for Granger and for Hetty is: How do we stop it the Navy from taking unilateral action to stop the terrorists?

TVLINE | Because we all know how that can shake out – “We’ll blow it up even if it means sacrificing two of our guys for the greater good.”
Exactly, and it puts them all under really intense pressure. Kensi and Deeks, meanwhile, are sort of tracking down as much information as they can, while both having their moments with Talia (returning guest star Mercedes Masohn).

TVLINE | Yeah. I’ve heard that as provocative as the finale was, it perhaps doesn’t compare to the events of the premiere. Is that true?
If you like Kensi and Deeks, and you’re intrigued by Talia, you are in for a kind of pretty full-on moment. And what’s great about it is there’s a particular moment between Kensi and TaliaNCIS LA Season 6 Spoilers that is resolved beautifully, in terms of the way the characters resolve their personal relationship and the way the two of them then have fun with Deeks. There’s a lot fun for Kensi/Deeks fans in this one. There really is.

TVLINE | Outside of titillating us a bit, what larger purpose does thrusting Talia into this situation serve for the show?
It makes Kensi, particularly, focus on her relationship with Deeks. Because Talia poses some questions of her own to Kensi that makes Kensi stop and think. She also gives Kensi some, let’s call it, “unasked-for advice.”

TVLINE | Oh, so is Mercedes around for more than the premiere?
She is around for a little bit more. And there’s always a possibility she may well return deeper into the season as well.

TVLINE | The finale left Hetty’s fate in question, and it’s not the first time you’ve ended a season that way. How is it different this time around?
Well, this time we actually take it much further. Spread over the first three episodes of this season, the story takes Hetty to Washington, where she faces some very hostile questioning from a Senate committee trying to get to the truth of what happened in Afghanistan and whether Hetty was acting outside her job description, so to speak. And then we discover there’s more to this, that in fact Hetty is being targeted by someone. And that actually puts her life in danger. And someone very close to her — someone we actually don’t know anything about, really, but someone very close to her — dies as a result of all of this. We actually see Hetty reaching a point where she cannot resolve the situation herself. She can take certain things a long way up the chain of command, but eventually, they hit a wall and she can’t do any more than what she’s done.

TVLINE | Is there any kind of serialized arc going on this season? Any recurring Big Bad?
As we get deeper into the season, there is a recurring character that we’ve met a number of times over the course of this show who’s not so much a bad guy, but he’s not necessarily a good guy, either. He’s in this sort of gray area. And he makes a fairly dramatic return, and that then sparks a longer story arc that involves Callen in a pretty serious way.

TVLINE | But you want to keep that identity under wraps for now?
Yeah. I want to keep that one under wraps until a bit later in the season.

TVLINE | Any dollops of character backstories during the early season?
We have someone who would be familiar with fans of NCIS – Leon Vance (played by Rocky Carroll) — popping into the show in the first three, and that should be a lot of fun. And we’ve got some really interesting stuff coming through with Callen, and relationship with Katie. Also, a mystery woman comes into the show. There are a lot of intrigues this season.

TVLINE | Does that “mystery woman” tie into one of my next questions, about perhaps a romantic interest for Callen?
Romance is definitely on the cards for Callen this season, and from an unexpected quarter.

TVLINE | What about Nell and/or Eric? What’s on tap for either of them?
Well, Nell finds herself in a pretty dangerous situation pretty early on in the season, and it has to do with Hetty. As everyone who’s watched the show knows, Nell and Hetty have a special relationship.

TVLINE | Yeah, they had a couple great moments in the finale.
Well, they’re in for some surprises in the first and second episode. In the third, too, but particularly the second episode. Nell comes to Hetty’s rescue in a very interesting way. As for the relationship between Nell and Eric, we’re still exploring that in small ways, I guess, from episode to episode, but I am looking to do a little more with their relationship later this season. There’s another step or another stage, perhaps, in their relationship that we are really looking forward to exploring, and it should be a lot of fun when we take that step.

TVLINE | With the new time slot, are you looking to make the show maybe a bit noisier, to give people who aren’t familiar with it that extra reason to check it out on Monday nights?
You know, one of the great things about our show — and this goes right across the board, to the writers, the cast, the crew – is that we have always done it at 100 percent. We’ve never backed off on anything, and we’re not backing off now in any way. We are going to try to make it as noisy as we possibly can, but for fans of the show who are concerned that the show may change by going to 10 pm, they’re going to be relieved to know that it will still be the same show that they’ve loved. And anyone new who comes to the show who has the habit of watching CBS at 10 o’clock on a Monday, they’re going to be rewarded with a really intriguing show.

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