Categories: People

NCIS: LA’s Renée Felice Smith Talks About Next Week’s “Kill House” Episode

On the next episode called “Kill House” on NCIS: Los Angeles Callen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks look to go undercover as an elite tactical force in order to investigate an ambush tied to a cartel kingpin with terrorist connections. Yet one of the team members, Nell Jones who is an Intelligence Analyst finds herself out in the field in unfamiliar territory. Renee Felice Smith, who plays Nell Jones, talks about the upcoming episode and if Nell and her tech buddy, Eric Beale will start moving towards a relationship.

Coming up next week on the “NCIS: Los Angeles” in the episode titled “Kill House” we find the team going undercover to investigate a cartel kingpin with terrorist connections. Tell me about your character’s role in this episode.

My character Nell Jones is called into the field to field, for a lack of a better word, some questions dealing with technical aspects surrounding the crime. She is called out as an expert on hand to deal with some camera issues and just some different technical aspects at the crime scene. The action kind of unfolds from there.

Now most of the time your character Nell is indoors doing the “tech thing” or “nerd thing” as you guys call it. Do you like it when your character ventures out into the real world?

Yea I do. I think Nell is a natural problem solver. So whether she is on the inside or the outside she can kind of stand on her own two feet. I think she has a lot to contribute to the team. She sees each case as a puzzle. On the inside that works well because she puts the pieces together from the inside. Being out in the field, it is not that she doesn’t have the training for that it is just that she hasn’t had the real world experience. I think and I hope that we will see more of that field experience and field work from Nell in future episodes.

With Nell out in the field is anyone going to take you under their wing and two will they think of you as a liability in this upcoming episode?

Well I think in this episode Nell definitely gains the respect of her team. She looks to Callen and Sam, Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J’s characters, for some advice and looking to her elders for some advice about field work. They definitely give her the ultimate pep talk. They definitely speak to her intelligence. They give her the confidence in herself that they have in her. In one point in the episode, which is a turning point in that episode, she gets a nod of approval from Chris O’Donnell’s character which I think is pretty major for Nell.

Recently in the episode called “Free Ride” Nell and Eric Beale shared a kiss under the mistletoe. What can viewers expect to see between Nell and Eric?

I think that we are going to dance with it for some time. Like any good relationship there is the ebb and flow and the ups and downs for any good onscreen relationship. Nell definitely has a lot of affection for her cohort, comrade and partner in crime, Eric Beale played by Barrett Foa. It is going to be a topic of discussion for sure. I don’t know if there will be any hand holding or any official date, but the writers are having fun with it. I think it is time for the audience to sit back and enjoy that “show” for a bit.

Will there be any notable guest stars in the episodes to come?

Well Miguel Ferrer is definitely with us through the end of the season. He is a reoccurring guest with such a powerful presence. He is just a really cool guy. We enjoy talking with him off camera. We share a lot in common. I have a dog and he has two dogs and we share stories. There is a great scene at the end of this episode, “Kill House” that airs this upcoming Tuesday between Granger, Miguel’s character and our whole crew. The crew looks to Nell response to Granger’s question. So this is the first time where everyone defers to Nell’s opinion and point of view. It is a huge deal especially with that crew of strong personalities.

What can fans of the show expect for the rest of this season?

I think we will see and this is also my hopes since I really don’t know what is going to happen. I only know about three episodes out from what has currently aired on TV. My hope for the end of this season is where I think it is going and what they are setting up is that Nell will have more of a field presence. I think she proves herself in this episode and she gains a lot of trust from her team.

Hetty has always seen Nell as a younger version of herself. I think this is something that fans should remember. Linda Hunt, who plays Hetty, and I were discussing we would love more Hetty and Nell one on one scenes. Maybe there will be some mentoring going on. As a whole we are building on all of our relationships, definitely the Eric and Nell relationship.