NCIS: Los Angeles Star Barrett Foa Recalls Eric Beale’s Pants Episode As One Of His Favorites – Looper

As the show’s title suggests, Eric Beale’s unit of the NCIS is based in sunny Los Angeles, California. Sandals and shorts are a common sight, and they’re staples of Eric’s wardrobe. But what happens when Hetty gives pants to this creature of habit? Hilarity ensues — for both the audience and the actors.

While responding to a Redditor’s question in the subreddit r/IAmA, actor Barrett Foa said that those scenes in Season 5, Episode 2 (“Impact”) were some of his favorite to film during his time on “NCIS: Los Angeles.” “Loved being in the burn room and talking about Eric’s kilts and Scottish Heritage!” he said, referring to the moment when Eric can no longer take the restrictiveness of his pants, preparing to toss them into the incinerator. Nell catches him mid-toss and asks for an explanation.

But the whole pants debacle wasn’t just for comedic relief. Foa told TVLine that it was a storyline born out of necessity. “Basically I had e-mailed one of our EPs, like, ‘It’s really cold on set, maybe Eric Beale gets to wear some long pants? Maybe it’s time?'” he said. With that context, it’s certainly easy to see why a wardrobe change — however brief — stood out as a good filming memory for him. It wasn’t the only one; Foa mentioned on Reddit that there were other scenes he enjoyed in that episode as well. “All the fun flirty scenes with Renée [Felice Smith] … and I love any scene that gets me out of the Ops Center!”