NCIS: Origins sometimes feels and looks more like an NCIS spin-off series than a prequel. While NCIS: Origins has effectively presented young Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ early development as a rookie special agent at the NIS Camp Pendleton branch, NCIS: Origins has offered few surprises to longtime NCIS viewers.
However, the ninth episode of NCIS: Origins, “Vivo o Muerto,” unleashed a major surprise with the revelation that Pedro Hernandez, the Mexican drug dealer who murdered Gibbs’ daughter and wife, was killed by Gibbs before Gibbs joined the Camp Pendleton branch, as viewers, along with the show’s supporting characters, had been led to believe that Gibbs’ pursuit of Hernandez would serve as the show’s primary conflict throughout the show’s first season.
The surprises continued with the mid-season finale, “Blue Bayou,” which opens in the aftermath of the events of “Vivo o Muerto” before jumping back in time six months to the period just after Gibbs returned to California after killing Hernandez. “Blue Bayou” provides valuable new information about Gibbs’ past, including the unexpected friendship that inspired Gibbs to join NIS and the tragic real reason why Gibbs failed his psychological evaluation test.
‘NCIS: Origins’ Broke This 21-Year-Old ‘NCIS’ Tradition
NCIS: Origins debuted with the fleeting image of Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs sitting around a campfire in the remote wilderness of Alaska, where NCIS viewers last saw Gibbs, after he said goodbye to his NCIS teammates. When Harmon returned to play Gibbs as the narrator of NCIS: Origins, the role suggested to some viewers that NCIS: Origins might be poised to break from the franchise’s long-held police procedural narrative, as the older Gibbs recounts his earlier life experiences.
Prior to the mid-season finale, NCIS: Origins balanced a focus on Gibbs’ personal history with standard procedural cases. The decision to forego the procedural structure with the mid-season finale “Blue Bayou” was made for the purpose of addressing the remaining mysteries of Gibbs’ back-story and showing Gibbs’ path to redemption. The non-procedural approach reflects the episode’s specific time period, which fills in the gap between the aftermath of Pedro Hernandez’s killing and the point when Gibbs joined NIS.
The result is an emotionally powerful episode that makes the younger Gibbs, played by Austin Stowell, seem more relatable and three-dimensional than ever before while presenting new biographical details that alter the long-held perceptions of how Gibbs became the man whom audiences have gotten to know extremely well for more than 20 years.
The Mid-Season ‘NCIS: Origins’ Finale Reveals Gibbs’ Special Friendship
Beyond Gibbs, the most important character on NCIS: Origins has been Special Agent Mike Franks, who became a longtime fan-favorite supporting character after being introduced as Gibbs’ former mentor and partner in the third season of NCIS. Prior to the mid-season finale of NCIS: Origins, viewers had been led to believe that Franks had the greatest influence on Gibbs’ career, specifically in terms of enabling Gibbs to join NIS. However, while Franks undoubtedly had a major impact on Gibbs’ career and life, the finale makes clear that another person also deserves credit.
This is Ruth, who was introduced in the seventh episode of NCIS: Origins, “One Flew Over,” as Gibbs’ tough-talking apartment manager but emerges in the finale as Gibbs’ savior and surrogate big sister. In the finale, Ruth, played by London Garcia, becomes the first person to whom Gibbs confesses to having killed Pedro Hernandez, while Ruth tells Gibbs about her troubled relationship with her estranged son.
Recognizing Gibbs’ keen instincts as an investigator, Ruth encourages Gibbs, who is seen working as a grocery-store bagging clerk in the finale, to enroll in a law enforcement training program in Georgia to become an NIS agent. Ruth also convinces Franks to bring Gibbs onto Franks’ NIS team, after Ruth blames Franks for failing to keep watch over the previously spiraling Gibbs.
Ruth is also primarily responsible for Gibbs failing his psychological evaluation test, which has been a source of conflict throughout the show. While Gibbs’ failure was initially thought to be attributable to his trauma over the loss of his daughter and wife, the mid-season finale reveals that Gibbs failed the test due to his anguish over having learned that Ruth is dying of cancer.
Where Does ‘NCIS: Origins’ Go From Here?
The very existence of NCIS: Origins is a testament to how Leroy Jethro Gibbs has become one of the most iconic characters in television history. However, now that NCIS: Origins has seemingly addressed every aspect of Gibbs’ tragic past, following the revelatory mid-season finale, how does NCIS: Origins continue to maintain audience interest in the younger Gibbs’ journey, given that virtually everything that older Gibbs could possibly reflect upon going forward is already canon to longtime NCIS viewers?
Any thoughts that NCIS: Origins might return to the non-procedural format anytime soon were dashed in the closing scene of the finale, which ends with Gibbs spotting a report on “Operation Sundown,” a reference to the series-opening murder investigation that resulted in the arrest of a drifter and purported sniper killer named Bugs. With NCIS: Origins set to return to the franchise’s procedural format for the remainder of the show’s first season and beyond, it will be a continual challenge for NCIS: Origins to differentiate itself from NCIS, which shows no signs of slowing down in its 22nd season. Stream on Paramount+.