NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 6, “Incognito” makes repeated references to being “in a box.” It wants to be an episode about how difficult it is for Lala Dominguez to be a woman and an NIS agent in 1991. Unfortunately, that story doesn’t play as well in 2024. And underneath that is a much stronger premise that never gets out.
“Incognito” is supposed to be about the murder of a petty officer who had stolen classified material from his office. But the case of the week is largely window dressing, as the episode focuses firstly on Lala’s personal struggles, and then on Leroy Jethro Gibbs going undercover for the first time. Only one of these ideas completely gets off the ground. The plot has good intentions, but it doesn’t deliver any real results.
NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 6 Gives Lala a Tired Dilemma
The Show Relies on Another Overused Premise
At this point in the season, NCIS: Origins has utilized a number of stories or story elements that are familiar to anyone who watches a lot of TV crime dramas. “Incognito” follows Season 1, Episode 5, “Last Rites,” which was an incredibly predictable episode about an incarcerated killer toying with Mike Franks. And while the writers deserve credit for making an effort to flesh out the character of Lala Dominguez, it’s disappointing that they do it in the most obvious way. Audiences have seen plenty of stories about how difficult it is to be a woman in a male-dominated world, and not just in crime dramas. This is the same narrative countless other female characters have been given at one point or another.
There’s a bit of a catch-22, as Origins has proven that it wants to play with the different attitudes that existed in the early 1990s, when the show takes place. Audiences saw that in Season 1, Episode 4, “All’s Not Lost,” when Franks told Mary Jo Hayes that she’d connect with a witness as both of them were Black. But even taking the time period into consideration, “Incognito” is more awkward than compelling. Lala deals with cliche after cliche, from having a random hookup to escape her problems to chauvinistic comments in the locker room.
Another strange element is that people wind up doing a lot of speaking for her. Older Gibbs narrates how Lala told him she felt about her life, and later on, Vera Strickland gives Lala an almost cringe-worthy monologue about fitting in. When it comes time for Lala to speak her important piece — telling her boyfriend Eddie that she cheated on him with the guy she met at a nightclub — the episode cuts away. These choices wind up reinforcing the negative ideas that the episode is supposed to be pushing back against. It’s not that sexism can’t exist in the early days of NCIS, but how the subject is fumbled that’s the problem. And could Lala have gotten a story that isn’t so played out?
NCIS: Origins Episode 6 Hides a Strong Gibbs Story
The Undercover Element Offers Moments of Interest
“Incognito” would’ve been better off focusing on its secondary story, which is Gibbs undertaking his first undercover operation for NIS, and not being all that great at it. His inexperience adds a unique element that makes this part of the story feel new. And as disappointing as Lala’s story is, the episode earns some points back for not using the fact that she and Gibbs are posing as a couple to force in unnecessary sexual tension. The audience instead sees her trying to teach him the many small details he doesn’t know. It’s wonderful when TV characters are given the opportunity to grow, especially in a series that’s supposed to be at the beginning of someone’s career.
NCIS: Origins could have gotten two episodes out of this one: a Lala-focused installment and one about Gibbs botching or near-botching the undercover operation. What makes the latter work is that the mistakes made are ones the audience can grasp; he doesn’t suddenly become clueless to serve the plot. And he’s not the only one who screws up, either. The FBI agents involved are mostly there to frustrate the team — as is typical of every TV crime drama whenever an outside agency comes in — but it’s their fault the NIS agents aren’t carrying the right amount of money. And at least the lead FBI agent actually tries to help fix the problem his people created, instead of complaining about it. Plus, the need to bring in the Bureau means that fans get to see Cliff Wheeler outside of his office.
Cliff Wheeler (to FBI agent): You’re going to give us what you’ve got, or I’m gonna have a whole lot to say about what happened in ’86.
Mike Franks: What the hell happened in ’86?
Season 1, Episode 6 is a learning experience for Gibbs, and a chance for Lala to mentor him a little bit more. It’s disappointing that after the genuine bonding moment they had at the end of “Last Rites,” when she told him about his psych eval, “Incognito” undercuts them by having her suggest that Gibbs was only overprotective of her because she’s a woman. It’s moments like their undercover scenes that show how they make each other better. NCIS: Origins is on the right path by trying to give every character their moment to shine, but so far it’s Gibbs who is getting the most opportunities to actually evolve.
NCIS: Origins Features Another Convenient Ending
The Case of the Week Fades Into the Background
One bad habit that NCIS: Origins is developing is skipping over or moving quickly through plot points just to get them out of the way. That’s not a unique issue to this series; it happens on a lot of procedurals, such as when FBI Season 7, Episode 8, “Riptide” wrote out the character of Ella after a storyline about Maggie Bell struggling to balance her career and family life. But it’s a habit that Origins will want to break, because it’s never good. The case of the week in “Incognito” is basically just filling in air time, because the characters therein are barely developed and the case itself is quickly resolved in a conversation between Franks and Wheeler, in which Wheeler reveals that the bad guy confessed.
The show has yet to find the balance between creating room for the character development moments it’s trying for, and still leaving enough time to tell fully developed mysteries. It’s something that will hopefully come with time, but it’s important to master, particularly given the premise of this show. If Origins wants to show the important cases and developments that made Leroy Jethro Gibbs the fan-favorite hero he still is, years after Mark Harmon left NCIS, then the cases have to feel important and they have to be well-written enough to impact the audience. This isn’t just a crime drama about a rookie agent; this is essentially Gibbs’ greatest hits.
“Incognito” is another episode where the story of the week needs more color. Between the thin plot and the disappointing execution of Lala’s story, this is a miss on almost all counts. Its best aspect is watching the characters learn and improvise on the job, which is more fun and more memorable than anything else it’s trying to impart.