NCIS: Origins followed the aftermath of Gibbs’ and Diane’s Las Vegas nuptials and the bombing of the movie theater by one of the people living on Abe Pruitt’s compound. How did the spring midseason premiere also provide us insight into how Gibbs began to follow that famous gut of his?
The episode picked up with both Diane and Gibbs hungover, both of them trying to remember what led to them getting married. Realizing that he hasn’t even met her family and they still barely know a thing about each other, Diane suggests an annulment, which he is on board with.
They have the television on and see the news about the bombing just as Gibbs is getting paged for work. Despite a hangover, they are able to get a flight back home so he can help with the case.
Franks has to work with a new FBI agent since Oakley is no longer working in the office, and he isn’t happy since the new agent is a woman. We’ve come to expect this kind of behavior from him thanks to the original series; however, add on to the fact that he was worried about his brother Mason, and his temper was at an all-time high.
When the compound was raided, Mason insisted he knew nothing about the bombing, or what Stanley Turner was plotting. However, he had gone with Stanley to visit his parents, where Stanley had taken the opportunity to get gas canisters to help make the bomb.
Mason was kept in custody, much to Franks’ dismay. He wasn’t thrilled with FBI Agent Swanson, and his inability to work with her led to tension and frustration. In the end, he learned Mason had gone through three lie detectors and passed them all.
Vera worked on Turner’s manifesto, which was found in the raid, and saw a phrase written in Latin that could be a clue about his next target. They realized he was targeting another area for a second bombing due to how much gas and fertilizer he had obtained. Eventually, she got help figuring out the phrase, which talked about justice and likely was about the nearby courthouse.
They deduced that the movie theater bombing was a distraction from the real target and went to evacuate the building. However, when the team tried to find Turner, Gibbs lost him in the crowd of people. Considering he was still hungover, Franks sent him back to work at the office.
Feeling like they were missing something, they looked at crime scene photos from an earlier case that had led them to the compound in the first place. Woody had eventually determined the flowers around the victim in that case were fake, just like the ones in the compound itself.
In addition to working with Vera and meeting Pruitt’s estranged wife, Tracie, Gibbs also got advice from Kowalski about his attempts at interrogation. He wanted Gibbs to see one of his own, in which he used a move that Franks normally uses that didn’t work for him. Kowalski reminded Gibbs that he should follow his gut and do what he would do and not just what his colleagues did.
Another sweep of the compound led them to discover a hidden bunker in the flower garden, and they found Stanley Turner dead. Now they had to determine who killed him, and their lead suspect was Abe Pruitt. They discovered he had a court case against Tracie, so he could have used the bombing as a way to keep his case from going forward. However, the team didn’t have the evidence to arrest him on those charges.
However, Gibbs had his big moment in interrogation when he spoke with Pruitt. When Gibbs mentioned talking to his wife, Pruitt thought he was referring to his wife at his compound. However, Gibbs was referring to Tracie, who he hadn’t divorced. He managed to get Pruitt on bigamy charges.
The aftermath of the case leads to new beginnings for multiple characters
With the compound and Pruitt now out of commission, this meant Mason had to move on. He told Franks he would go out to take care of wild horses but would spend a couple days with his brother before leaving. Now that the case was over with, Gibbs also took the opportunity to go home to Diane and tell her his gut said they should be together. Now, while we know this will not end well later on, it’s clear Gibbs wanted it to work for the time being.
The episode also ended with Lala in an intimate moment with one of Flacco’s guys, who came to apologize to her about a fake tip he had called in about the case. Whether Lala is trying to distract herself from Gibbs or genuinely likes this guy, we know that there’s a lot going on for her emotionally.
This was a very good episode, and even though Franks was highly emotional, it was clear he cared about Mason and likely felt guilty for bringing him to the compound in the first place to get mixed up with Pruitt’s business. But in the end, it all worked out and we hope to get updates on Mason down the road about how he is doing.
The team finding out about Gibbs's Vegas wedding also had some funny reactions, especially Vera, who congratulated him before asking about the upcoming annulment. Lala's reaction showed she felt strongly about what he did, but she tried to hold it together, although it was clear this hit her hard.
While we do know what will eventually happen with the newly married couple, we are still curious how Lala and Gibbs's relationship will be impacted now that he is officially off the market.
NCIS: Origins airs Tuesdays on CBS at 9/8c.