NCIS: Origins EP Unpacks Fall Finale’s ‘Big Swing,’ Teases Flashbacks ‘Handoff’ and Reveal of ‘Bigger Bad’
The following contains spoilers from the Dec. 16 fall finale of CBS’ NCIS: Origins.
NCIS: Origins with its first Christmas episode unwrapped the story of why Leroy Jethro Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell) entered law enforcement — before teasing a looming new threat for the back half of Season 1.
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In short: After killing Pedro Hernandez, Gibbs flipped out, earning him an eviction. But when apartment manager Ruth (returning guest star London Garcia) found him using his pickup bed for a bed bed, she had a change of heart. The two got to bonding over a routine of beers and jigsaw puzzles, and one afternoon, when Ruth was robbed, Gibbs gave pursuit in his truck, with Ruth riding shotgun/jotting down the thieves’ plate. It was for naught, so they pulled over and plowed through a six-pack whilst sitting on the tailgate. There, Ruth copped to being a “crap mom” to her son in New Orleans, and Gibbs… well, he confessed to murder. Ruth said that between hunting down Pedro Hernandez, caring to chase her robbers and his overall powers of observation, he’d make a good cop. So he left for FLETC, in Georgia.
Upon returning two months later, Gibbs learned from Ruth that she is dying, from a blood cancer. He was processing that news when he sat for his NIS psych eval, hence the “failing” grade we learned of in the series premiere. Gibbs that night got into a row with some officers at a bar, and Ruth beat Franks to bailing him out of jail. Ruth used that run-in to inform Franks of why Gibbs flunked his psych eval, and to call him on the carpet for dodging the boy’s calls/visits. Franks in turn brought Gibbs onto his NIS team, after saving gunny from another bar fight.
We then cut back to the “present day,” where we realized that Gibbs had gotten word of Ruth’s passing, ergo him burying himself in a woodworking project in the NIS basement. Along the way, he spotted a shredded report on “Operation Sundown,” a “catastrophic mishandling” of the series-opening murder investigation that was ultimately pinned on a drifter named “Bugs.” But Bugs was not acting alone; there was a “second sniper,” another paper shred revealed to viewers. Lala then dropped in on Gibbs, having broken her silence earlier on his murder of Hernandez, and nudged him to share with her what had him so upset….
“This whole episode means so much to us here. It’s really why Gina and I got into this,” David J. North, who co-showruns Origins with Gina Lucita Monreal, tells TVLine. “[Ruth] first appeared in [Episode] 7 when Gibbs is on crutches and she’s showing the apartment. And it was shortly after that that Gina and I were like, ‘What happened after Pedro?’
“I talked to [NCIS vet/ Origins executive producer] Mark Harmon a lot about it. ‘In [NCIS] canon, you just jump from killing Pedro to suddenly you’re an agent. It never really added up,'” North shares. “So I was driving home and Gina on the phone said, ‘What if it’s some story with Ruth, the apartment manager?’ The next day we got spitballing, and it turned into this episode.”
North, who cowrote “Blue Bayou” with Monreal and Brendan Fehily, says of the rare, crimesolving-free episode, “I’m more proud of it than anything I’ve been a part of. And I’m so proud of [London Garcia’s] performance [as Ruth]. That scene in the back of the pickup truck? That night, the Dodgers were playing in [Game 1 of] the World Series [where Freddie Freeman hit a grand slam to win the game], and despite that the crew got lost in this scene they were doing. It was really cool.”
Below, find more of TVLine’s latest conversation with North, about navigating NCIS canon (or a lack of it), dealing with “stressful” music clearance issues, and handing the flashback baton to Mike Franks when Season 1 resumes on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025.
TVLINE | Was there any crumb of NCIS canon you had to keep in mind when establishing on NCIS: Origins why he became a cop?
There really wasn’t. The assumption always was that Franks brought him on after he showed him that [Pedro Hernandez] file, but that’s not in canon. I knew there was a five-month “missing piece,” and keeping it grounded in reality, Franks is the type of character who would show that file and then say, “S–t! What did I just do?” and want to detach himself from it, which is the way we decided to play it.
I went to Mark [Harmon] to tell him what we came up with — “Remember that actor that played the lady showing him the apartment…?” — and he was excited about it. He sat in my office and said, “This is why we got into this, to not do a typical NCIS [episode] but take a big swing. So let’s take a big swing.” We feel like it worked out, and we hope everybody else does, too.
TVLINE | Please tell me you cleared “Blue Bayou” before you started writing the episode.
The script actually went out titled “Blue Bayou,” and we did not have it cleared, so…. It was stressful. So stressful! Mark knows Linda Ronstadt, so we were even thinking about going down that road, but we got it [without his involvement]. And our music team is writing right now [on Dec. 9] a beautiful instrumental for the end.
TVLINE | Is there a shortcut to doing a jigsaw puzzle on a TV show? Like, can you order it pre-assembled and film backwards?
[Laughs] Props and everyone was being driven nuts by this. And then we were running long in our days, so they were trying to get me to take out a puzzle or two, and I said no. But [props] actually got the puzzles, put them together, glued them in different parts… so as far as I know, there were no shortcuts.
TVLINE | Coming out of this fall finale, will Operation Sundown — the shredded report Gibbs clocked — be the narrative engine for the next eight episodes?
Yes, Operation Sundown is going to be big deal. I don’t want to give away too much with that, but obviously with Bugs…. I know some people missed it, but at the end of “The Sandman Part 2” (the series premiere), Mark’s voiceover says “the worst monsters lie in wait” and then come back, so this was always the plan. Snipers in reality do work in pairs, and we’re going to learn that Bugs had a partner and it’s the bigger bad that was more responsible for all this.
TVLINE | Will the question be, “Who suffers the biggest blowback for not catching this?”
The reality is that even with Franks, there was something eating at him that maybe [catching the sniper] was a little too easy. But Franks needed a win because he wanted to get his own folder from Wheeler, on who assaulted Tish, so he might have had some blinders on there. So yeah, when we come back from the [holiday] break, everybody’s going to hit the ground running, because there’s another guy out there.
TVLINE | Will the show ever be set 100% in “the present,” or will there always be opportunities for flashbacks?
Certainly in the near future, there are opportunities for flashbacks. “Blue Bayou” kind of wraps up the Gibbs flashback origin story about joining NIS, then we’re doing a handoff when we come back and seeing a lot of Mike Franks. Let’s just say he has a lot of cowboy hippie in him! We’re staying really true to the character, and it’s a lot of fun stuff.
TVLINE | What are you hearing, what numbers are you seeing, that give you hope for a Season 2 renewal?
We’re really proud of what we’re making, and the goal is always, obviously, to get as many eyes on it as possible. I know that we’re doing well on Paramount+; after we air, the following day we’re always in the Top 10. I do know that CBS and Paramount are in it for the long haul, so we just try to keep our heads down and write as good of material as possible. And this cast, they’re fantastic, they really are. I think we have something special here, and I hope everybody comes on board.
Want scoop on NCIS: Origins, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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