Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
4.5
Is it me, or did NCIS: Origins Season 1 Episode 17 have the slight feel of a finale? That would be crazy since there is still one more episode left. So, what’s headed our way?
This show has proven that it is not to be underestimated with how twisty it is willing to get. We’re too busy laughing at Mary Jo’s comments to notice things like serial killers hiding in our midst.
It’s true that when NCIS: Origins first premiered, the bar was pretty low, and everyone assumed it was another franchise cash grab.
However, from the start, the writers have been working tirelessly to weave an incredible tale that comes full circle as it opens the curtain into the secret lives of every character.
I mean, who knew Wheeler was knocking boots with a Fed?
As Random as Wheeler’s Character Arc Is, The Plot Is a Perfect Fit for the NIS Agent
Wheeler and Oakley, huh? The FBI agent has barely made a facial expression since debuting on NCIS: Origins Season 1 Episode 6, and Wheeler has all the appeal of an enraged Chihuahua.
Watching those two be intimate would be like watching some brand of exotic insects copulate in the most bizarre way. It would be as fascinating as it would be disturbing.
That being said, it was completely unexpected, but it also felt perfect for the character. Of course, Wheeler is wound tighter than a virgin at a prison rodeo. The man has settled for misery.
Also, I can’t be the only one who thought the juvenile delinquent of a son was going to be the one to come out, right? Wheeler didn’t technically come out, but you know what I mean.
However, if you’re like this TV Fanatic, you’ve never quite been able to shake the odd comments Wheeler previously made about Oakley.
As seen in the recap before the start of the episode, Cliff lost his ding dang damn mind on NCIS: Origins Season 1 Episode 15 when Franks used Wheeler’s FBI connections.
Well, we get it now. Also, you’d think Franks would have been far more congenial with Oakley after the agent helped Franks with catching the guy who attacked Tish.
Franks Is a Mess by Not Being a Mess, And NCIS: Origins May Have the Potential for a Spinoff of Its Own
Okay, what the hell is going on with Mike? He goes through this traumatic loss of losing Tish after putting everything he had into finding the guy who hurt her, and we just never mention it again?
Mike Franks was utterly and entirely devoted to Tish with every fiber of his being. He didn’t want her to suffer for a second of her life. It’s why he couldn’t stop looking for her attacker.
So, can someone explain to me why this man is doing so well? I’m not imagining things. He should be a shell of a man at the bottom of a bottle every morning listening to Barry Manilow ballads.
I know the precinct is a lively place where there’s always something hilarious happening, but oddly, there’s been no acknowledgment of Tish just being gone.
It doesn’t even seem like Franks is burying his emotions. He seems fine.
However, while we’re on the topic of the precinct, if NCIS is so fond of making spinoffs, they should consider doing one about all the supporting side characters.
I’ve already mentioned in previous reviews that the forensics team would make for its own standalone hilarious show. However, now I’m thinking bigger.
For one, poor Gail probably went home after work that day and told her cats all about how she shredded a thing she wasn’t supposed to shred even though it was in the box labeled “Shredder” because that’s where things that need shredding — you see where I’m going with this, right?
I also completely forgot about Dalton Basement, much like Lala and Randy did on this episode.
I’m still cracking up over Tyla Abercrumbie’s (The Chi) Mary Jo from two episodes ago giving him directions because, as she said, “Someone let Dalton out of the Basement.
To be fair, it has been getting pretty crowded down there lately. Gibbs spent most of “Darlin,’ Don’t Refrain” down there before that epic ending.
NCIS: Origins Season 1 Episode 17 Was A Culmination of Everything the Series Has Been Building Up To
NCIS: Origins seems determined to make “if it had been a snake” style twists their bread and butter. At some point, we have to stop being so surprised when an episode exceeds our expectations.
You must admit that having Gibbs’s support group leader be The Sandman was some expert plotting. The show brought the story all the way back to the start of the series and the very first case.
Until now, the biggest highlight of Season 1 had been NCIS: Origins Season 1 Episode 9, with Gibbs’s big reveal that he had gotten his revenge.
However, finding out that the leader of the support group that Gibbs attends to get over the deaths of his wife and daughter is the serial killer from his very first case with the NIS feels supernaturally coincidental, but it works.
My God, does it work. If you heard a random gasp in the air when Gibbs realized who The Sandman was, that was probably me.
Don’t you hate it when the ridiculously handsome guy turns out to be an unhinged killer? That Luke Fletcher really thought he was out here doing God’s work.
Let me see if I have this correct. Adam Huber’s (Dynasty) Luke Fletcherwas on a sniper job protecting a family. His bosses redirected him and his coworkers to another gig for a quick payday, which led to the family they were supposed to be protecting getting slaughtered.
He is so overcome with guilt and the unrelenting drive to make things right that he convinces Bugs to “complete the mission” by taking out their bosses from the sniper job. Does that about cover it?
Honestly, that is one convoluted and dense motivation for a killer with little to no significance or connection to any of the main characters.
But because Luke had been hiding in plain sight, having planted bugs all around the NIS precinct while also being a shoulder for Gibbs to lean on, the reveal felt like a massive betrayal.
“Darlin,’ Don’t Refrain” is a perfect culmination of everything NCIS: Origins has achieved with its story. All of which is in time for what apparently will be a tearjerker of a season finale.
What’s Left for CBS’s NCIS: Origins, but to Give Us Something Completely Unexpected for the Finale Episode of the Season?
A little birdy told me I will need my Kleenex for the NCIS: Origins Season 1 Finale. To that, I say thank you. There’s nothing worse than being a puddle without a tissue in sight.
In all seriousness, I don’t have the details of what will happen. I know as much as any of you do at the moment.
However, from how this person phrased it, there was a clear indication that a character would probably die. However, let me again stipulate that I DON’T know the details of the finale episode.
All I know is that something sad or bad happens and that the Finale is titled “Cecilia.” One plus one equals Agent Lala not making it out alive. Here’s the thing, though: Does that make realistic sense?
If you recall, this series kicked things off with Mark Harmon‘s Gibbs, who gave a voice-over narrative in which he said, “This is the story of her.”
It was a clear and undeniable reference to Lala, but has Miss Dominguez made enough of an impact on Gibb’s life to warrant her status as such a pillar from the man’s past?
Think about it. Sure, Lala has worked with Gibbs (Austin Stowell). They have bonded. They’ve shared secrets. They have even gotten right up to the edge of intimacy with a hard “Will they, won’t they.”
However, they haven’t had nearly enough memorable moments for Lala’s death to have a lasting impact on Gibbs. Franks (Kyle Schmid) maybe, but not Lala — not yet anyway.
The only way it would work is if the entire Finale was one long rom-com montage with Lala and Gibbs that ended with an epic gunfire shootout in which one stray bullet hits Lala, and she dies in Gibbs’s arms.
Since NCIS: Origins has done a bang-up job of fooling fans, I doubt whatever is in store will be quite so cut and dry.
All I know is we better not get answers about Lala just to turn around and have her time cut short. Is that why the writers never gave us a full deep dive into Lala? Because they didn’t want us to get attached?
I’m telling you right now that nothing better happen to my girl, Mary Jo. It wouldn’t be the same precinct without her sashaying her way into any conversation with her saucy wisdom.
Gibbs got his revenge, Franks found the guy who attacked Tish, and the real Sandman has been apprehended.
What’s left for CBS‘s NCIS: Origins to do but give us something completely unexpected for the finale episode of the season?
What was your favorite episode of the season?
Do you think Lala will make it through the Finale?
Still here? You’re our kind of people.
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