NCIS: Origins Season 3 Premiere Puts Lives on the Line & Invigorates Gibbs & Lala’s Story
Right out of the gate, I wondered if we had confirmation that Lala is dead.
Gibbs walked away from the world five years ago to write Lala’s story, one he couldn’t let die before he did. Did that mean she couldn’t tell her story herself? We hardly had time to find out before Gibbs was hunted outside of his cabin and left for dead.
If the opening scene didn’t scare the bejesus out of you, then you aren’t an NCIS fan.
“I came here to find peace and tell Lala’s story. But 34 years after I first kissed her, the ghosts from my past found me, and it all started that night,” he said via voiceover right after being shot in the chest.
As he lay possibly dying, his mind returned to the past, where Gibbs and Lala were in a state of undress, making out, listening to Franks on the answering machine. Their makeout session was cruelly cut short, but the case they’re called in for couldn’t be more important.
If you remember NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 18, you know that things weren’t looking good for Randy. But nobody else realized this until he didn’t show up to photograph the latest crime scene.
The more they playfully talked about him missing such a great scene, the more worried I got. They’ve already “killed” Lala once, and by this point, future Gibbs was lying on the ground with a bullet hole right above his heart.
And as if that wasn’t enough, disgraced former Director Barrett was coming in for an interview, so when Randy needs them most, Franks and Vera are sidelined with his nonsense.
But how would all of this be the pop that romantic bubble around Lala and Gibbs? Lala was immediately on edge, blaming herself for Randy’s kidnapping. She was too involved in her own crap to realize the SUV might not have been after her, but Randy.
She was already considering leaving, got pulled back in by Gibbs, and then Randy was in trouble — big trouble.
The Russians had Randy, and he knew it. He may have spent most of NCIS: Origins Season 2 behind a desk pushing buttons, but he was out there sending Morse Code messages like a champ. That and another party trick actually saved his life.
Everyone wondered why Randy was targeted. Gibbs even sat down with Randy’s wife to ask about potential Russian connections, but her first reaction was, “I saw Red Dawn!” That’s not a woman who believes her man has an in with the USSR.
I’ve always loved the comedy NCIS delivers even with its heavier storylines, but Gail was too much this time out. Randy had been kidnapped by Russians, and she was making jokes and teasing JJ about getting back in the sack. How about you get your priorities straight?
Leave the comedy to weirdos like the Russian Blockbuster manager (a weird role for Eric Balfour, for sure) who knew who took Randy. His intel said the Kremlin was looking for Navy secrets and wouldn’t stop until they got them.
Randy probably isn’t the first person I’d kidnap if I was looking for Navy secrets, but what do I know? I would have gone for Wheeler or even Barrett. If they’re doing their homework, they would have known Barrett was ripe for it after getting canned.
But it turned out the information Randy has been entering is what got him yanked off the street. As for what saved his life, that was a party trick Gibbs showed him — playing possum.
Except Randy thought he might have taken it too far and passed out if the beatings he took didn’t accomplish the job.
All this action took away from the excitement for Gibbs and Lala, which gave her a chance to talk it over with Vera, who, of course, was thrilled.
And I loved how Lala described why she didn’t leave. She felt so free until she realized she wasn’t running toward Manny but away from Gibbs.
And this shit of it is that 34 years later, Gibbs still isn’t over the story of them, so if anyone thinks that NCIS: Origins isn’t worth more seasons (yes, I’m getting ahead of myself), I’m going to have some serious words for them.
I’m already packing plenty of beef with CBS. In case you wondered why Jasmine isn’t here with one of her terrific write-ups for the premiere, it’s because she couldn’t get screener access. And before you yell at me, I told CBS to take mine and reassign it. But here we are. So, beef.
Admittedly, that beef is secondary to the great Russian theft of Randy’s computer, especially since they also got his password, which was written down in his wallet. Really?
I’m going to call bullshit on that. Randy is highly intelligent. He doesn’t need to write down GingersJustWannaHaveFun321. It’s not exactly a brainbender! And if you’re inspired to use it, let’s just not. 😹
It all comes together, though, as it always does on NCIS: Origins. Barrett came in for an interview on the day Randy was taken because he is providing the secrets to the Russians, courtesy of Randy’s computer.
It turns out that the Russians didn’t need to find the secrets because Barrett offered them up out of anger. Well, that’s a turn of events he’ll live to regret.
After years of abuse, Mary Jo got to tell him what’s ahead for him — plenty of men behind bars who will be happy to treat him with as much respect as he gave her.
Lala’s decision to leave, her letter to Gibbs saying she trusted him with her life but could never trust him with her heart — everything she did was folded into the hurt she felt when Gibbs got married to Diane.
She deserves someone who is there wholly for her. He claimed that now, he is that person. She asked him to wait for her to catch up.
Because nothing says slow down like realizing you have already lost a lot of time together. He promised to wait, and even promised he wouldn’t get married again while doing so.
Yet even as the words tumbled out of his mouth, we knew they wouldn’t last. Gibbs will be remarried multiple times. Lala had been a mystery until Origins. Something went very wrong that they’re still apart.
Bookending the beginning of NCIS: Origins Season 3 Episode 1, future Gibbs reemerged to remind us that this is the case that starts it all, and saving Randy’s life came with a price.
What he didn’t know was that 34 years later, he’d be paying his price. Thankfully, that price was not his life. But he knew that someone close to him was in trouble because his shooter said, “One down, one to go.”
And when he thought about it, Gibbs realized that the story he had been telling wasn’t his alone to tell.
There is another side to it, and the latest events prove that the ending isn’t written in stone. Leroy Jethro Gibbs has been pulled back into the action, and unless this story takes a wildly unpredictable turn, it seems we just may see what 34 years have done to Lala Dominguez.
If that happens, I expect NCIS: Origins will take on an entirely different direction. Up to now, it’s been Gibbs’ story to tell. Mark Harmon has even done the voiceovers. After all, he was NCIS for the longest time.
But if he finds Lala and they tackle a new adventure together, how it unfolds now that we have a pathway for Lala to tell her own side could really shake things up.
Is that something you’d want to see? A two-pronged past-and-present adventure featuring Gibbs and Lala? We could even get Roma Maffia back as present-day Vera Strickland. The possibilities are endless.
But now it’s your turn! Tell us what you thought of the premiere, and be here next week for another NCIS: Origins review, hopefully with Jasmine back at the helm.