NCIS: Origins Season 2 Finale Delivers the Perfect Hollywood Ending – Romantic Payoff, Found Family & a Shocking Twist

Critic’s Rating: 4.7 / 5.0

4.7

The crazy thing about Hollywood Endings is that we know they don’t last for very long.

My mind is still reeling after NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 18, and I already crave more episodes, as in, the new season can’t come fast enough, and I still wish it were a longer season, but I digress.

The transformation of NIS to NCIS is complete, and it’s hilariously on-brand that it all came down to bureaucracy being too lazy. All it took was a “C” and the illusion of better optics!

One of the many enjoyable things about this series is how everything comes together and is interconnected with each other.

No storyline is meaningless. Every single one of them finds its way to connecting to a broader story at large, and the finale is a perfect example of that.

The return of Mike’s brother, the Flaco and Pruitt arcs, the restructuring because of the handsy scandal, all that Lala and Gibbs angst, and Randy’s tireless and seemingly thankless work of transporting files to a database all crop up in the season finale and overlay perfectly with one another.

NCIS: Origins has established that there are no small characters and that every character matters, and the same goes for storylines.

The series doesn’t waste any of them; even the most benign ones that seem meaningless have their role in the end.

Again, there’s no show, especially not on broadcast, pulling off what NCIS: Origins is doing.

I love that this team is such a family that they can’t even spend their days off shift apart from one another. The opener with the movies was great. It even suited the characters well.

Sure, it totally tracks that Mike, Gibbs, and Randy would watch Reservation Dogs while the ladies tapped into the hottest new film at the moment, The Bodyguard.

And, Gibbs is right about how neither of those films gets the standard happy ending. But what they get is some realistic acknowledgment, and that amounts to something.

The show always does incredibly well with its music. From naming the episodes to the various references and their needle drops, I love that they’ve taken this similar approach with film, too.

NCIS: Origins is just this really fun, unique time capsule that you never want to step out of.

The case was instantly heartbreaking, and you could physically see how the death of those two children affected him. All he saw was Mason and himself, with a similar age difference, and likely a similar dynamic.

From that point forward, it was apparent he’d be a beast on this case, and you couldn’t even fault him for it. Sometimes, you need to let Mike Franks off the leash, and this was one of those cases where it felt warranted.

Feelings were already running high with that, and that’s before we got into the Flaco, Luna, Pruitt nature of it all. It was actually surprising to learn that Abe was working with both Luna and Flaco. But we at least know that Flaco wouldn’t have greenlit killing children.

The shootout at the winery was intense, and it kept me glued to the screen. I love it when Franks goes full-on cowboy. Equally, Lala has a great shot, and it’s always great to see how she holds her own under pressure.

She, Mike, and Gibbs are such a great team when it comes to those action-packed moments, and they’re so deeply in tune with each other that they can turn chaos and hellfire raining down on them into a work of art.

Connecting Flaco to all of this was the perfect opportunity to reintroduce Manny and Swanson, too.

Lala got to steal this moment with the man she loves, just long enough to tell him that the office was shutting down, that she might be relocating, and to get essential information on how to break “T.”

As a father with a kid who was the same age as those boys, the best way to get through to him was to actually show him what Abe had done to them. Tango was trying to get Mike to ease up on “T,” but I wouldn’t have held him back.

Seeing those two young boys lying on that table, dead, because they were just being mischievous, was heartbreaking. But at least that move got the team to Abe.

We knew his ass would come back to haunt us, and he didn’t disappoint on that front. What was irksome, however, was how Mason got tangled up in everything.

I know Mason is a troubled soul who has been lost for a long time, and that can lead to some questionable choices and directions. But it irked my spirit that he was still buying into what Abe was selling.

It just felt like Mason should’ve been much smarter and more intuitive than that, especially for a guy who likes to play the “big brother” card so much. Sir, act like it, then!

I know he wants to be part of something, and that’s such a basic human instinct and longing.

I wish he had found other ways to do that without falling back on something he knew was problematic.

In hindsight, the entire operation could’ve gone sideways because Mason fell into Abe’s trap and became the perfect hostage. And Mike nearly lost all sense because he allowed his feelings to cloud his judgment.

It’s something he warned Gibbs about, but he was just as guilty. At least he was able to admit as much later. And Gibbs being the one to literally take a bullet to protect Mason truly solidifies the special, unshakeable bond between Mike and Gibbs.

They’ve always had that, but when you add little factors like that, it makes perfect sense why they had become so close, like brothers, or why Mike Franks would literally die for Gibbs.

The tension between them throughout this installment was so delicious.

For one, it led to the trademark head slap. I laughed out loud at Mike saying he didn’t want that to become a thing, not to mention everyone’s surprised reaction, including Gibbs.

Oh, Mike, it totally became a thing!

But the locker room session was one of the best. Mike is a great character because he observes everything, even if he doesn’t always talk about it. He’s known about the complicated feelings brewing between Lala and Gibbs for the entire series.

But he rarely comments on them unless he feels it is prudent. And Gibbs was totally spinning out of control and not even hiding the fact that this judgment was clouded because of Lala.

To be fair, it was all of it. NIS, as he knew it, became the place that saved him and his second chance after Shannon and Kelly. A great deal of that is tied to the team, specifically, as it is the work.

But it was also Lala. He couldn’t afford to lose her, but didn’t know how to say as much.

And if he could rally Mike into fighting somehow to save the place, then Gibbs would’ve have to lose this woman he couldn’t bring himself to admit that he loved.

Wheeler was trying to rope Mike into helping in some way, too. And on the surface, it was frustrating that Mike wasn’t reacting much and chose to focus exclusively on the case instead.

But knowing Mike, it’s the only way he knew how to cope with this news and the possibility of losing his team and family.

They’re all he had, especially since Tish left him. For Mike, focusing on the case was all he knew how to do.

Besides, Mike is intimidating in his own way, but he likely knew he wasn’t the person for the gig. Vera, however, is. I’m fascinated with the dynamic there.

In many ways, Vera and Mike are like a yin and a yang, and you can see why they were partners at one point. Mike can be like a bull in a shop. His approach has its merits as a blunt-force approach.

But Vera is more strategic and subtle, but just as forceful and effective.

It makes sense that she’d be the one to spearhead something like trying to save the agency and the team. She has the finesse, the drive, and the skill set to approach things strategically.

So her ability to bring together the best minds on their team to develop a plan was great.

It was also, actually, a fun way to use all the characters we know and love. No one was spared in this. And in an age when half the cast disappears for episodes at a time, it was nice to have the full team front and center.

Even Lenora and Woody got in on the Brain Tank, and I love how much Mary Jo is caping for Dalton. She stands by her man, and Kowalski just finding out about them made me giggle.

The ultimate solution to saving the office was so simple, hilarious, and yet painfully realistic. NIS was already catching hell because no one ever really knew who they were in the first place.

They’ve had to earn their bones and respect as a legitimate federal agency. But then the handsy scandal nearly brought them to ruin because of all of the sex crimes.

However, the real issue was the concept of the military investigating itself, with nothing properly coming from it.

All those hours of the best of our gang coming together resulted in them seeing bureaucracy for what it is: fixating more on the illusion of a fix than an actual fix, and trying to do that with the least amount of work and money possible.

Add a damn “C” is what we landed on, and I could not have chuckled any harder over that. NCIS: Origins has been so great because we’ve gotten to see the origins of so many things about this franchise that we know and love.

So, getting to see the actual origins of NCIS was genuinely fun. This kooky band of misfits, oddballs, and troubled individuals is the one who came up with the NCIS we know.

Simply adding “Criminal” to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service suggests that this agency doesn’t just advocate for and protect the military; it also looks into them and holds them to account.

Now we’ve seen that the gang has already done that.

Still, I can see how the agency’s tone shifted when it became clear that service members and veterans were also within the scope of investigation, rather than just being at the center of it from a victim’s perspective.

And it was all up to my guy Cliff Wheeler to sell the hell out of it, and he did, because he’s brilliant and just that good. That’s EXACTLY why I maintain that he’s the most underrated MVP of the series.

Wheeler is like the quiet assassin, a problem solver, and someone who always sees the vision.

It was such a fantastic moment, worthy of celebration, until we reached the end and realized it wasn’t Lala someone was after, but Randy.

When they snatched up my auburn-haired ball of sunshine, I gasped, and now, it’s hard not to get hype about the entire team locked in and going scorched earth to get Randy back.

We had installments like NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 6, where we saw how he was often taken for granted, including in his computer work.

So ending NCIS: Origins Season 2 on this cliffhanger, where someone takes the sunniest character, precisely because of his work, was a smart move. Everyone rallies for Randy, and we’ll get to revisit the importance of his work.

If Lala wasn’t planning on leaving before, she definitely wouldn’t now after her best friend’s abduction, and it’ll likely take them way too long to realize it.

I continue to adore how this time period factors into the way they approach cases.

But onto Lala; fortunately, she isn’t leaving just yet. Although I could understand why she’d seize the opportunity to relocate to another part of California, settle down near Manny, and become a Sheriff.

I think it’s something she reasonably could have done, but she mostly just wanted Gibbs to say something and make a move. The ball has always been more in his court than hers.

And he spent most of the hour being an ass about everything as usual. He loves Lala and feels entitled to her in many ways, but he never spells things out for her, so his possessiveness is off-putting and always harmful to her.

His feelings clouded his judgment in the whole case. Mike was right about that. And now, I can only wonder how they will while they work together after taking such a monumental step forward.

I was so relieved when he finally went to her and told her how he felt, in his own Gibbs way. It was a true Hollywood film move on his part, pulled straight from a romcom.

Their kiss was EVERYTHING. We’ve waited so long for this, and it was worth the wait.

Their clothes, the moment, the passion, and him actually saying the words “Stay” as a romcom aficionado, the moment checked all of my boxes.

It’s satisfying, and we earned this. But, of course, there’s also a matter of what hangs over the moment. Lala stayed. They got their happy Hollywood Ending… until they didn’t.

She’s this huge part of Gibbs’ story we never knew about because he never spoke about, and from what we can see, she’s been the love of his life after Shannon. So much of what we know about Gibbs is shaped by Lala and her influence, her very existence.

But he doesn’t talk about her. Whatever they have here, it’s fleeting. There’s a time limit on this pairing, and it’s the elephant in the room; it hangs over their heads like the sword of Damocles.

The bittersweetness of it all is so intoxicating.

Chit-Chat from the Bullpen:

• We got our Tom Morrow mention.
• Ummm, Holy hotness, we got fresh out of the shower shirtless Mike and shirtless Gibbs in the same episode. I am but a simple woman, not above acknowledging the feast they gave us—so much yumminess. Congratulations on their every-damn-thing.
• The way Mike was towering over Swanson and flirting with her about the shower bit…I love the two of them. He’s so smitten, and it’s so adorable watching him peacock for her.
• Listen, I’m not saying we NEED a The Bodyguard Reboot, but Austin Stowell would totally SLAY that role. Dammit, I lied; I do need this. Have they cast for that rumored remake yet?
• Gibbs, the closet Whitney Houston Fan not seeing The Bodyguard is criminal. He was totally trying to hang with the boys.
• Cliff yelling at Mike, and Mike wiping his face from the presumed spittle, was funny. Also, Cliff being deeply emotional about telling everyone they were splitting up put me in my feelings. He’s such a softie.
• Seriously, if Cliff Wheeler has no fans, it’s because I’m no longer part of this mortal realm.
• We ride at dawn for Randy! Give him back!
• I’m sorry, but you cannot give me 18 glorious episodes of the best storytelling, and then tell me I’m only getting half of that next season. If any show can pull off a short order, it’s NCIS: Origins, but I’m greedy and want more!

Over to you, NCIS: Origins! WE NEED to unpack this entire finale, so grab a snack and meet me in the comments! Share this with friends and fellow fans if you’re keen.

And thanks for supporting the little guys, us, and this amazing show.

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