‘NCIS: Origins’ Boss Unpacks Heartbreaking Winter Finale, Franchise’s First Episode Without a Case

Note: This story contains spoilers from “NCIS: Origins” Episode 10.

“NCIS: Origins” went back in time again to explain Gibbs’ revenge on his family’s killer, and revealed another heartbreaking loss for the beloved agent. The hour marks a first for the franchise as well, giving fans an episode that doesn’t involve a case of the week.

Last week’s tense cliffhanger revealed that Gibbs killed Pedro Hernandez, the cartel leader responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter, months before he even joined the NIS. In Episode 10, titled “Blue Bayou,” Gibbs (Austin Stowell) struggled with Lala (Mariel Molino) threatening to leave the team after learning the truth, and feeling like she can’t trust Gibbs because of his secrets.

Gibbs and Lala’s conversation was interrupted by a call. Gibbs answered and learned something that really upset him and led him to walk out of work. He returned later that night, it being his first holiday night shift — and his first Christmas season without his family — and focused on building some shelves in one of the rooms at the headquarters.

Then the show flashed back to him finding Pedro and traveling to Mexico to kill him, followed by him struggling with the demons of his actions back home. One difficult night in particular led him to a tense conversation with his landlady Ruth (London Garcia). Though she kicks him out at first, she later lets him back into the building and the pair build a strong friendship, with Gibbs calling her his sister at one point.

The episode revealed that it was Ruth who helped Gibbs get out from the darkness that came from killing Pedro. Beyond that, she also confronted Franks (Kyle Schmid) and encouraged him to take Gibbs under his wing and hire him as part of his team in the NIS. Then before the end of the episode, she revealed to Gibbs that she was dying of cancer. So the call Gibbs got at the start of the hour was the news of her death.

Later, Lala saw Gibbs upset and the pair made some amends. She said she wouldn’t leave the team, knowing it’d probably be worse with a new supervisor, and Gibbs started telling her everything about both Pedro and Ruth.

Below, co-creator David J. North breaks down the winter finale’s best moments and what’s next for the remaining eight episodes of “NCIS: Origins.”

TheWrap: Episode 10 shows us the immediate aftermath of the Gibbs’ killer reveal, and then we go backwards in flashbacks when we see those months after Gibbs killed Pedro, bonding with his landlady Ruth, who becomes kind of like a sister to him. How did that idea come together?

North: As someone that wrote for “NCIS” for years, and was there on the ground floor when the original creator, Don Bellisario, came up with a lot of this stuff with Gibbs and [his family] Shannon and Kelly, I always felt there was a huge part of this that was missing, which was what happened after Gibbs killed Pedro. In “NCIS” canon, all we know is Gibbs killed Pedro and then he was an NIS agent. Well, what happened in those months? That was something going into the show that Gina [Lucita Monreal] and I knew we wanted to answer.

We had actress London Garcia, who plays Ruth. She came on to do a bit part where she showed Gibbs his apartment in Episode 7. And as Gina and I were trying to really figure out what did happen after Gibbs killed Pedro, we put our heads together, and Gina had this idea of if Ruth and he developed this friendship when he had no one else, and it really took off from there.

We’re really proud of the episode and how it turned out. To our knowledge, this is the first episode in 1,000+ episodes that doesn’t have a case. And we’re really proud of it.

It goes to the root of “NCIS: Origins,” which is to be more of a character-focused spinoff.

Before we even really figured out the story fully, I loved the idea that Gibb — this legendary character that we’ve known for 20-some years — really was saved and became an agent because of this woman, Ruth, his apartment manager. It really motivated us to tell a great emotional story that stayed true to canon.

What else can this man go through? Why kill Ruth off on top of everything else?

Well, she’s someone we never knew about. To tell the story in an honest way, Gibbs is loyal and, if Ruth would have still been around, we would have heard about her and met her. I’ve always found it fascinating how the most unexpected people can come into our lives at the most interesting times. And some of them can end up being the most inspirational, even though they’re only there for a fleeting moment. That’s really what motivated me to want to tell this story.

Episode 10 ends on a huge cliffhanger, with the shredded documents showing that Bugs had a second sniper helping him. Where does that take us moving forward?

At the end of our two-hour pilot, Gibbs’ voiceover tells us that his gut was telling him from the beginning that there was more to this story with Bugs. The reveal that Bugs did have a partner at the end of 10 tells us that this person is really our big bad. This is someone to be reckoned with for the rest of the season.

We have eight episodes left of Season 1. What can you tease about where we’re going next?

We’ve got a lot more to come. Gibbs and Lala still are working through issues. Lala has an on-again, off-again boyfriend Eddie (who’ll be back). And we’ll find out in the second part that Franks is going to be dealing with a heavy personal issue that’s rippling through his life.

So a lot more to deal with as we lead into our season finale in Episode 18.

“NCIS: Origins” returns with new episodes Monday, Jan. 27, on CBS.

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