There are no small or insignificant characters on NCIS: Origins.
Perhaps, that’s one of the many things that makes this series so special — a basic acknowledgment of people having value or purpose, even if they aren’t a main or recurring character.
And NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 8 hits that home when they had me crying on the inside, deep down in the place where I hold my feelings hostage, over a character I had only known as “Twitchy Tony.”
Origins Proves There Is No Such Thing as a Side Character
This isn’t anything new for this series. One of the best installments of the entire series was NCIS: Origins Season 1 Episode 10.
“Blue Bayou” took a single character we had just met at the top of the hour and not only showcased how integral she would become to Gibbs’ story, but also made us fall in love with and subsequently mourn her as if we, too, had spent months with her.
What stands out most about this series is its character-centricity.
Yes, it’s still a procedural, but on NCIS: Origins, characters matter, all of them, any of them, and in portraying their stories as wonderfully as it does, it’s this nice, unspoken reminder that people and their stories matter.
The series is great at revisiting and circling back to characters and arcs in a way that feels very “lived-in,” and it does a good job of establishing this universe. We just saw Twitchy Tony during NCIS: Origins Season 1 Episode 6.
He was hilarious (I still cackle at the Siberian Husky line about Gibbs), and it was genuinely sweet when he asked about Lala, because you could tell he cared for her.
The Evolution of a Compelling Dynamic That Pays It Forward
And then this hour showed us just how much he does by digging into how deep their dynamic goes. Of all of her CIs, Twitchy Tony is the one who is like a brother to her.
After everything she’s gone through, the mere thought that she could lose someone she cares so much about was enough to add the stakes that this episode needed.
Then they went on to elaborate on that further, with enough flashbacks and other elements to really layer their relationship and help us understand the bond they share.
By the end of the hour, I was practically as relieved as Lala when he woke up and started speaking about that watch and his intentions with the DEA agent.
The series has always emphasized that Lala’s ability to connect with people was her superpower. We’ve seen how well she does in interrogations because she leads with empathy and compassion, treating everyone in front of her as a person.
It seems simple enough, but in a job where people often become statistics, means to an end, or whatever else, that Lala has been able to maintain that element truly makes her special. She’s not afraid to get on someone’s level, look them in the eye, and speak to people — person to person.
Twitchy Tony Becomes More Than a Side Character
Through the flashbacks and exposition that worked, we learned that Lala didn’t just connect with Twitchy Tony; she saved his life.
In a single hour, we saw a character who could’ve been just “comic relief” as a one-off become so much more.
His life was marred by tragedy, losing his sister in an accident, tanking his successful career as a fighter with alcoholism and his grief battles, and thus falling into a life that had him crossing paths with Lala.
I think the beauty of Lala lies in taking the time to understand these people and their stories, so that she can see them as human beings rather than commodities.
It comes with the realization that sometimes, there’s just one life change that separates someone like her from someone like them.
Her bonding with Twitchy Tony was so amusing, and because she was so good to him, he was good to her in kind. But he also learned how to be exactly what she was to him for other people.
Lady Franks Shines, Then Disappoints!
No good deed goes unpunished.
That’s how he ended fighting for his life, and Lala was spitting fire and ready to scorch the earth to figure out who was behind nearly killing a man who had become something akin to a brother to her.
Admittedly, what I didn’t anticipate was Lady Franks being behind it all. Up until the reveal, I actually enjoyed her antics and the fact that she really was a female version of Franks.
Her allowing Lala to have so much leeway seemed a bit reckless at first, but then I considered that the best way for her to keep tabs on whether NIS was making any headway was to insert herself into their part of the investigation, too.
Lala was such a damn force, but then, she always is. I appreciated more flashbacks to her experience post-accident. The sisterhood of the NIS girls and Lala’s actual sisters as they welcomed her home made me smile.
On the surface, NCIS: Origins often feels like a “boys club,” but these moments add the necessary balance that works well.
And we even saw it when Randy came to check on her, bringing with him that shining exuberance we know those around him rely on.
Even Mike brought her flowers like a proper gentleman, even when he had to break the horrible news that she wouldn’t pass the examination to be back in the field.
It was a small moment, but scenes like this with Lala and Mike are always great because they often reveal how similar they are at work.
You could feel the genuine sympathy radiating off him because he knows that if the roles were reversed, he, too, would lose his mind.
Showing Up When It Counts
But it was Twitchy Tony bringing her a meaningful gift of a clock to highlight how much he cares about her, what she means to him, an indication of just how much meaning she has in his life.
And with that gesture and his visit, he also exuded more clarity than we’ve seen from him before, encouraging her to do aquatics and water strengthening, to stay in the fight, and to get back out in the field.
It’s not lost on me that it wasn’t any of Lala’s colleagues, friends, or family who was able to inspire her the way that she needed; it was her confidential informant, this byproduct of the very thing she was fighting for, the fruit of her own labor, and a dynamic she nurtured.
We never know the impact we have on others nor how much they can affect us, too.
Twitchy Tony showed up for Lala; meanwhile, Gibbs? That guy never freaking came!
Gibbs can show up for people in all the necessary ways professionally, but emotionally, he sucks.
It’s this sort of spot that still lies between them since her return, and this hour gave them a chance to pick at it and all the unspoken feelings that still simmer between them.
NCIS: Origins Pokes at the Unresolved Gibbs/Lala Tension
Gibbs never resolved things with Lala.
He couldn’t really confront his feelings, so he just avoided them and started over.
When things got tough with Diane again, he was ready to emotionally shut down, too. Ironically, it was Lala who kept him from doing that.
But damn does Gibbs go from one extreme to another. How do you go from breaking up with someone to getting married in Vegas? It’s madness, and seeing precisely how this marriage came to be is honestly sad.
I do wonder if it mars things for NCIS Fanatics who may have had a specific idea of that relationship?
It’s not even that Gibbs fell into this relationship with Diane to move on from losing his wife and daughter. He basically did it because he couldn’t properly cope with his feelings for Lala.
Previously, I mentioned how much I unexpectedly enjoyed the Gibbs/Diane scenes, but in this installment, I struggled. I hate it when someone drops life-altering news at the wrong time and then gets upset by the reaction.
Gibbs was on his way to work when Diane dropped this bomb: she was moving to LA and wanted him to come with her. She even took the liberty of checking to see about the LA office.
But even setting aside Gibbs’ culpability in his own issues, there is no way on earth that it would seem acceptable to expect a person you’ve only dated for a couple of months to up and relocate to a whole other city and take on a new job elsewhere, away from people they care about for you!
Bad Reads and Bad Decisions
When Gibbs mentioned his family, I knew that he wasn’t speaking about Shannon and Kelly. This NIS crew is his family right now.
They’re the people who lifted him out of the darkness at his worst point in life. He’s just got his bearings and feels like a person again, and there’s no way he’d want to leave that.
Gibbs, after all, is still a creature of habit.
Unsurprisingly, Gibbs has taken the most significant leap ever with Diane rather than finish having an honest conversation with Lala about his inability to show up, communicate, or adequately deal with his feelings.
Hell, even Mike does marginally better at that in his way. It seemed to be at the center of his issues with his brother during his visit to The Range.
Sadly, even with Mike helping him, Mason still has all these misconceptions and terrible reads of Mike that make their interactions tense.
I never imagined I’d see someone pull off even more of the “Marlboro Man” shtick than Mike himself, but Mason picking a fight with Mike about him drinking light beer or being a horse whisperer because of his toxic masculinity bullcrap was so frustrating.
And go figure, Mason will soon find out that Mike, his methodologies, and his instincts are correct. He didn’t get great vibes from Stanley, and at first, it seemed like he was being too harsh and standoffish with him.
Randy & Hern: A Dynamic Duo Fit for a ’90s Series
But even I didn’t anticipate that Stanley’s “plans,” which no one took the time to dig into further or inquire enough about, included him blowing up a building. It was quite the explosive ending.
I will say that Hern finally making it back into the field was such a genuine highlight of this episode, and I would love to see so much more of him! He’s such a great character, and I love the throughline in which NCIS: Origins, which carries its stories with careful intention.
Not only did we get this form of redemption for Hern as he worked through his anxiety to become a badass in the field (that tackle was epic), but it reiterated that special Randy touch that makes him a routine asset.
It’s Randy’s sunshine and light that cuts through Hern’s anxiety when he needed it most. They’re an excellent duo, and I could watch that pairing for hours.
Seriously, more Field Agent Hern, please!
Bits and Bobs from the Bullpen
- “I don’t have freckles.”Well, you look like you should.” I should not have laughed so hard at the exchange, but I did.
- To beat a dead horse, I LOVE how NCIS: Origins incorporates music through titles, lines, and these signature moments. It’s such a great vibe. The “End of the Road” breakup bit never once got old, and I laughed every single time.
- I’m going to have Boyz II Men stuck in my head for days, and I’m not even mad about it.
- Travis Hammer (Twitchy Tony) and Mariel Molino have fantastic chemistry. I was completely enthralled by every moment we spent with Lala and Tony, and I genuinely loved experiencing how special their connection is.
- They need to get that man his Dustbuster. Basements suck!
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