The much-hyped NCIS and NCIS: Origins crossover event delivers almost everything CBS viewers were waiting for, but one aspect might leave fans wanting.
SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 5, “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and NCIS Season 23, Episode 5, “Now & Then.” It also contains discussion of suicide.
There are sky-high expectations for the NCIS and NCIS: Origins crossover event, which has been bandied about pretty much since CBS announced the Gibbs prequel. Add in Mark Harmon making his first on-screen appearance in Origins as present-day Gibbs, and the whole two-hour block happening on Veterans’ Day, and there’s a lot riding on these episodes. Luckily, the franchise almost hits a home run.
NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 5, “Funny How Time Slips Away” and NCIS Season 23, Episode 5, “Now & Then” are presented as one two-hour block, down to having combined credits at the end. This helps make them feel like one cohesive story that stretches across 30-plus years. The Origins part of the plot is more successful than the NCIS half, simply because of the fundamental difference between the two series. The first chapter gets to be character-driven; the second is more of a procedural chase. And the ending, for anyone who’s watched NCIS long enough, can be guessed at.
But that’s not really the point. The point is to bring the eras together, both for entertainment value and to show how the themes and ideas within the universe stretch across decades. In that sense, this event actually feels like an event. It’s not a crossover just to have a massive problem for everyone to solve. It’s more of a philosophical crossover. Part of that is because the two series take place at different times, but part of it is because the episodes are clearly done with care.
Let’s get the big part out of the way first: Harmon’s appearance as Gibbs is not as prominent as viewers were likely hoping. He shows up in the opening for NCIS: Origins, and that’s his only scene. Given how much CBS promoted this crossover specifically by mentioning Harmon, it’s understandable if some fans feel let down. It would have been more effective to not say anything at all and let viewers be pleasantly surprised to see older Gibbs again. Or make it a bookend—since Vera mentions she talks to Gibbs, have him take a call learning that the case has been closed. Fans don’t even have to hear what’s being said. Just seeing his reaction to the news, and maybe giving one wrap-up piece of narration, would be on another level. On the other hand, given how much NCIS fans still love Mark Harmon, you can’t blame CBS for using that one scene to drive viewership.
That’s really the only major problem with the NCIS and NCIS: Origins crossover, though. It involves the death of a retired Naval petty officer named Louis Burke in the small California town of Serenity, which appears to be a suicide until Gibbs realizes it was a murder—and the entire town was involved in covering up the truth. Having the Naval officer be a genuine villain is a change of pace for NCIS; it’s not entirely unheard of but it’s uncommon enough to set the hook. So is the fact that there are actually two crimes on the table: Burke’s death and the attack on a beloved local man named Dominic Wallace, which Burke was assumed to have committed.
The best part of the NCIS: Origins half of the crossover is that it forgets it’s a crossover. So many two-parters, be they crossovers or just regular episodes, are looking too far ahead. They’re so focused on delivering a big ending that they render the entire first half of the story inert—since viewers know that they won’t get any resolution in part one and that there’s going to be a “previously on” in part two. That’s what happened to NCIS with the Season 23 premiere; it just felt like a stopgap. But NCIS: Origins has two ways to work around this: there being two crimes means one can be “resolved” early, and the real meat is the emotional arc for both Franks and Gibbs. It’s the struggle they have with trying and failing to keep an innocent man from taking the fall. Franks destroying the interrogation room, and the confrontation he has with Gibbs afterward, are the two best scenes because the emotion is so palpable. The latter is also a fine example of the double act that stars Kyle Schmid and Austin Stowell have perfected.
When the storyline is picked up on NCIS, there’s less emotional weight to it because the writers have to spend more time putting together all the plot pieces. But there are plenty of small, yet meaningful touches that create connective tissue. It’s Mulligan stealing Vera Strickland’s motorcycle, after Franks persuades Vera to take motorcycle lessons near the end of Origins. It’s older Gibbs mentioning Gary Callahan. It’s even Mulligan being played by actor Michael Lowry, who previously guest-starred as a different character in the NCIS Season 1 episode “Sub Rosa.” The return of Roma Maffia as present-day Vera and the appearances of Phil and Woody are fun, too, but the crossover doesn’t hinge on those. It’s clear the writers on both sides invested into making the story strong and then the cameos came later.
There’s some mild criticism to be had of the fourth act. Given Mulligan’s repeatedly mentioned crush on Lainey Sims, and Lainey’s husband Mac taking his own life, it is no shock at all that Lainey’s son Jason is actually Mulligan’s child. And since there’s Mulligan’s story of trying to protect his family, it’s also not a surprise that Dominic Wallace’s actual killer is his grandson Jimmy—now a Congressman running for Senate. (That’s According to Jim star Larry Joe Campbell as the adult James.) So for audience members whose love of procedurals comes from solving the mystery, the NCIS part of this crossover will fall a little flat.
But for those who are following the emotional arcs, it’s perfectly rewarding. The guest characters’ paths of repairing or destroying families might be predictable, but almost everything works out in the end, and everyone gets closure (except of course for the bittersweet mention that Franks visited Mulligan in prison every year until Franks died). Viewers get to know that the right thing has been done in the end, and they get to see the influence of that one case in poignant ways—most notably when and whom Gibbs’ Rule #11 came from. It’s a wonderful thing to have a crossover that has purpose, and doesn’t feel like simply something bigger to drive TV ratings. Not that those huge events aren’t fun, but the ones that actually bring something (and someone) together are infinitely more rewarding.
NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and NCIS: Origins airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
