NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 9 ‘Vivo o Muerto’ is by far the best episode of a show that has already proven itself to be not just very good, but actually necessary. And yet, ironically, it is the one we needed the least—and at the same time, perhaps, we needed the most. Because NCIS: Origins always needed to provide us with true closure on Pedro Hernandez, even if once upon a time NCIS already gave us that. And now that it did, NCIS: Origins can finally move forward into… whatever it is it wants to become.
That’s always been the question of this show, really. How much of it is nostalgia and how much of a new story is there to be told? The nostalgia has been good so far, and Austin Stowell has proven to be an outstanding Gibbs in every way possible. But if NCIS: Origins was ever going to be more than just a show about what happened to Gibbs’ family—if it was even going to go on to become a show about who Gibbs is, much less about the people around him, the ghost haunting all of them had to be taken out. That ghost was Hernandez.
Now, I’m not a proponent of killing people the way Gibbs killed Hernandez, of course. And I could tell you all about overstepping, and taking the law into your own hands and the dangers of both—much less TV glorifying the behavior. But this is a matter that has, first of all, been discussed ad nauseam, and second of all, does require the added caveat that the world is better off without Hernandez.
So, our time is better spent dissecting what happened and what the characters learned from it.
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YOU WONDER IF SHE THINKS ABOUT YOU AT ALL
The thing about Gibbs in NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 9 ‘Vivo o Muerto’ is that, ironically, this hour isn’t even about his grief. Instead, it’s about how he’s moved on. And yes, he had to literally kill the man who murdered his family to be able to do that, but there’s no doubt that the Gibbs we see in this episode is a different one than the one we saw even just in the first episode of the series. And a lot of that growth has to do with the people around him, what with he’s let himself feel for them. Of course, that’s especially true about Lala.
Ironically, that’s what the scene with Gibbs as a sniper is about. It’s not about him disregarding the mission or thinking he knows best, it never has been. Instead, it’s about the fact that probably without meaning to and certainly without wanting to, Gibbs has started to care for Lala. He’s let her in. And the thing about that is that, when you’re as damaged as Gibbs is and you let someone in, the thought of losing them too, on top of everything you’ve already lost… well, that’s paralyzing.
So no, Gibbs cannot process the thought of Lala getting hurt, not when he can do something about it. And yes, that’s more important than any mission. It’s more important than Franks. It’s even more important than himself. Which, you know, is a problem, considering a) he hasn’t put a name to all of this yet, and b) he hasn’t even talked to her about it.
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HE WAS SHOT BY A SNIPER
We already knew Gibbs killed Hernandez. We already knew how Gibbs killed Hernandez. In fact, we’ve even seen Gibbs have to deal with people close to him finding out he killed Hernandez before. We’ve just never had to deal with the immediate aftermath of his decision to kill Hernandez and the people who actively, if not collaborated, at least very much protected him from the consequences of what he did.
Because it was Frank who gave him the means. And, we assume, it’ll be Lala and Franks who keep his secret going forward. Otherwise, Gibbs would probably never make it to where we find him during NCIS. But how does this change the dynamics between them, dynamics that were just starting to be established? That’s really the question. The rest, as I said, we already knew.
And it’s really more about Lala than Mike, because the thing is—Franks probably expected this the moment he gave Gibbs the information. Lala was caught off guard. She’s the one who’s got to reconcile the Gibbs who would do this with the Gibbs she works with every day, the one she trusts to have her back, the one she cares for. That’s the journey now.
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Things I think I think:
- Ok, so you couldn’t find him, you stopped eating, and then…
- “Eventually you gotta start eating again, or you die.”
- How did we even go from that to “You imagine a person across town. You picture her living her life, happy. You wonder what she thinks about the dark that’s around you.”
- “You wonder if she thinks about you at all.”
- And I’m not supposed to have feelings here?
- Ok, so we all get why Franks doesn’t want to leave the painters alone with Trish, right?
- Hell yea,h Dominguez is in charge.
- Road trip to Mexico, the dream.
- “I am half Mexican.”
- Okay, a lot of info dump about your family, Lala.
- Why is there a yellow filter as soon as we get to Mexico?
- CECILIA.
- Oh, there you are Pedro.
- Franks is gonna be a menace trying to get there fast.
- Randy getting everyone to help got me EMOTIONAL.
- He writes like he talks indeed.
- She’s been coming down to look for Hernandez. Every month.
- I’m not crying, you’re crying.
- What was she even gonna do if she found him?
- “That’s not on you” is BIG for Gibbs.
- “It is. It is on me.”
- When she says “I’m gonna get him for you,” that hit me hard.
- Of course, then they had to go get shot up.
- I appreciate Franks checking how Gibbs is doing, but how would he be doing?
- Franks letting Gibbs go reeked of Franks thinking Hernandez wasn’t gonna be there to me.
- The proximity between Gibbs and Lala is -3 in this scene on the hill.
- It’s always Plan C, and Gibbs knew it. That’s why he was worried.
- And hey, Gibbs did save her.
- He looks like he cannot even think of losing someone else.
- “He said Hernandez was killed six months ago. Cartel covered it up so they wouldn’t look weak.”
- He was shot by a sniper.
- Oops.
- Everyone’s like eh, we’re not saying the obvious but we know and we know the other person knows so we’re just gonna sit here and not say a thing.
- Gotcha.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think about NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 9 ‘Vivo o Muerto’? Share with us in the comments below!
NCIS: Origins airs on Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.
Here are our NCIS: Origins reviews:
