NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 17 ‘Darlin’, Don’t Refrain’ is another really good episode of this show, one that is about the Sandman case, yes—but that is also about Wheeler, about Gibbs, and about fathers and the sacrifices they are willing to make for their kids. And though this hour only feels like it scratches the surface of all of those things, it still does a really good job at tugging at our heartstrings while doing so.
That has been, in many ways, the real triumph of NCIS: Origins Season 1. The show, which was ostensibly about Gibbs, has managed to be not just about a team, but about people in general, and about human stories in particular. And it has, surprisingly, managed to make us care about each and every one.
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HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE
The very obvious Wheeler and Gibbs parallel in NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 17 ‘Darlin’, Don’t Refrain’ has to do with their kids, or the one Wheeler has and Gibbs no longer has. And in the end, Wheeler makes the choice that perhaps Gibbs would, if he could. He sacrifices his job—we don’t know in what way, the consequences might not even be felt until next season—for his son. Because that’s what’s more important. Just as he sacrificed his relationship, the one he really wanted.
The show doesn’t need to voice what that relationship is. It makes it obvious. There was never another woman, which doesn’t mean there was never another person Cliff Wheeler cared for. But in the 90s, everyone was always going to assume any affair involved a woman, because, well… that’s what they were going to assume. And Wheeler might have been willing to risk a lot, but he wasn’t willing to risk his son. And, the way the Gibbs voiceover paints it, perhaps that’s understandable. Perhaps, as a parent, that’s the only choice you can make.
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YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH WHAT’S CLEAR
NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 17 ‘Darlin’, Don’t Refrain’ makes clear something we have perhaps known since the first two episodes of the show, since we were first introduced to Lala and Gibbs. Since we first heard that this story was about “her.” Because there was only ever one reason why this story would be about her. There was only one reason why she could be so important to Leroy Jethro Gibbs. And now, it’s been said out loud.
The season has built it up steadily, but surely. Lala has been the clearest thing in Gibbs’s sight, the clearest thing in his road to recovery. The clearest ally he’s had as he’s tried to claw his way out of the hole he was in. She hasn’t been the only one. He’s had other people. He had Ruth, and he had Mike, and then Randy as well and he had to decide to want to live too, but it’s been easy to see the connection between them growing steadily. The problem is we know the future. Or, we think we know it. We don’t know exactly what happens next. And it turns out we can’t wait to find out.
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Things I think I think:
- Whoever thought I’d care this much about a Wheeler episode?
- This Gibbs voiceover about the happiest day of his life hit hard from the get-go.
- Mike trying to comfort Vera in his own Mike way was nice.
- Wheeler saying “thank you” to Mary Jo was also nice.
- Yeah, Mike’s interrogation was indeed suspect, but Wheeler never cared until now.
- Lol at Randy being scared.
- “We’re killers too.”
- Oh, so the kid listened to Franks?
- And Mike is gonna be honest with the kid?
- Of course, it was never a girlfriend.
- It’s kinda sad, truly, when we find out who the Sandman is. It feels like a betrayal not just for Gibbs, but for everyone in that group.
- Randy and Lala with Gibbs gave me FEELS.
- Lala staying gave me even more feels.
- Okay, so is Wheeler suspended?
- “The background is blurry, so you fall in love with what’s clear.”
- “Even my saddest days with her were happy because she was there.”
- I’m not crying, you are.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 17 ‘Darlin’, Don’t Refrain’? Share with us in the comments below! And if you have any thoughts about the show, share them with us in our NCIS: Origins hub!
NCIS: Origins airs on Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.
Here are our last 5 NCIS: Origins reviews:
