NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 2 ‘Who By Fire’ examines the after. After the accident. After the recovery. After the walls put up to maintain the status quo. After the days where nothing felt good. The problem is, of course, that going back to ‘normal’ is one thing, and going back to who you were before is another. And the second one is more or less impossible.
The great thing about having a voiceover is that the show is pretty open with the message it’s trying to send, and in this case it that things change. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not. But they change, and we can’t do anything to stop that. All we can do is adjust to the changes, and try to find our way in the new world that has been created after them.
MORE: Here’s our review of the Season 2 premiere
WHO IS LALA NOW?
If anyone was going to change due to an accident she was involved in, it’s Lala. And she really has. The Lala from before was a stickler for the rules. She was the good student, the good agent. She worked hard, and she was the best at everything, because for her there was no other way to be. She was the one who always knew the answers, and had everything under control.
This Lala feels a little adrift. Not just in her relationship with Gibbs, which she is as reluctant as he is to confront for what it could have been, but in her own skin. She’s trying out church. She’s considering helping criminals, because the greater good is more important than following those rules she would have never considered breaking before. And though she backs down after Vera pushes, the truth is she doesn’t want to.
Because Lala doesn’t want to be the good girl anymore. What good has that done her? She risked her career to save Gibbs in the Season 2 finale and all she got was almost dying before she could tell him. And now, she doesn’t want to tell him. She doesn’t want what that would mean. Before, she was ready to go for it. A relationship, working together, everything. Now, Lala knows that telling Gibbs might get them back to that place, but is it real? Would it be? She’s not going to find out.
MORE: We are getting an NCIS & NCIS: Origins crossover! Here’s everything we know.
WHO IS GIBBS?
Gibbs is such a complicated character, and a character we know so well. Nineteen seasons of NCIS in the bag, and now into our second season of NCIS: Origins means we’ve had two decades to get to know this character. That’s why it’s so exciting when NCIS: Origins shows us something new about a character we feel like we already know so well.
This hour is about Gibbs’ interrogation skills, but it’s also about Gibbs’ relationship with Lala and with Diane. Because this Gibbs is a little softer than the one we met on NCIS, and he can still take someone’s advice and interpret it in the wrong way. He can still hang onto everything Lala says and let it define him.
And he can especially, and this will remain true for him on the mothership later, avoid his feelings like the best of them. In fact, this episode makes it feel like there’s a part of Gibbs that truly cares for Diane, and that enjoys being with her. But at the same time, Gibbs is in no way, shape or form, giving her 100%. Of himself. Of his effort. He’s with her, and it’s easy and when he is, it’s easy to turn off the part of his brain that tells him that, perhaps, he belongs somewhere else. And well, that emotional avoidance does feel pretty on point for Gibbs.
MORE: Want a complete list of Gibbs’ rules? We’ve got one!
AND THE TEAM?
Franks and Randy, meanwhile, are having a great time now that Lala is back. Because, though they see the issues between Gibbs and Lala, they don’t have to focus on them. For them, things are as normal as they have ever been. Randy has a job again, one he realized he actually loved. Franks has his team back, a team that sometimes might cause him headaches, but that he likes and trusts.
But the two of them have also suffered a lot of changes. Franks is now alone, without Tish. Randy has now faced his mortality, and that never goes back in the can—especially for someone with a family. And those issues, even if they’re easy to put in the backburner for a while, always come back to bite us when we least expect or want them to.
MORE: Another crossover between NCIS and NCIS: Origins?
Things I think I think:
- “When you wake up, you feel different.”
- Church?!
- “Everyone around you feels like they were in a crash of their own.”
- So Gibbs did go to the hospital. I know he said just at the beginning, but… I’m glad we get to see it.
- “Is there a way to get back to the people you were before?”
- Lala just going with Flaco like that was kinda wild.
- “You’re not the same person you were before the crash. And you never will be.”
- Gibbs was looking for Lala!!
- Oh, they’re taking turns picking her up.
- I’ve missed you, Vera.
- Franks trying to be supportive is hilarious, but nice.
- Gibbs, the crime scene is not the time.
- Diane isn’t that bad, but I’m not sure how much Gibbs cares.
- “I do care what you think.” Look at him finding some words.
- “Since when do you go to Church?” Exactly!
- Too hard, Gibbs. Too hard.
- Franks spends half this show mad.
- “Medio que tiene cara de baboso” is 100% on the money.
- The whole “the office thinking you’re the new Carl is enough punishment”
- I promise you Carl isn’t right, baby.
- Lala saying she wants to set a good example got me.
- “He cares what you think or you care what he thinks of you?” BOTH.
- Yeah, not the same person.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think about NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 2 ‘Who By Fire’? 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 Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS.
