NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 14 Review: The Most Heartwarming Backstory

Few shows can make an episode like NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 14 ‘The Beautiful Ballad of Gary Callahan’ work, but this show isn’t like most out there. Which is to say the episode doesn’t just work, but it makes us very emotional about Gary Callahan, a dog. But not just a dog, no. A member of this team.

But the good thing about this episode is that it doesn’t do so in an abstract way. I have two dogs, and I would consider myself a dog person, so loving the dog on a show isn’t all that weird. I cried at Marley & Me. I wanted a backstory episode for Gary Callahan! And I’m on the record praising how good a job this show has done with giving us backstory episodes from everyone from Kawalski to Cliff Wheeler, and making us like everyone from Mary Jo to even Dalton Basement.

Did I expect to like an episode about Gary Callahan? Yes. Did I expect the hour to end up so emotional, and to give us not just a glimpse of who Gary was, but also what the team and especially Franks are around him? No, but perhaps I should have.

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EVEN PROTECTORS

Of course, the story of Gary Callahan is, in many ways, the story of Mike Franks. We’d already learned the early parts of his story—we’d seen him fall and get back up. We’d seen him meet Tish. We’d left him at a place where we thought he could get up. But we didn’t know how the man who first met Tish became the Mike Franks we know today. And we didn’t know how important Gary Callahan was to his tale.

People who don’t understand might say that dogs aren’t family; they can’t be. ‘The Beautiful Ballad of Gary Callahan’ proves that it isn’t so for the Origins team, but that especially isn’t so for Mike Franks. If anything, Gary Callahan is proof that for everyone in this team, staying down when you get knocked down isn’t an option. And that they will all, all, fight for everyone else on the team.

Who said your family cannot include people you work with every day, and a dog that reminds you that even in your darkest moments, you don’t have to be alone? Family is family, and it’s what you make of it. Don’t believe me, believe NCIS: Origins.

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A STAND UP MAN

This show is, in many ways, about Gibbs. In fact, when it was introduced, it was kind of billed as a Young Gibbs show. But has Gibbs had as much of a character arc as Mike Franks so far? I think the answer is no. And perhaps that’s to be expected, because Gibbs couldn’t do all his growing on NCIS: Origins. We have to get to the Gibbs on NCIS, after all. And not just that, we have to go past it, to a story that still hasn’t been told.

Franks is a different case, and perhaps that’s why we’ve been privy to so much of his growth. To a man who was broken and lashed out. To the man who was tender and sweet but didn’t want anyone to see that. To the one who has had to fight against the system to be able to become a better version of himself, one who has the back of his team, all his team.

This episode is, in so many ways, a culmination of that journey for Franks. Not because we ever stop growing, but because in this hour we see him apply that growth outside of the people he cares about. We see him not just realizing, in his own way, that the system is stacked against the women he cares about, or sticking out his neck to help Gibbs, but doing so for someone who actively hurt Gary Callahan, and doing so because he knows that’s the right thing to do.

Not just that, we see him apologize to Herm—which is perhaps even more surprising—because he understands there isn’t just one way to care for someone. To be there. And also because this Mike Franks, two seasons in, well… he’s not the same man we first met. He’s a better one. And we’ve all been privy to that growth.

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Things I think I think:

• Aww, but Gary Callahan was such a beautiful puppy.
• “German Shepards are natural born protectors.”
• “But even protectors need someone looking out for them.” Unfair, show. Unfair.
• Randy is going to pick Gibbs. Why are we pretending otherwise?
• Look, the agent down call hurt me.
• I love how mad everyone is that anyone dared to hurt Gary Callahan.
• So glad to see Tish, even for a little bit.
• “You stabbed our dog.”
• Randy hugging Franks, lol.
• The name thing is actually very on brand.
• “Takes a stand-up man to admit when they make a mistake.”
• Okay, Wheeler, do you just offer a job to everyone?
• It was all because of Gary, I cry.
• HE CAN WALK!
• Gary Callahan, my hero.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 14 ‘The Beautiful Ballad of Gary Callahan’? 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.