Mark Harmon kicks off another installment of NCIS: Origins in its October 21 episode. NCIS: Origins season 1, episode 3, “Bend, Don’t Break,” marks the series’ first episode following the double NCIS: Origins premiere, “Enter Sandman,” introducing Austin Stowell as young Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Stowell establishes a more vulnerable representation of Harmon’s character as he starts at Camp Pendleton. Gibbs starts at NIS in 1991 in the NCIS: Origins premiere, and “Bend, Don’t Break” continues unraveling Gibbs’ NCIS beginnings while adding crucial detail to the agent’s life after the death of his wife and daughter.
Harmon has a robust presence in the prequel series, narrating the NCIS: Origins story as Gibbs writes it. The retired agent still lives in Alaska following Mark Harmon’s NCIS exit in season 19, episode 4, “Great Wide Open.” It appears that Gibbs’ retirement has done some good for the former agent and gunnery sergeant, allowing Harmon’s original Gibbs character time to reflect on stories that shape his career. While Harmon’s prequel series is the story of what happened after he lost his wife and daughter, it is also about Lala Dominguez, and episode 3 continues building both stories.
10 Gibbs Put Off Having A Funeral For Shannon And Kelly After Their Death
NCIS: Origins reveals that Gibbs put off having a funeral for Shannon and Kelly in “Bend, Don’t Break.” Stowell’s Gibbs also explains that he has been delaying selling the family home since moving on is challenging. The episode shows an image of the house Gibbs shared with his wife and daughter, complete with most of their belongings right where Shannon and Kelly left them.
The details add to the complete picture of life for the former Marine after what happened to Gibbs’ family in NCIS. Jethro’s extension of the timeline of his wife and daughter’s funeral also explains the presence of Robert Taylor’s Jackson Gibbs in the NCIS: Origins premiere. NCIS lore suggests that Jackson Gibbs is estranged from his son following the funeral of his daughter-in-law, so putting off Shannon and Kelly’s funeral gives Jackson Gibbs more time in the prequel series.
9 Gibbs Throws Away His Rules After He Joins NIS
NCIS: Origins also reveals a shocking detail about Gibbs’ code of ethics in episode 3. In “Bend, Don’t Break,” Gibbs throws away his box of rules, signifying that the former Marine doesn’t want to adhere to them following his loss. It’s a shocking moment since Gibbs maintains the same box of rules in the flagship series, confusing why the special agent would toss the papers in the trash and how he gets them back.
Gibbs rules are established in NCIS, season 1, episode 1, “Yankee White,” making it one of the best episodes of NCIS. While Gibbs’ rules are initially presented as crime scene etiquette, they develop into a code of ethics that the agent uses to guide his behavior and the behavior of his field agents. The moment sets up a foreshadowing of the subtle, caring role that Jackson Gibbs plays in his son’s life following the death of his family.
8 Mike Franks Apologizes To Lala
In NCIS: Origins season 1, episode 3, Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid) apologizes to Special Agent Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino) for something he said in the NCIS: Origins premiere. In the pilot, Franks implied that Lala antagonizes Gibbs because she wants to be intimate with him. While Lala isn’t giving Gibbs an easy time, and it’s frustrating for the team leader, Franks clearly crossed a line by implying that Lala is like a dog in heat.
In episode 3, Franks apologizes to Lala, but it isn’t an apology. Franks tells Lala that he told his partner about the situation, and she tells Franks to apologize. Franks tells Lala what his partner said rather than actually delivering an apology, continuing a trend for Franks in the NCIS franchise where the character maintains a complicated perception of women in the workforce.
7 Jackson Gibbs Confronts Mike Franks About Leroy Jethro Joining NIS
NCIS: Origins episode 3 reveals that Franks and Jackson Gibbs know each other from the Kelly and Shannon case. In “Bend, Don’t Break,” Jackson confronts Franks about recruiting his son to join his team at NIS. After Jackson talks to Franks, he asks Leroy Jethro to return to Stillwater, Pennsylvania, to work at his general store, showing that the father just wants to take care of his son in the face of tragedy.
Therefore, when visiting Franks, Jackson warns Schmid’s character about Gibbs’ mental state on the heels of losing his family. Franks and Jackson share a connection to what happened to Gibbs’s wife and daughter in NCIS. They both want to help him but have different ideas about what the young Gibbs needs. Gibbs senior reminds Franks that his son has a death wish and that he’s putting him in the line of fire where he can act on it.
6 Jackson Gibbs Asks Mike Franks To Get His Son Out Of The Field
When Jackson Gibbs confronts Mike Franks at his home about putting his son in danger, he tells Franks to take Gibbs out of the field. The older Gibbs reminds Franks of how profound Gibbs’ tragedy is and that he is in a vulnerable state of mind. Jackson’s argument effectively convinces Franks to pull Jethro Gibbs from the field and put him behind a desk, but the effort is short-lived.
Gibbs decides to self-mandate that he is back on the field, showing up at the mall and interacting with their suspect despite warnings from Randy (Caleb Martin Foote).
When Gibbs learns that he has been pulled from his fieldwork, he is initially so upset that he tells off his dad and hallucinates his dead wife. When Gibbs wakes up in his car after seeing Shannon, he hears a police call on the radio about the case they’re investigating at the mall. Gibbs decides to self-mandate that he is back on the field, showing up at the mall and interacting with their suspect despite warnings from Randy (Caleb Martin Foote).
5 Vera Strickland Works With Franks’ Team Despite Technically Not Being A Part Of It
In the NCIS: Origins premiere, Lala asked if Franks’ behavior is why Vera Strickland (Diany Rodriguez) doesn’t want to be on his team, to which she changed the subject. There is a vague connection between Strickland and Franks’ team and that still needs to be explored. That said, Strickland secures some undisclosed files to Franks in the Origins premiere, clearly working with him on a covert project.
The character’s mysterious connection to Franks’ team builds on a narrative from the flagship NCIS series, where Special Agent Strickland is introduced as Franks’ former partner. Strickland’s existing connection to Franks foreshadows that they will work closely in NCIS: Origins, and Strickland also clearly works with the team. For instance, she helps Lala find the correct file despite her loose connections.
4 Leroy Jethro Gibbs Asks Jackson To Leave While He’s Visiting California (& He Does)
In a heartbreaking moment for the NCIS franchise, young Gibbs asks his dad to leave him alone in NCIS: Origins episode 3, and the father obliges. Gibbs is furious at his father after learning from Franks that his father discussed the chances of pulling him from the field. Instead, Gibbs is defensive of his needs, telling Jackson to get out despite his father helping set up his new apartment.
Gibbs’ senior helps set up a bed for his son during episode 3, and he is aware that his son needs to move on. Jackson knows that while Jethro doesn’t want to put the pieces of his life back together, it is worsening things to sleep on the floor and refuse to keep his life. Still, Jackson shows that he is more concerned about respecting his son’s wishes than doing what he thinks is right when he flies back home.
3 NCIS: Origins Finally Reveals Rule #29 With A Hallucination Of Shannon Gibbs
In “Bend, Don’t Break,” Gibbs hallucinates his deceased wife when passed out behind the wheel of his car. The hallucination of Shannon finally reveals Gibbs’ Rule #29: “Learn to obey before you command.” The rule has long been missing from Gibbs’ list of rules in NCIS, which has many entries but is still incomplete.
Featuring Shannon’s character to reveal the first rule within the NCIS: Origins story is meaningful since Shannon inspires the rules. In NCIS season 6, episode 4, “Heartland,” the flagship flashes back to Jethro’s upbringing in Stillwater, Pennsylvania, explaining how he meets his wife at a dress shop. The episode explains how Gibbs picks up the idea of a code of rules from a young Shannon Gibbs, who says one of her rules is never to date a lumberjack.
2 NCIS: Origins Reveals The Beginning Of Gibbs’ Elevator Habit
NCIS: Origins season 1, episode 3, also reveals the beginning of a quintessential Gibbs habit. In the flagship NCIS series, Gibbs habitually pulled the emergency stop to pause the elevator for more serious conversations. It’s the most private place in NCIS Headquarters when Gibbs was Special Agent-in-Charge, and Harmon’s character often utilized the trick in NCIS when he needed to get on the same page as someone else.
“Bend, Don’t Break” shows the origins of Gibbs’ elevator trick when he uses it to hold a suspect hostage. It’s only Gibbs’ second case in NCIS: Origins when he decides to pull the risky maneuver, which puts Gibbs in dangerous territory, especially since Franks has pulled him from the field. Still, Gibbs’ trick works to extract more information from their suspect, showing him honing his tested communication method.
1 Jackson Gibbs Saves Jethro’s Rules
In the episode’s conclusion, Jackson Gibbs stops his cab at his son’s old house on the way to the airport, looking in the trash can for whatever he threw out of his former home that morning. Jackson is saddened to find Jethro’s rules in the wastebasket, and he pulls them out and takes them with him before advancing to the airport to catch his flight home to Stillwater. The moment shows that, while respecting his son’s wishes, Jackson knows what Jethro Gibbs needs.
In narration that plays over the moment, Harmon’s Gibbs reveals that his dad knew he needed a code to live by. He reflects that he wishes he could have told his dad thank you while alive. While the moment is heartbreaking, considering that Jackson Gibbs is deceased in the NCIS universe, it shows that Jackson and Jethro still care for one another during their estranged years.
