NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 14, “To Have and To Hold” is one of the best episodes of the season — even if Leroy Jethro Gibbs is hardly in it. The CBS prequel also been telling the origin stories of all the NIS team members, not just Gibbs, and this time it’s Mary Jo Hayes’ turn in the spotlight. Actor Tyla Abercrumbie rises to the occasion, showing an emotional side of Mary Jo that viewers rarely get to see as they fall in love with her all over again.
“To Have and to Hold” does have a case to close, involving the disappearance of a Marine wife. But that becomes almost secondary to Mary Jo’s personal life, as her estranged husband Marcus files for divorce. It’s a testament to NCIS: Origins that this subplot becomes so much more than that, and that this episode takes Mary Jo at her lowest point yet is simultaneously a celebration of her. It proves that she’s a hero, too, even if she doesn’t have a badge.
NCIS: Origins Episode 14 Has an Efficient Case of the Week
This Mystery Is Easier to Decode, but That’s the Point
The standalone plot in Episode 14 is that Master Sergeant Joshua Dane calls to report his wife Sarah missing — a problem that has an extra wrinkle because Sarah just got out of prison for investment fraud. Naturally, this requires the NIS team to look at everyone whose money Sarah stole, as well as Joshua himself. NCIS: Origins is basically doing an episode of American Greed, just with Mark Harmon narrating instead of Stacy Keach. Every one of Sarah’s victims has a particularly difficult story: they lost their dream home, or their kid’s college fund, or had to come out of retirement to clean floors because of the financial hardship. Meanwhile, Joshua keeps insisting that his wife changed while she was in prison and she’s a better person now.
Some viewers may not be happy with the episode’s conclusion, which reveals that Sarah didn’t change at all; she was hiding receipts for secret bank accounts in her backyard, and booking a flight to Colombia. But at least there’s a silver lining in that finding these receipts allows NIS to locate most of the stolen money and get it back into the hands of the victims. And NCIS: Origins does get some plot mileage out of saying that Sarah died as the result of a fall, rather than telling a predictable revenge story.
Yet in “To Have and To Hold,” the case of the week is really more of a story device to emphasize Mary Jo’s struggles. Mary Jo takes the heat when the new secretary mistakenly allows Joshua to come in for his interview early, putting him in the office at the same time as the people his wife defrauded. And it’s Mary Jo listening to all their statements that motivates her to motivate Mike Franks. The relative lack of suspense enables the viewer to pay more attention to the emotional developments.
NCIS: Origins Gives Mary Jo Hayes Her Due in the Worst Way
Season 1, Episode 14 Is Incredibly Painful for Mary Jo
The opening scene of NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 14 says everything fans need to know about the episode. Mary Jo is hosting a dinner party for her friends and loved ones — including another reappearance by Millie from Episode 4, “All’s Not Lost” — and everyone she speaks to is asking her for something. As Gibbs’ narration reminds the audience, everyone knows that one person who gives to everyone, yet never gets much in return. “To Have and to Hold” reminds viewers of Mary Jo’s importance to the NIS team, even as it shows her on some of her worst days. That contradiction is what drives the episode and makes it so memorable. Her struggles only enhance what there is to love and admire about the character.
She could very easily be a “sassy assistant” archetype; just ask Suits LA how challenging it can be to write a character out of that pigeonhole. But the best support characters transcend their roles not just in-universe, but within the framework of the show. The office needs Mary Jo so it can keep running efficiently, yet the series needs Mary Jo to provide the outside perspective no one else has. Her scene with Franks is such a great example of this. Fans completely understand why he wants to leave, because he’s referencing the events of Episode 13, “Monsoon.” But even knowing that painful context, they’re firmly behind Mary Jo as she reminds him that Sarah’s victims need more than just an explanation of what happened. And to hear Franks then basically use Mary Jo’s words when he passes that lesson on to the team, it’s impossible not to smile.
Mary Jo Hayes (to Franks): That’s the job you signed up for. To help make people whole, even when you’re not.
Mary Jo’s personal life gets a huge reveal, as audiences meet her soon to be ex-husband Marcus, portrayed by Chicago Med alum Guy Lockard (who also recently played OA’s friend Clay Voss on FBI). It’s very refreshing to see their split handled with maturity and grace, as an angry Mary Jo thinks Marcus is seeking alimony from her, only to be told his lawyer acted out of turn. This plotline could have easily been just bitter and angry and sad, and instead it’s almost optimistic. Hopefully NCIS: Origins doesn’t pull a Grosse Pointe Garden Society and retcon this wonderful characterization.
And as beautiful as that is, that’s how painful it is to learn that Mary Jo and Marcus lost not one, but multiple children. Other shows have done pregnancy loss storylines before, but to burden Mary Jo with that much loss is unheard of. And the way that the series goes about it — saving the reveal for the end and doing it quietly, instead of making a whole scene about it — is moving as well. This is a hard episode not to cry during, which points toward the biggest reason why NCIS: Origins is gaining steam.
NCIS: Origins Has Evolved Beyond Being Just Gibbs’ Story
Episode 15 Proves the Show Is Better as a Team Effort
The biggest issue with the early episodes of NCIS: Origins was that it felt too much like “the Gibbs show.” Yes, the point of the series was to tell Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ origin story, but that wasn’t a feasible blueprint for long-term success. If only to give Gibbs something to play off of and make his story mean something, the characters around him also deserved proper development. The first few attempts at this weren’t great, but particularly in the second half of the season, the writers are figuring out what they want to say about everyone at NIS. The only quibble is that most of the time, it’s somehow tragic. The show wouldn’t end if somebody had a positive flashback or a present win in the near future.
But “To Have and to Hold” is fantastic on almost every level, and that’s saying something considering that Austin Stowell’s biggest scene as young Gibbs is shoving one of Sarah’s furious victims out the office door. Aside from Gibbs learning that Lala took his advice about calling her ex-boyfriend Eddie, Stowell could’ve taken this week off and it wouldn’t have affected much. That’s a testament to how much this show has learned to grow around the Gibbs character and in so doing, has found its own unique voice separate from NCIS. Tyla Abercrumbie deserves a round of applause for her acting in NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 14 — and the writers have earned a gold star as well.
