In this exclusive sneak peek of tonight’s episode of ‘NCIS: Origins,’ Bugs suddenly changes his mind, prompting the team to reconsider the case.
Tonight’s NCIS: Origins “Bugs” episode revisits a case that everyone considers solved, but there might be a twist to it that they didn’t see coming.
It begins when Vera Strickland (Diany Rodriguez), who thinks she’s had the last chance to speak with Bugs (Jared Bankens), aka the Sandman Sniper, gets a call from him at home and he asks her to come to the prison because he’s decided he will finally speak to her.
Vera had been conducting a series of interviews with serial killers and recording them, which back in 1991, was the beginning of NIS profiling criminals. But her budget is gone for the year, and she has to get special permission from her boss Cliff Wheeler (Patrick Fischler), who is bribed into it by Mary Jo (Tyla Abercrumbie). But when Vera gets to the prison, Bugs has changed his mind yet again, and she’s frustrated.
Meanwhile, back at NIS, Gibbs (Austin Stowell) has promised a sailor he will do his best to find his stolen wallet because it contains the only photo the man has of his father in uniform, so it has special sentimental value. Gibbs is trying to motivate the rest of the team to assist him, but they don’t think there’s any hope, when Vera bustles in.
“You think you can loan me some manpower?” Vera asks Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid). “Better yet lady power,” pointing to Lala (Mariel Molino).
“I’m in, what do you got?” Lala asks.
“Something’s going on with Bugs, I need some help getting into it,” Vera responds.
Gibbs is surprised to hear that because he knows there’s no money left in the budget for Vera’s serial killer project for the year and asks, “You still talking to Bugs?”
Randy (Caleb Foote) butts into the conversation, saying, “You haven’t heard? Gail said that Herm told Nadia that Bugs called her at midnight to collect. He said he would rather die than not see her again.”
“You didn’t tell me,” Lala says.
“I just heard from Mary Jo on the way in from the kitchen,” Randy defends himself.
Franks takes control of the conversation, asking Vera, “What does Bugs want to see you for?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” she tells him. “He changed his mind and wouldn’t talk to me.”
“Sure, because all that crank broke his damn brain,” Franks says. “All you need to know about that kid is on the interrogation tapes. Cue them up. He confesses to a bunch of murders and slobbers all over everything. You didn’t watch them?”
“Yeah, I watched them,” Vera says.
Franks: “What else do you need to know?”
“I don’t feel like dealing with your crap today,” Vera says. Getting to business, she says, “I will take Lala and Roy [Vera’s nickname for Leroy].”
“Vamanos, Roy,” Lala calls out.
But Gibbs isn’t happy about it. He wants to pursue the wallet case, so he asks Franks, “Will you take over the wallet case?”
Franks shouts, “Take Dominiguez and Rando.”
To which an unhappy Randy says, “Why am I always the last one picked?”
But in the end, he’ll be happy he was picked because tonight the Sandman sniper case develops a surprise twist.
NCIS: Origins airs Monday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Streams next day on Paramount+.
