Did ‘NCIS: Origins’ Just Take Major Step Towards Gibbs & Lala?

The concept of NCIS: Origins — a prequel to a show that had already run for 20 seasons by the time it premiered — means we have a pretty good idea of what is coming. So, we knew that something set into motion beginning with the Tuesday, April 21, episode was on the way.

The episode also sees Gibbs (Austin Stowell) opening up to Lala (Mariel Molino) after his dad, Jackson (Robert Taylor), brings him his rules box. And, well, what this episode sets up certainly has us excited about what could be coming next. Warning: Spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 16 ahead!

As “Who’s Gonna Drive You Home?” begins, Mark Harmon‘s voiceover plays over a montage of Gibbs and Diane (Kathleen Kenny) trying to make a long-distance marriage work with her job taking her to Los Angeles. At first, things were great. But then, with “life being life,” he’d get called into work and she’d be stuck in a meeting in L.A. “It felt like the distance was killing us,” Harmon’s Gibbs narrates, even when they were in the same place.

Gibbs is not happy when his dad not only shows up for a surprise visit to meet his daughter-in-law but also brings the rules box he’d thrown away. “I thought maybe you’d want to have it back now some time has passed,” Jackson explains.

Erik Voake/CBS

That means that when a protection detail requires Gibbs to miss out on dinner with Jackson and Diane, he’s not exactly disappointed. But when he calls his wife to tell her, she’s looking through the box of rules and asks why he threw them away. It gets awkward when he explains that it was his late wife Shannon’s idea. After they hang up, Jackson invites her to sit down and talk about what’s bothering her. Uh-oh?

Gibbs and Lala are put on protection detail for Admiral Kane (Brian Letscher), the head of NIS, and his wife, played by Alicia Coppola in her third NCIS series; she previously played Lieutenant Commander Faith Coleman in JAG‘s two-part backdoor pilot for NCIS, then three episodes of the mothership, and FBI Agent Lisa Rand in five episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles. Gibbs and Lala notice the couple’s great relationship after 27 years, and she remarks that they still seem to get each other, wondering what their secret is. Gibbs looks at her, and Lala leaves to do a perimeter sweep.

Later that night, Lala brings up the conversation she overheard, where Gibbs mentioned the rules box to Diane. At first, he says it’s nothing, then, “It’s just stuff I used to write down, reminders.” Of? “I don’t know,” he says before listing one, “Never take anything for granted.” He asks if she misses Manny (Miguel Gomez), the guy she was involved with, who’s now in witness protection, and she confirms he does before showing him the postcard he really shouldn’t have sent her. She asks why he didn’t want to have dinner with Jackson and Diane, and he says he doesn’t know. “Are you happy?” she asks him. They’re interrupted by a call.

When Gibbs gets home and learns Diane left, he blames his father, but Jackson tells him she said they both know things aren’t right between them, and he’s not bothering to fix the cabinets because he knows they won’t be there forever, in the marriage. “If you’re not going to love her, you need to be a man and end it,” his father advises. Gibbs yells that he does love her, but Jackson argues he doesn’t like he should.

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Diane thinks it’s about his wife and daughter who were murdered, Jackson says, pointing out his son never told her about the rules. Gibbs wonders why he would have, since he threw them away, but as his dad tells him, “When you love someone, you tell them who you are.”

Mark Harmon’s closing voiceover reveals that Diane moved to L.A. full-time, but the two didn’t file for divorce just yet. (But we’ve known this was coming since before they met; he has more ex-wives to meet.) “She told me she wanted to live life and heal,” he says. “She wanted me to find someone that made me happy, and I wanted the same thing for her. I don’t know why we didn’t file for divorce back then; maybe neither of us wanted to see that final paper saying it was over. But it was over. Much as my dad was a pain in the ass, he was right about Diane and me. I didn’t love her the way I should. Like he always said, you love someone, you tell them who you are.”

Just like he told Lala. And is it any surprise that the episode ends on Gibbs looking at the same rule from the box that he told her about? We’ll just have to see if this leads anywhere… At this point, it would be nice if the two would just finally kiss. That hasn’t even happened yet in a dream!

Meanwhile, Randy (Caleb Foote) books his first slot at the Laugh Lodge (he’s getting paid $25) and is super excited … only to get bumped for a guy named Carrot Top with a trunk of props and the “most luxurious red hair,” like his but with more star power; he’d been on The Tonight Show last month.

Plus, one of the sweetest moments comes when Franks (Kyle Schmid) checks in on Lala about Manny without explicitly saying he knows they were involved and he was the “Johnny” she was with. She confirms she’s OK, and it’s over, and he hugs her.

What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments section below.

NCIS: Origins, Tuesdays, 9/8c, CBS