‘NCIS: Origins’ Star Mariel Molino Talks Lala’s Father, Dance With Gibbs & More

Before Lala (Mariel Molino) was a federal agent, she was the partner of her father, a conman. The latest NCIS: Origins dives into her past as she worries that it’s collided with her present in the 1993 timeline. TV Insider spoke with Molino about that and more. Warning: Spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 3 Episode 5 ahead!

When the victim of the team’s latest case turns out to be a con artist, Lala uses what she learned from her father as a kid to help with the investigation. She also has to open up to her teammates — the team’s leader, Franks (Kyle Schmid), already knows — about her dad. “He did his damage,” she admits to Gibbs (Austin Stowell) but assures him he wasn’t violent with her. (Flashbacks reveal she did time in juvie because she wouldn’t give up her dad after he went on the run.)

Gibbs is also the one who’s there for her when, after her dad turns out to have not been their victim’s partner and therefore there is no family reunion, to get her his number. But rather than call her dad, she throws out the number and re-joins Gibbs for a dance — he’s been taking cumbia dance lessons, leading to Woody (Bobby Moynihan) asking Lala, “Is that on account of his undying love for you?” — that quickly goes from fun and light-hearted to her letting go and crying in his arms.

Below, Mariel Molino breaks down the Lala-centric episode. (Plus, read what she had to say about the major reveal in the 2026 timeline — Lala is alive! — and our theory about that here.)

My heart broke for Lala when we last see her in 1993 in this episode. Gibbs gives her her dad’s number, she goes towards the payphone, then she decides not to call. What was going through her mind and what was she struggling with the most in that moment? The want to connect, but knowing their history or what?

Mariel Molino: I think the moment that Gibbs gives her the phone number is so important to their relationship and to their story as a whole, because to me, it physicalized this support of saying, “Hey, I don’t really care who your dad was. I don’t care what he did or what you did together. If you want to have a relationship with him and if you want to be there with him and you want to find out who he is and why he is, here’s your opportunity and whatever happens, I’m going to be right here.” It was just the most beautiful act of love and zero judgment that she’s seen from him.

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I think it’s almost like he gives her that permission to just rethink things and just be like, “You know what? I don’t care. I’m letting go. This person doesn’t want to get to know me, so why am I trying to get to know him?” It’s the permission to let go and to really just know that she doesn’t need to be proving herself to that man anymore or to confront him in order to just say, “Look what I’ve done or look who I am despite everything that you put me through.” It’s just this moment of, “You know what? Here’s this man who’s in front of me, who loves me and loves me for who I am no matter what, and I’m good. I can let go.” That’s what that moment was for me.

Yeah, because there’s that great Lala and Gibbs dance, and it’s this moment of almost joy, I feel like the only joy she’s been able to have in this episode when they’re actually having fun, but then it leads to the release of her actually letting it out and hold her.

Yeah. Yeah, it’s just that. It’s just a release. It’s just a tsunami of release and surrender to just knowing that she doesn’t need to keep looking for that. She doesn’t need to look for that validation or for that person that she wishes her father was.

Talk about filming the fun part of that dance with Austin, because I feel like you must have had a weight on your shoulders for most of the episode just carrying this heaviness for Lala, and then to just be able to have fun and dance, how was that?

It was great. I mean, Austin was an incredible scene partner. We had rehearsed that dance on and off for a couple weeks, and so he was just the best student. He wanted to get it so right, and we did. We really, really, really rehearsed it, and we had great choreographers. And for me, I love dancing. I always say if I wasn’t an actor, I would probably be a dancer. I just love it so much. So for me, it was just a really great little release of just having fun and being in my body and just being excited to almost flirt with this man and just be a normal girl. And so that was just really fun. It was so fun to get to do that and to have that dance. It was just a really good way to end the episode, I think.

You talked about letting go when it comes to Lala’s father, but it also at the same time feels like she deserves to have this confrontation with her dad too, right? She deserves to have that moment.

I mean, it’s something that we talked about and that we went over and yes, but no, it’s not about him. It’s not about confronting him. It’s not about seeing him and telling him things. It’s about Lala. It’s about Lala really understanding that she doesn’t need that confrontation. She doesn’t need to tell him, “Hey, look at me. This is where I’m at despite everything you did. You did this to me and you were…” That doesn’t matter anymore. You know what I mean? Lala is where she is because of herself, and she has chosen this path and done really, really, really well for herself despite everything she’s gone through, and she doesn’t need to tell him.

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Very true. And then Lala’s the one who wanted time with Gibbs for the time, and he’s giving it to her, that even comes up the end of Episode 3. But when she has moments like this, like she has with him in this episode, how hard is it for her to still be taking that time, knowing what they could be?

I mean, it’s hard for sure. And I think this is all good in her book of Gibbs, you know what I mean? But I also think that’s the last thing she’s thinking of, especially in this moment. She just really is in this very vulnerable place. She’s going through so much with the case, with how other people might view her, with trying to find out if her father is there, if she wants to talk to him, if she doesn’t. And so I think she’s just really in a place of release and leaning on him, and so this is all good for their relationship in the future, but I don’t really think she’s thinking about where they are or whether or not she wants to just be with him in that moment. You know what I mean?

Yeah. It’s more important that she knows that she can trust her team, especially after this episode.

Yeah, exactly.

They all have her back.

Yeah, it’s a great step in constructing that trust and convincing her that he is ready for her.

NCIS: Origins, Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS