Just when you thought “NCIS: Origins” couldn’t top its memorable Season 1 finale ending, the CBS prequel delivers its most romantic moment yet, leaves us with an unresolved kidnapping, and takes the letter “C” where no “C” has ever gone before.
Let’s cut to the chase: The Season 2 finale sees Gibbs and Lala share their first kiss. (!) The two are forced to finally confront their feelings for each other after NIS undergoes an administrative restructuring that threatens to break up the crew. Lala decides she’s going to leave the NIS completely, and flirts with the idea of living a low-key life off the grid with Manny.
When Gibbs finds out that Lala’s not sticking around, he rushes to find her. Donned in an NCIS jacket — the NIS saved itself by adding a “C” to its name in a simple rebranding to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to improve optics — and with Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” booming in the background, Gibbs runs to her house, but she’s not there.
“I tried to leave, but I couldn’t,” she says, strolling up behind him. “I wanted you to ask me to stay.”
Finally, Gibbs does as he’s told, and asks her not to go. (He should’ve done this sooner, but we’ll accept his late work.) The pair run into each other’s arms and share a romantic smooch as the bittersweet break-up song drones on behind them.
But the finale doesn’t end there. In the final moments of the dramatic hour, Randy is kidnapped. All we know is that he found something he wasn’t supposed to know while converting the team’s records to digital files. His fate — and the identities of his kidnappers — remains unknown.
Keep scrolling to read our full Q&A with “NCIS: Origins” showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal, who break down the big kiss, Randy’s tragic ending, and more!
NCIS: Origins showrunners talk taking a chance on the Gibbs/Lala relationship
TVLINE | Gibbs and Lala shared their first kiss! What made this the right time to deliver such a big moment in their will-they-won’t-they relationship?
GINA LUCITA MONREAL | I think we wanted to do something surprising, yet something that felt very earned. With the way that the “NCIS” franchise usually does it, that would be teased out a lot longer. We really felt like character-wise and story-wise, it was the right time, but we also just wanted to surprise people. A lot of people are really pulling for them.
DAVID J. NORTH | It felt honest. We knew we wanted to tell this love story between those two. Historically on “NCIS,” it’d be like 15 seasons, and then one of the characters would leave, and then you’d find out that maybe they hooked up off camera when the character returns three years later. We wanted to take chances and walk these paths — and that’s what we’re doing.
TVLINE |Gibbs previously said that he was done with relationships. Now that they’ve kissed, might he be able to change his mind? Is he open to that kind of flexibility, or is he feeling rigid?
NORTH | Gina wrote that, and to me, when he said that, it was all deflecting. We [do it] everyday, I say something like, “Oh, I don’t care about this!” That typically means I care about whatever it is.
MONREAL | He does do that every day!
NORTH | [Laughs] If I say I don’t care about something, it’s because I’m having sleepless nights. But when I read that, I was like, “Oh, I love this.” Because that’s Gibbs, him saying I’m done with this.
MONREAL | And you saw the look on his face when she walked out the door. The look on his face — and Austin really delivered there — where it was just like, “Oh, sh*t, what did I just do?” He loves her. So, there’s a lot of questions and wiggle room with that.
‘NCIS: Origins’ showrunner says Lala’s ‘heart is with Gibbs’
TVLINE | I noticed the song “I Will Always Love You” was playing in the background during their kiss. What was the significance of that song, which is notorious for being a break-up song disguised as a love song?
MONREAL | We wanted this big romantic ending, but we didn’t want to be too cheesy, even though it is cheesy. That is what I liked about the song. There is a sad undercurrent. And if you know “The Bodyguard,” they’re actually kissing there, but they’re saying goodbye. It’s a sad ending. So, it was like two sides of the coin, that it’s so romantic and beautiful. And that’s what we were trying to do in that last moment where her hair is kind of flowing. “I wish that could have lasted forever,” says Mark Harmon, and how that unravels, we hope everybody stays tuned to see.
TVLINE | Should Lala really be into Gibbs when he’s telling her he doesn’t want to be with her over and over?
NORTH | I don’t know that anybody should be into Gibbs, based on a lot of different factors. But you can’t control that, you know? We all talk about in these relationships, red flags or whatever, you rationalize everything. You go through the red flags. Should she? Maybe not. I could give reasons why maybe he shouldn’t be into her, but we can’t control that.
TVLINE | Right, it’s definitely realistic. Sometimes I’m like, “Girl, what are you doing?!”
MONREAL | I know. And I think she really does love Manny in her own way. She did make a true effort with that. But again, you can’t control how your heart feels, and I think truly her heart is with Gibbs.
How does Manny fit into Lala’s love life now?
TVLINE | Let’s talk more about Manny. Lala was briefly considering leaving the NIS altogether, perhaps to live a life under the radar with Manny. Now that she and Gibbs have kissed, what will her relationship be like with Manny, and what kind of presence will he have in Season 3?
MONREAL | Her relationship with Manny is real, and he really does love her. That’s something that we worked really hard to set up, but it was difficult because everyone was already pulling so hard for Gibbs and Lala. Manny is always still in the back of her mind.
NORTH | Absolutely. This was not a simple distraction for Lala. That story has been one of my favorites that we’ve told on “Origins,” and it’s far from over.
TVLINE | I love watching them together on screen. It was so easy for me to ‘ship them, even though I’m also rooting for Lala and Gibbs.
NORTH | You know what’s great about you saying that? Way back two years ago when Gina and I were breaking this pilot, we’d seen the movie “Past Lives,” and how everyone can go into that movie and have a different experience of who you’re rooting for, the young man that she grew up with or her husband. It’s hard to do on a procedural, but that’s what we attempted to do, and based on what you’ve described, some of that’s landing and working. I just watched that movie, Gina, again on the plane on the way home.
TVLINE | Did you get any new inspiration this time around?
NORTH | Yeah, but I don’t want to say it.
What’s next for Randy?
TVLINE | Let’s get into the Randy of it all. That was so sad. I don’t think Randy can survive a kidnapping. He’s too sweet.
NORTH | He’s in a dark dungeon somewhere killing them with kindness.
TVLINE | What can you say about what it is that Randy found on his computer that landed him in this predicament?
NORTH | I don’t want to give anything away with that, but this is one of the most beloved characters that you could possibly have on television. I love the scene right before he’s grabbed, where he’s giving Woody and Phil their NCIS hats. It’s just so Randy, and we knew it was gonna affect people to see him in danger. He’s grabbed for a reason that’s really put his life in peril, but I don’t want to give anything else away.
TVLINE | Before you go, we have to discuss the big transition from NIS to NCIS.
NORTH | I want to say that two years ago, our first week in the writer’s room on “Origins,” we decided we were going to do this, even all the way to bringing up the “NCIS” theme [song] when he puts on the jacket and the hat. We had that from the get-go, and we were very excited for that moment.
Did the Lala/Gibbs kiss surprise you? What are your hopes for the happy co-working couple? Grade the finale — and Season 2 overall — in the polls below, then sound off in the comments!
