SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 2, Episode 10.

The point of NCIS: Origins is for fans to see how Leroy Jethro Gibbs became the leader they know and love. The NCIS prequel spells that out in Season 2, Episode 10, with older Gibbs even stating as much in the narration that bookends each hour. “Lean on Me” is pivotal for the CBS show in that sense, even if the episode struggles to make it to the finish line.

Just an episode after Gibbs cleared his interrogation milestone, the series has him be a team leader for the first time in what’s essentially a bottle episode. Gibbs and what’s referred to as the “JV” characters—Herm, Gail and Nadia—are stuck in the NIS office when a soldier arrives possibly infected with a virus. The remaining main characters are largely stuck quarantining in the local bar. Give the writers credit: it would have been a lot easier (and likely cheaper from a production standpoint) to just focus on the Gibbs part of the story, but they incorporate everyone, including Gary Callahan.

NCIS: Origins makes its underlying theme a little more obvious than usual, with the repeated mentions of whether or not the folks trapped in the office can hack it. Viewers thus know that the emotional arc is to see Gibbs, and to a lesser extent Herm and Gail, prove that they can handle themselves. “Lean on Me” is successful in that mission and it’s also great to see more screen time for some characters who don’t always get a chance to shine. It helps the world of Origins feel even further well-rounded. By the time the episode gets to the group karaoke bit at the end, Gibbs’ narration about seeing a team as a family rings true because the audience has spent time with more than just the main characters.

In fact, it’s some of the main characters who take a step backward. Fans might be disappointed by the phone conversation between Gibbs and Lala, which is positioned to be a big moment. Lala still thinks she might die and is worried about Gibbs—which on any other show would be the moment where one of them makes some emotional confession to be mined for future drama. But no such thing happens here; Lala can’t get out whatever she actually wants to say. Of course Origins has its hands tied to an extent because of canon, yet viewers can’t help but wish that scene went on a moment or two longer. Which is an example of how this episode isn’t quite as significant as it deserves to be.

“Lean on Me” struggles in its third and fourth acts with a narrative imbalance. It’s spent so much time making the plot complex that it has to quickly uncomplicate things in order to find a resolution in 42 minutes. The result is that a lot gets handwaved. The third act ends with a scary image of Gibbs trying to help the paramedic—only for the fourth act to begin with everyone happy to be back in the office, and Gibbs explaining a bunch of stuff he learned off-screen. The episode’s villain offers a full confession off-screen and Gibbs explains his motive in a throwaway line.

There’s also suddenly a greater emphasis on humor that undercuts all of the dramatic tension; a couple less jokes would have made the episode stronger, as it feels a lot more like a comedy at the end after a half-hour of possibly life-threatening drama. The only jokes that really work are Gibbs and Herm arguing over how to collect a lung tissue sample (as proof that Gibbs is not always cool under pressure), and the reveal that Dalton missed the entire episode while working in the basement. But at a certain point, there’s a tonal shift that takes all the serious air out of the proceedings.

NCIS: Origins could have cut and rearranged some things to make this episode as dramatically impactful as it is important to Gibbs’ long-term arc. A fair portion of the humor and a brief aside about Gary Callahan eating an onion in the evidence lock-up could have been dropped, thus giving more space for the investigative plot to play out. Or if the writers wanted to commit fully to the bottle episode idea, they could have ended the episode simply with Gibbs and company finding out that they weren’t infected with a virus. That would have left open-ended the why and how of it all, but given the emotional context of the episode, the show could’ve gotten away with the omission. The audience wants to know if everyone’s going to be okay and see how Gibbs steps up as a potential leader, not necessarily a whodunit.

“Lean on Me” is still a worthy episode of NCIS: Origins, because it clearly sets Gibbs on the path to being a team leader. That’s one of the biggest points in his career and even his development as a person. It could have been more dramatic and more moving, so it’s not quite the major installment that it deserves to be with everything that’s on the table. Yet watching this hour of the prequel will make viewers appreciate those Gibbs years of NCIS just a little more, and that’s why this show exists in the first place.

NCIS: Origins airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.