NCIS: Origins Season 2's Finale Is Bittersweet (Not Just For Gibbs And Lala)
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Published May 8, 2026, 11:14 AM EDT
Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots.
Warning: there are spoilers for the NCIS: Origins season 2 finale ahead!Many good things happened in the NCIS: Origins season 2 finale, but some of them came with a bittersweet aftertaste. As upsetting as it was to see Randy kidnapped by masked assailants, that was balanced out by Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Lala Dominguez finally kissing. There had been romantic sparks between the NCIS: Origins characters ever since the show premiered in October 2024, and they’d come close to locking lips in the season 1 finale. Now they’re officially an item.
Thanks to the efforts of the “brain trust” (a.k.a. Vera, Mary Jo, Kowalski, Herb, Dalton Basement, Woody, and Lenora), the Camp Pendleton office was able to sidestep the “handsy scandal” with a simple rebrand. Wheeler successfully sold newly-installed agency director Tom Morrow on rebranding NIS as NCIS, which earned enough goodwill to warrant the Pendleton office staying operative. Ultimately, though, just like Gibbs romantically connecting with Lala, this won’t last either.
Whether or not the Camp Pendleton office remains open in the present-day NCIS universe, these characters only have a few more years left together. According to the flagship series, Gibbs moved to Washington, D.C. around 1994 or 1995. Right away, that disrupts the team dynamic that’s been intact since the start of NCIS: Origins.
Additionally, it was revealed that in 1996, Mike Franks retired from NCIS because he was upset with how the U.S. government handled the Khobar Tower bombings. So that’s two NCIS: Origins characters who are out of the Pendleton picture by the end of the mid-1990s. That’s not even taking into account that something bad could happen to characters that originate from this series, like Lala, Randy, and Mary Jo, since we don’t know their fates.
Why NCIS: Origins Season 2's Bittersweet Finale Works
CBS
By its nature as a prequel, there are always going to be aspects of NCIS: Origins that already have their outcomes predetermined. Gibbs will marry two more women after Diane, as well as be engaged to another. Mike Franks will be killed in 2011; Vera Strickland will retire from the agency in 2013 (though Vera did return in last year's NCIS/NCIS: Origins crossover); Diane Sterling will later marry and divorce Tobias Fornell, then be killed as well. The list goes on.
As such, that bittersweet feeling is built into NCIS: Origins’ DNA, and that’s what made “Hollywood Ending” work so well on that front. The Randy kidnapping aside, there were so many happy moments to enjoy by the end of the episode, including Abe Pruitt being sent back to prison, as well as Gibbs taking a bullet for Mike Franks’ brother and walking away with only a fractured rib.
All this is worth celebrating, but like so many things in life, the high point won’t last forever. NCIS: Origins season 3 will premiere sometime this fall. Because it will only be comprised of 10 episodes rather than 18 like the previous two seasons, that could mean season 3, like season 2, will remain entirely set in 1992 rather than make it to 1993.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter because the Camp Pendleton team will be broken up in two or three years. So, NCIS: Origins can put that off for as long as possible, but eventually the time will come for Gibbs, Franks, and the others to move on to the next chapters of their lives. It’s bittersweet, but that’s a good thing. It makes NCIS: Origins all the more special as a time capsule within this franchise.
Release Date
October 14, 2024
Directors
Niels Arden Oplev, John Terlesky, Diana Valentine, Edward Ornelas, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Lionel Coleman, Loren Yaconelli, Pete Chatmon, Pamela Romanowsky, Ruben Garcia, Jessica Lowrey
CBS
CBS
English (US) ·