When word comes that the Camp Pendleton office is being shut down, everyone reacts differently. Gibbs (Austin Stowell<\/a>) is upset, especially once Lala (Mariel Molino<\/a>) reveals she\u2019s thinking about moving to the small town where Manny (Miguel Gomez<\/a>) is in witness protection and becoming its sheriff. Randy (Caleb Foote<\/a>) thinks he might have some sway with all the digitizing of the files he\u2019s been doing to score a spot in Naples (and bring Lala with him). Franks (Kyle Schmid<\/a>) sort of ignores it but also has bigger problems on his hands, like Abe Pruitt (Christopher Backus<\/a>) holding hostages \u2014 including his brother \u2014 in his compound. Gibbs gets between Mason and a bullet and everyone lives, and Abe\u2019s once again in custody.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Vera (Diany Rodriguez<\/a>) convenes a brain trust consisting of Mary Jo (Tyla Abercrumbie<\/a>), Kowalski (Michael Harney<\/a>), Herm (Daniel Bellomy), Dalton (Jeffrey Boehm), Woody (Bobby Moynihan<\/a>), and Lenora (Lori Petty<\/a>), and they come up with a solution for Wheeler (Patrick Fischler<\/a>) to sell the new director \u2014 Tom Morrow (Alan Dale<\/a> on NCIS)!: NCIS to sell the idea they\u2019re hard on crime. It works!<\/p>\n But there\u2019s not much time to celebrate with two major moments to end the finale. First, Randy is kidnapped, connected to his computer work all season. Then, Gibbs rushes to Lala\u2019s apartment as \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d plays. She did leave\u2026 but then comes back and tells him she wanted him to ask her to stay. He does, and they kiss! \u201cWe got our happy ending,\u201d Mark Harmon<\/a> says in voiceover. \u201cI only wish it could\u2019ve lasted forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Below, showrunners David J. North<\/a> and Gina Lucita Monreal<\/a> (who will not be returning for Season 3) break down the Season 2 finale and share early Season 3 details<\/a>. (Plus, watch Mariel Molino break down the finale here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n You basically drop Gibbs and Lala into a romcom at the end there: chase after the love interest, ask to stay, and kiss all while one of the most romantic songs is playing. So why that way? And when did you know you\u2019d have the kiss finally come in this episode?<\/p>\n David J. North: Gina was originally going to title this episode, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days<\/a>.<\/p>\n CBS<\/p>\n Gina Lucita Monreal: I really was. He talked me out of it. No. [Laughs] We knew from the beginning of this season that we were building to that kiss. And so we really tried to lay the groundwork for that and make it make emotional sense, which I feel that we did get there with the characters. And I love the last moment. I just want to say when Austin tosses the hat back into the car, that was not scripted. He actually every time took the cap off in the car and that time he forgot and he did that. I didn\u2019t know it was coming when I watched it the first time and I just fell in love with that moment. It just tipped it over the edge to even move.<\/p>\n North: I didn\u2019t even know that.<\/p>\n Monreal: Yes. Oh my God, I love that moment. But yeah, we wanted this moment to be as beautiful and romantic as possible because we know we\u2019ve been teasing it since day one, but we also wanted it to be unexpected and it doesn\u2019t really go along with what we normally do in the NCIS franchise world. Usually we will tease that out until we can\u2019t possibly do it anymore. So we really wanted to surprise people and also just remain true to the characters. And we felt like in this moment this was the truth for them.<\/p>\n Also in the NCIS world, it seems like so many first kisses come as one character is leaving, so it was nice for it to come as one that\u2019s like, \u201cNo, I\u2019ll actually stay.\u201d<\/p>\n Monreal: Yeah, exactly.<\/p>\n So what had you wanted to do with Gibbs and Lala this season to lead up to that? Because they couldn\u2019t even kiss in a dream up to this point, which was so funny.<\/p>\n Monreal: Yeah, I mean, we really wanted to tease it out as much as possible, but we were also trying to remain true to the Diane story and canon with Diane. So we did play that out and they are still technically married and they are in canon technically married<\/a>, even though the papers have not been signed. At the same time, we wanted to tell this Manny and Lala story. We felt like it deserved to be told. We love those two characters together. So we wanted to accomplish all of that while still building to bringing Gibbs and Lala together. And then so really we had all these obstacles in Diane and Manny to bringing Lala and Gibbs together and wanted it to come full circle where they ended up together at the end of this episode.<\/p>\n I have to say, Gibbs and Lala\u2019s conversation while watching the compound remind me of Kensi and Deeks<\/a> in the NCIS: LA<\/a> Season 4 finale just a little bit. That moment was when I was like, \u201cOK, they\u2019re going to kiss in this episode.\u201d<\/p>\n Monreal: [Laughs]<\/p>\n As we hear in the voiceover, they do get that happy ending, but I only wish it could have lasted forever. We know it doesn\u2019t because we know canon, we know Gibbs\u2019 romantic history. But what can you say about what we\u2019ll see there? Because it is kind of wide open for you to explore this.<\/p>\n North: Yeah. And I think it was just it\u2019s time. It\u2019s early as like you guys said as far as what\u2019s typical in NCIS or these shows, but it felt like it was time for them to get together. And it was very powerful hearing Gibbs say, \u201cI wish it could have lasted forever.\u201d It\u2019s very vulnerable from the Mark Harmon Gibbs that we\u2019ve known. And yeah, everybody should stay tuned. I\u2019m excited to see what happens with these two.<\/p>\n The series began with the ominous \u201cthe story of her,\u201d and that comes up again here with the, \u201cI was going to walk out the door like the story of her never happened.\u201d Can you say if the story of her refers to this relationship we never knew about for Gibbs or if there\u2019s still something coming?<\/p>\n North: No.<\/p>\n Monreal: That line is funny though, because that line, like the story of her never happened, it wasn\u2019t in the script and it wasn\u2019t in the show until our last day of editing it. And I was like, \u201cThere\u2019s something missing there.\u201d And I was talking with the editors and I almost cut that whole part. And then one of the assistant editors said, \u201cWell, I like it because it reminds you of the story of her.\u201d And I was like, \u201cOh, we need to put that in there.\u201d So yeah, that was a late edition.<\/p>\n So alongside this whole romantic moment happening, you also have Randy being kidnapped.<\/p>\n Monreal: Poor Randy!<\/p>\n And it\u2019s payoff for all the times he mentioned the files he was putting into the computer all season. So when did you know you were going to have that be the other ending of the finale?<\/p>\n Monreal: Well, really we talk about the finale in the very first weeks that we get into the room when we\u2019re talking about the season. And I think that\u2019s one of the things that separates us from other procedurals is that we really are tracking the emotional arcs of our characters and we know we want to set them at the end of the season so we can build to it. And so for Randy, yeah, we knew he was doing this computer thing. We knew at the end of the season, we wanted him to get kidnapped, so we were able to build toward that.<\/p>\n Is that connected to a case we\u2019ve seen on screen already or when we haven\u2019t?<\/p>\n North: We don\u2019t want to reveal that because it\u2019d be such an important part of Season 3.<\/p>\n Can you say anything about what we\u2019re going to see in Season 3 from there and just in general, how Randy is going to handle it maybe compared to how he would\u2019ve if this was the end of Season 1?<\/p>\n North: Well, I think Randy\u2019s grown a lot since Season 1, to start, but we\u2019re looking forward to having a lot of fun like we did this year in Season 2 and a lot of the workplace comedy stuff. So we\u2019ll see what happens with Randy though, because we\u2019d like to tell these stories in a way that we feel is honest. And he was grabbed really in a dangerous situation. And he\u2019s a character that we don\u2019t know what happens with him in canon. So we\u2019ll see what happens.<\/p>\n Monreal: Caleb is also a very versatile actor, so he does the comedy so well, but he also does serious stuff. In drama, he really digs in. So I\u2019m excited to see where his character goes.<\/p>\n I was going to bring up the comedy because he is a source of levity, I feel like a lot of the time. So did you always know you wanted to throw something at him like this?<\/p>\n North: We always knew he was capable of it, like Gina said, as an actor, and this felt a good direction to go.<\/p>\n NIS becoming NCIS, we knew that was coming, but love how you did that with the brain trust. Talk about bringing together that group to do so and how you settled on addressing the name change in this way with the office almost shutting down.<\/p>\n Monreal: I think it started with, wouldn\u2019t it be fun to have Woody at NIS at Pendleton? That\u2019s where the idea started. And then we knew we wanted to highlight the name change and that this was actually happening in real life at this time. But I think the fun of having all those characters just evolve from the story itself and the C of it just felt like a very Woody thing to deliver to us and then wrapping Wheeler into that as well and giving him that big win, that all sort of just gelled together when we realized how fun it would be to have this particular group of people in one room together.<\/p>\n Erik Voake\/CBS<\/p>\n Yeah. And I love Wheeler getting a little emotional when he was telling them that the office was shutting down because we\u2019ve seen how much this place means to him and how much these people mean to him.<\/p>\n Monreal: Exactly. Patrick just played that so vulnerably and beautifully. And just then to see the other side of it when he\u2019s pitching on the phone, pitching his heart out and popping the champagne, he really did have a big arc in this episode, even though he wasn\u2019t in it a lot, it was fun to track Wheeler\u2019s progress throughout this episode.<\/p>\n North: And for Wheeler, the loss of his marriage, the loss of his secret relationship, the troubles he has with Jason, even though they\u2019re on a little bit better of a track, this job is what he has. I think his direction is escape all of that. And you felt that really in the finale.<\/p>\n And thank you for everything you gave us with Wheeler and Mary Jo this season, because I love that dynamic.<\/p>\n Monreal: We love it as well. The two of them together is just sort of magical. So we love to write to that whenever we can. And those storylines in particular are really special to us this season.<\/p>\n And then you have those very familiar notes from NCIS playing as Gibbs puts on the jacket and hat. I loved that.<\/p>\n Monreal: Yeah, we knew that from \u2014 David was just saying this today. We knew that from the moment we were writing the pilot, when we started breaking it, we wanted that moment of him putting on the jacket with the NCIS theme playing. And that was another moment in editing where we had voiceover all during that and I was like, it just isn\u2019t playing right. And then we realized that we needed to pull the voiceover from that part so that the music could really be at the forefront. And you feel the emotion of that. That song is just \u2026 If you\u2019re a fan of the show, it means something. So we wanted that to be front and center.<\/p>\n We get Franks head-slapping Gibbs at just the right time in this episode. Did you always know you wanted to have that happen at this point with the NIS to NCIS transition? Because it\u2019s fitting.<\/p>\n Monreal: It is fitting. I know. I don\u2019t think we knew that the Head Slap was going to come at the same time as the \u2014 We knew we wanted to do the Head Slap. We didn\u2019t know where it would fit in. And there it just has sort of happened. It felt very natural there, but I think it was a lucky break for us that happened at the same time as the transition to NCIS.<\/p>\n You kept throwing a lot of Franks in this finale. There\u2019s the office shutting down, which he doesn\u2019t want to deal with. Then you have Abe back. Then you have Swanson (Hannah Barefoot) back. Did you want to keep adding things on him to lead to that moment of frustration in the locker room where he breaks the locker?<\/p>\n Monreal: Yeah. I mean, I told Kyle after the episode was all done, I\u2019m just in awe of how he played all those different emotions that we threw at him in this episode. Even if you look at his performance in the moments without the dialogue, in that locker room scene that you\u2019re talking about, he\u2019s yelling at Gibbs and he\u2019s so vulnerable and he\u2019s so raw. And then Swanson gets mentioned at the very end and he\u2019s like, just the transition there. He\u2019s doing some really nuanced work in this episode, which we so appreciated. We threw a lot at him. So yeah, it was kind of a pile on Franks, but he handled it beautifully.<\/p>\n Speaking of Swanson, because we saw the Franks and Tish relationship, it was so sweet, loved it. So what was your approach to then doing this Franks and Swanson stuff that you did towards the end of this season?<\/p>\n North: We brought her on, we wanted to see what the chemistry would be on camera, and it\u2019s been really fantastic. She\u2019s been wonderful, and so it\u2019s going to be fun to see where things go between Franks and FBI Swanson.<\/p>\n Erik Voake\/CBS<\/p>\n Abe Pruitt is now in custody, but we\u2019ve seen what\u2019s happened before when that\u2019s been the case. Can you say if this is closing the book on his story or just a chapter?<\/p>\n North: This is definitely for the compound and that side of it, this is closing the book, but you never know what\u2019s going to happen with Abe. His mind\u2019s always working, so maybe we haven\u2019t seen the last of him.<\/p>\n And Franks and Mason are in a better place than they have been, but how likely is that to last?<\/p>\n North: Things are complicated between brothers, but I think that they\u2019ve turned a corner here. But Philip Winchester<\/a> who plays Mason is just phenomenal and look forward to seeing how that \u2026 There\u2019s a lot of baggage there with that relationship, so we\u2019ll see where it goes.<\/p>\n I love the Franks and Gibbs stuff that you gave us in the finale because we know about that relationship. We knew about that relationship before the series ever began, but to see how it\u2019s been playing out has been great. So talk about crafting those conversations and also having him call Gibbs out on his feelings.<\/p>\n Monreal: Yeah, we wanted that to echo \u2014 remember in the very beginning where he calls Lala out and it\u2019s sort of painful to watch. He\u2019s being an ass basically. And here he\u2019s calling Gibbs out in a much different way, but it\u2019s still real. And so we\u2019re seeing how Franks is evolving as a leader, as a human being. And those are the moments that we always try to embrace because we feel like those are the moments that are most relatable. So yes, he\u2019s calling Gibbs out, and then a couple scenes later, he\u2019s thanking Gibbs for saving his brother. And we see these building blocks of the relationship between Gibbs and Franks that make them the two men that we know on NCIS.<\/p>\n Speaking of seeing the human side of Franks, the moment we got with him and Lala about Manny, that was sweet.<\/p>\n Monreal: Yeah. David \u2026 Yeah, can I say that you wrote that part? I can\u2019t remember whose name was on the script, but David wrote that. It was a beautifully written scene. I love that moment, too, at the copier when he says, \u201cJust tell me you\u2019re OK.\u201d Yeah. Yeah. Again, they\u2019ve come a long way from him yelling at her.<\/p>\n North: Yeah. What she did was egregious, but Franks doesn\u2019t care. He\u2019s a rule breaker and he\u2019s a lot of things, but he\u2019s not a hypocrite and he\u2019s not judging her, but he is a protector and he wanted to make sure \u2014 what she did is dangerous. She could be getting herself into trouble, the whole team into trouble. But yeah, I think that\u2019s what we love about Franks, is the typical boss there is going to be going, \u201cWhat the hell are you doing?\u201d But instead he\u2019s just saying, \u201cOK, you did that. It\u2019s OK, but are you OK now?\u201d But he did want to know that it\u2019s over because she\u2019s going to get herself into a lot of trouble with that.<\/p>\n I have to bring up the Doc Tango (Julian Black Antelope) episode<\/a> you had this season, which was so fantastic. When you knew you were going to be diving into Doc Tango\u2019s history, did you always know you wanted to bring back young Ducky (Adam Campbell<\/a>) for it?<\/p>\n Monreal: Yes. We thought it would be great to do a Tango and Ducky episode. That\u2019s where the idea started. And then Margarita Matthews who wrote it, she was able to fold in the idea of Tango\u2019s tribe and his history. And that was a really special episode to all of us.<\/p>\n Yeah, especially because you got this Tango and Franks stuff, which is always great to see on screen.<\/p>\n Monreal: Yeah, I love the two of them together.<\/p>\n Is there going to be a time jump when Season 3 picks up? You kind of left it where it feels like you have to pick up sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n North: Stay tuned.<\/p>\n Is there anything you can say about Season 3?<\/p>\n North: It\u2019s going to be jam-packed. It\u2019s going to be a lot of fun, a lot of staying true to what we do on Origins and stay tuned to see what happens with Gibbs and Lala. And oh man, I hope Randy.<\/p>\n Monreal: And Randy!<\/p>\n North: I hope he\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n NCIS: Origins, Season 3, Fall 2026, CBS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What To Know The NCIS: Origins Season 2 finale ends with two major moments . Showrunners David J.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,411],"class_list":["post-427735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ncis-origins-218-gibbs-lala-kiss-1001x570.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Austin-Stowell-NCIS-Origina-CBS-Season-2-Episode-18-May-5-2026-798x570.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ncis-origins-218-franks-swanson-855x570.jpg\")
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