Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS: Origins episode “Bend, Don’t Break” are ahead!
NCIS: Origins is finally airing on the 2024 TV schedule, meaning longtime NCIS fans are getting to learn more about what Leroy Jethro Gibbs was like when he joined NIS (as the agency was known back then) in 1991. In last week’s two-part series premiere, titled “Enter Sandman,” we learned how several Gibb-isms came to be and got a tease about how Lala Dominguez will become an important person in his life. Mark Harmon’s older Gibbs even appeared on screen for a little bit, much to the delight of many fans.
In this week’s episode, titled “Bend, Don’t Break,” the origin of Gibbs’ classic habit of stopping an elevator in between floors was shown, which is all well and good. However, what I’ve been thinking more about is how Origins just made a major retcon when it comes to Mike Franks and his relationship with Gibbs’ dad, Jackson Gibbs.
How Gibbs’ First Elevator Stop Happened
Before we get to the retcon, let’s talk about the elevator stop. This week’s NCIS: Origins saw Austin Stowell’s Gibbs and his team looking into the death of a drug dealer whose body was found near Camp Pendleton. The investigation led them to a mall in San Diego, where they met a security guard named Prado who had interactions with the deceased and his partner, who was later revealed to have accidentally been responsible for said death when he thought he saw a being known as the Mothman… long story.
The case became more complicated after the mall’s sporting goods store and toy store were robbed, with guns being taken from the former and water guns being taken by the latter. Information coming to light that points towards Prado, who’s fresh out of the Marines, being a suspect, but they legally couldn’t detain him yet. Gibbs, who was frustrated by being put on desk duty by Franks and the role his father played in that happening (more on that later), as well as still struggling with the deaths of his wife Shannon and daughter Kelly, went to the mall, followed Prado into the elevator as he was leaving to go home, and snapped off the emergency stop button.
Those who watched NCIS during Mark Harmon’s nearly two-decade tenure on the show will remember that he would often stop elevators in between floors to have a more personal discussion with someone without needing to worry about being interrupted. Here, Gibbs was just trying to hold Prado until he either confessed to what he was up to or his team found the evidence to hold him. Ultimately it was the latter that happened, and the team learned how Prado and former members of his unit were going to smuggle guns hidden in the water guns to a community in Perquín, El Salvador that they ran into while serving and feared was in danger.
When an irritated Mike Franks asked Leroy Jethro Gibbs why he pulled that move with the elevator, Gibbs responded, “You stop an elevator, you stop the world. You can look inside a person, see what’s real.” It’s a good explanation that sets the stage for those numerous elevator stops in NCIS, but Franks, who’s willing to bend the rules, but not break them, told Gibbs he went too far this time. The mustachioed man warned his subordinate not to pull something like that again, or else he wouldn’t have to worry about even being on the roster anymore.
How Mike Franks And Jackson Gibbs’ Relationship Has Been Retconned
In the second part of “Enter Sandman,” Robert Taylor’s Jackson Gibbs expressed dismay that his son became a navy cop, and he voiced his dissatisfaction to Mike Franks in “Bend, Don’t Break.” As detailed in their conversations Jackson was around when Franks was investigating Shannon and Kelly’s murders, as Gibbs was still serving overseas. When Gibbs came back, Jackson went to Nepal to clear his head after okaying it was his son, and it was during that time that Franks recruited Gibbs into NIS, which upset Jackson.
Already furious with Franks for letting Pedro Hernandez, the drug dealer who killed Shannon and Kelly, “run off to Mexico,” Jackson became even more irate because he felt that Franks was taking advantage of Gibbs. He felt that his son has a “death wish” and only joined the law enforcement agency so that he could one day killed Hernandez, unaware that Gibbs has already done this. This is why Franks decided to temporarily take Gibbs out of the field, but the important takeaway from this is that Franks and Jackson had already interacted on several occasions.
Here’s the issue: in the NCIS Season 8 premiere, Jackson, then played by the late Ralph Waites, was staying at Leroy’s house because he was among the people being targeted by Paloma Reynosa and Alejandro Rivera, Pedro Hernandez’s children. Muse Watson’s Mike Franks, another target, snuck into the house, and Gibbs proceeded to introduce his dad to his mentor. See for yourself:
So now this scene from nearly a decade and a half ago conflicts with what NCIS: Origins just showed. Still, I actually like Origins’ depiction better. Of course Jackson Gibbs was going to be around when Shannon and Kelly’s murders were being investigated, which means he would have had some contact with Mike Franks. I like this version of NCIS history better than the one before, though the continuity discrepancy that now exists will continue to bug me. Still, it’s far from the only continuity issue to have popped up in this franchise’s 20+-year history, and it certainly won’t be the last.
New episodes of NCIS: Origins air Mondays at 10 pm ET on CBS, and can be streamed afterwards with a Paramount+ subscription. NCIS Season 22 is also currently running, and NCIS: Sydney Season 2 and the Paramount+-exclusive spinoff NCIS: Tony & Ziva are also on the release slate.
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