Although NCIS: Origins was billed as a story focusing on Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ (Austin Stowell) beginnings as a federal agent at NIS (later named NCIS), the series has devoted episodes to its other main characters. At this point in Gibbs’ life, he works at NIS alongside Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino) and Bernard “Randy” Randolph (Caleb Foote), with Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid) leading the squad. Franks is the only other character on this team featured in NCIS, while Lala and Randy are completely new characters to the franchise. The NCIS: Origins series premiere teased a dark fate for Lala that could explain why her character is never mentioned later on in the NCIS timeline. As for Randy, very little is known about him besides that he’s recently quit smoking, is married, and has a relatively newborn baby who has periodic moments of unexplained, intense crying.
NCIS: Origins Episode 8, “Sick as Our Secrets” puts a large focus on Randy’s personal life as he and Gibbs are tasked with protecting a Catholic priest, Father Bobby (Jonah Wharton), while they’re investigating the murder of a Navy reserve chaplain. Throughout the episode, Gibbs is trying to learn more about Kurt Mitchell, the NIS Special Agent who died with Gibbs’ wife, Shannon (Dani J. Scott), and daughter, Kelly (Adele Abinante) while he was assigned to their security detail. When Gibbs asks Randy for more information about Mitchell, Randy seems greatly affected by it and goes down a spiral as he contemplates smoking again. When left alone with Father Bobby, Randy reveals a major prior connection he has to Gibbs that might explain why Mark Harmon’s Gibbs doesn’t talk about him.
Randy Was Originally Assigned to Protect Gibbs’ Wife and Daughter
As the title for NCIS: Origins Episode 8 (“Sick as Our Secrets”) notes, Randy is feeling sick to his stomach for keeping a secret. While Gibbs was serving as a marine in Desert Storm, Shannon witnessed a drug dealer, Pedro Hernandez, murdering a marine outside a gas station. NIS put her and Kelly in protective custody, but Hernandez killed the NIS Special Agent, Kurt Mitchell, who was driving them to their safe house, which led to all three of them dying. Randy tells Father Bobby that he was initially assigned to this case, but because he was struggling to parent his newborn child, who seemed to be dealing with colic, he took himself off the NIS case, and Mitchell filled in for him. Now every time he looks at his baby, Randy is reminded about Mitchell’s family and how their son will grow up without a father.
This revelation explains why Randy has been volunteering for many security detail tasks since then. He’s trying to atone for what happened the one time he didn’t take on this role, especially since it cost the life of a fellow agent. Father Bobby tries to alleviate Randy’s guilt by noting that if Randy ended up taking Shannon and Kelly’s case, his son would be the one without a father. Randy took the time off because he felt that he wasn’t in the right headspace to do protection detail as he was sleepless with his newborn baby. Had he taken on the case, it could’ve cost the lives of even more people.
Randy’s Secret Could Affect His Friendship With Gibbs
As Harmon’s Gibbs notes during his narration in NCIS: Origins Episode 8, he wasn’t aware of the inner turmoil Randy was experiencing. It’s clear that although Randy feels some weight lifted off his shoulders, he’s still not ready to let Gibbs know about this. The longer Randy keeps this secret from Gibbs, the harder it’ll be to tell him, especially as the duo’s friendship continues to grow. The end of the episode sees Gibbs leave a letter for Mitchell’s family as a sign that he’s moving forward after Shannon and Kelly’s deaths while also acknowledging that he wasn’t the only one affected by Hernandez’s actions.
With NCIS: Origins getting a full-season order, there’s time for this storyline to come back around and show the fallout if/when Gibbs finds out about Randy’s secret. The outcome might be so explosive that it causes the two to drift apart and explain why Gibbs and Franks never mention Randy in NCIS. Franks didn’t debut until NCIS Season 3, when Gibbs was close to dying so Gibbs could keep his secrets to the grave. There’s still so much to unpack in Gibbs’ life, especially between joining NIS and where he is during the NCIS series premiere. NCIS: Origins is living up to its name by not just showing the origins of Gibbs but also his fellow team members. Now that Franks, Lala, and Randy have gotten dedicated episodes, it’ll be fun to witness their development throughout the rest of the season.