NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 5, “Last Rites” is still an origin story, but not for Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Instead, it takes a detour to explain a formative case in young Mike Franks’ history, giving some further insight into Gibbs’ boss and mentor. While the ability to push past Franks’ cynical, hardened exterior is welcomed, the killer behind bars plot is overdone and too predictable to be exciting.
“Last Rites” concerns a man whom Franks arrested for the murders of his wife and her boyfriend six years earlier. He was never able to recover the wife’s body and that’s bothered him ever since, especially since he made a promise to her twin sister. With the killer about to be executed, Franks has one last opportunity to fulfill that promise. While NCIS: Origins has followed some familiar paths, this one is so familiar that it doesn’t even feel like an NCIS episode.
NCIS: Origins Episode 5 Has Nothing New to Say
The Case of the Week Has Been Done Before… A Lot
NCIS: Origins relies on another familiar crime show idea in Episode 5: the killer who taunts the hero from behind bars, as the hero is forced to go along with them because of something that is wanted or needed. Audiences are used to these kinds of cat-and-mouse games thanks to the sheer volume of TV crime dramas these days. The specifics change a little, but the general theme and story is the same. One such example is Rosalind Dyer, the character played by the late Annie Wersching on The Rookie. A Season 2 episode involved Rosalind leading the heroes out to where she buried her victims. That’s also what happens in “Last Rites,” as Franks and the team strike a deal for Dr. Albert Hope to take them to his wife’s gravesite.
The twist is that the body recovered doesn’t belong to Ana, but that’s not a shock for anybody who’s noticed that the remains are recovered too early in the episode. The bulk of the story is Franks’ back and forth with Hope, who works him up into a rage on multiple occasions while Hope himself remains disturbingly calm, because that’s how these dynamics always play out. The predictability of the storyline doesn’t diminish the effort put in by actor Kyle Schmid, who brings the intensity he displayed as Alex Caulder in the underrated History Channel drama Six. But the audience already knows what Schmid is going to have to play before he gets there, whether it’s rage, sadness or the moment when he beats Hope — which of course happens at the last minute.
Predictable plots can work, but only if the show using them adds something that makes the journey worthwhile, and the sole reason to dig into “Last Rites” is for Schmid’s performance. There’s nothing that makes this specific case unique to the NCIS universe. The script could easily be used on any other crime drama with just minor tweaking. NCIS: Origins has often found little ways to make the familiar seem new, but it doesn’t remember to do that in Episode 5.
NCIS: Origins Uses a Familiar, Yet Effective Parallel
Franks and Gibbs Are Contrasted Through Their Partners
The subplot in “Last Rites” concerns Franks’ partnership with Vera Strickland, or the lack thereof. Audiences learn that Franks worked the Hope case by himself because his team-up with Vera had ended shortly beforehand. That’s a clear sign that the episode is going to dig into what went wrong between the two characters. Essentially, the majority of the team is getting a glimpse into who Franks was before they met him, while the show teaches Franks a lesson about being part of said team. This is a good idea, executed unevenly.
Franks further upsets Vera when he cuts off her presentation about criminal profiling. Aside from “profiling” being one of the most overused words in the TV crime genre at the moment, it rings hollow. As Franks points out, while Vera’s presentation is important to her, finding Ana’s body is more important in the big picture. Her presentation isn’t time-sensitive and it doesn’t affect other people. Vera’s upset feels overdone as a result, which makes the emotional resolution of the episode — that Franks puts in a good word about her project to their boss Cliff Wheeler — have little impact. He’s righting a wrong that wasn’t necessarily wrong in the first place.
Mike Franks: I see you fine, Vera. Always did. But sometimes it ain’t about you.
What works better is the way NCIS: Origins uses the struggles between Franks and Vera as a counterpoint to the growing partnership between Gibbs and Lala Dominguez. Gibbs has a moment where he pulls his weapon on two men who drive up on Lala and appear to be giving her a hard time, prompting her to confront him about his anger issues and say that she’s required to report his outburst to Franks. But at the end of the episode, Lala walks back the latter statement. She also reveals what Gibbs’ infamous psychological evaluation said, and encourages him to get help. They’re building trust, as Franks and Vera are having to rebuild theirs.
NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 5 Has a Clear Message
Audiences Know the Moral of This Story
“Last Rights” telegraphs its underlying themes of teamwork and trust. It’s obvious that Franks’ team, not the man himself, will find the break in the case that leads to actually recovering Ana’s body. That’s how he is reminded of their value. After Season 1, Episode 4, “All’s Not Lost” had Gibbs taking the step of accepting the team into his life by coming over to Franks’ home for dinner, Episode 5 simply turns that idea the other way around. And by digging into Franks’ old case together, the newer team members gain more perspective on and appreciation for their boss, as is only natural. A clear exchange of respect happens through this episode.
It’s great that NCIS: Origins wants to provide more perspective on who Mike Franks is, especially since given his personality, he’s the kind of character who’s really easy to write into a corner. He could just be the cynical, world-weary tough guy; audiences saw plenty of his snark when Muse Watson played him on NCIS. “Last Rites” at least gives Schmid the opportunity to puncture that outer shell in a few places, so his character feels even more well-rounded. There has to be a reason that the audience cares about Franks beyond his connection to Gibbs, and this episode provides some of that. But the character, and the actor playing him, would’ve benefited from a storyline that had at least some unique element to set it apart.
NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 5, “Last Rites” is another hour that is missing that memorable hook. Like “All’s Not Lost,” it has a great central performance, but aside from a few more facts about both Gibbs and Franks, there’s nothing that makes the episode stick. The former episode at least had an emotional payoff that worked because it felt so specific to Gibbs’ character. But in Franks’ case, he’s taking a journey that many other TV law enforcement officers have taken. And with as interesting a character as Mike Franks has proven to be, it’s hard not to want to see something more off the beaten path.