Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS: Origins episode “Monsoon” are forward!
Within the NCIS: Origins episode “One Flew Over,” viewers realized that the off-the-books psych profile Mike Franks requested from Vera Strickland within the collection premiere was for his girlfriend, Tish Kwa’la, who’d been sexually assaulted earlier than the collection began. Tish advised Franks to cease looking for her rapist, as she needed to place that traumatic occasion behind her, however Origins co-showrunner David J. North teased to CinemaBlend that this wouldn’t be a simple factor for Kyle Schmid’s character to do. Certain sufficient, “Monsoon,” the most recent Origins episode to air on the 2025 TV schedule, ended with Tish breaking apart with Franks after he confided in her that he by no means stopped his investigation. Nonetheless, Schmid advised me in a latest interview that the story between these two isn’t achieved simply but.
After studying from Schmid was it was like taking part in Mike Franks for the 1982-set flashbacks in our dialog forward of “Monsoon” (which might now be watched with a Paramount+ subscription), I requested him the place Franks goes from right here and copes with the love of his life strolling out at him, and the actor answered:
There’s an interrogation scene, I feel it is within the final episode. I bought a man cornered within the final episode, and I requested him a query, [he] does not reply it. And by not answering the query, he solutions my query. All through Episode 13, Mike is given each alternative to stroll away. He does not. Even on the finish, he does not say, ‘Wonderful. I am going to bury it deep, man. I really like you.’ He is aware of himself. He is aware of, whilst Tish is strolling out the door, that it is not over. That story shouldn’t be achieved. And he can’t, for the lifetime of him, as a result of Tish is his life, stroll away from it. There’s simply one thing so embedded in him that has been damaged and violated that he’s unwilling to stroll away from. And so it’s completely bittersweet solely within the sense that we will see what occurs.
The “Monsoon” flashbacks confirmed that Mike Franks and Tish met when the latter’s tire blew out proper as she was driving by the previous, who’d had his bike stolen at a fuel station and was left to stroll on the aspect of the highway. Franks modified Tish’s tire for her and he or she paid him for his work, however a spark shortly fashioned between the 2, and he or she drove him again to her place to chop his hair and shave off his beard, giving him his signature mustachioed look.
Franks had been struggling since getting back from the Vietnam Battle, however assembly Tish led to him getting his act collectively, and clearly that they had an exquisite relationship going since they have been nonetheless collectively 9 years later.
Sadly, upon studying that Franks lied to her, Tish determined that whereas she nonetheless beloved hello, she couldn’t be together with her anymore. Per Kyle Schmid although, these two aren’t out of one another’s lives for good, notably as a result of Franks continues to be so decided to search out the person who raped her. We all know from the unique NCIS that Mike Franks and Tish Kwa’la in the end don’t keep collectively, because the latter was by no means talked about, however maybe they might briefly reconcile in a while in NCIS: Origins.
On the very least, I anticipate that Mike Franks will both monitor down Tish’s assailant by the top of Season 1 or make important headway in his investigation to be picked up on Season 2, assuming CBS orders it. We’ll see as new Origins episodes air Mondays at 10 pm ET.