Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS: Origins episode “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” are ahead!
Although not a member of the main cast, Patrick Fischler’s Cliff Wheeler is still an important cog in the machine known as NCIS: Origins. In addition to being the Special Agent in Charge of the NIS Pendleton office in the early 1990s, we’ve also gotten some peeks into his personal life, most notably through his secret relationship with FBI agent Noah Oakley. Wheeler’s closeted sexuality played into the latest Origins episode to air on the 2025 TV schedule, and while it resulted in some unfortunate shakeups in his life, I was glad to see at least one good thing come from it.
What Happened To Wheeler In This Week’s NCIS: Origins
After it was strongly indicated in NCIS: Origins Season 1’s penultimate episode that Cliff Wheeler was secretly gay and had been romantically involved with Noah Oakley at one point, this was outright confirmed last month in “No Man Left Behind.” Although these two had long been broken up, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” opened with showing that they’d resumed their relationship, motivated in part by Wheeler feeling lonely. Well, Wheeler’s wife discovered the affair had resumed, and despite her having once said that divorce was for people with more disposable income, she decided to end their 17-year marriage.
Understandably, Wheeler kept this to himself at first. However, while struggling with his impending divorce, multiple people at work came to him with requests at the same time, all while he was trying to get some time to himself in the rec room. Overwhelmed with stress, Wheeler lost his cool and shouted how he and his wife were separating for all within earshot at the NIS office to hear.
Now that would be enough for Cliff Wheeler to grapple with, but this week’s case also saw him coming into contact with Colonel Casey Montgomery, a signal intelligence officer who was working with the murder victim, Lance Corporal Natasha Horvat. In order to prove he had nothing to do with Horvat’s murder, Montgomery was forced to reveal that after he’d dropped her off, he traveled to a motel in Temecula to stay the night with another man. That proved Montgomery’s innocence, but in 1992, being gay in the military was considered a potential security risk because of vulnerability to blackmail, meaning he could be discharged.
Wheeler was initially going to report Montgomery, despite the fact that he could easily end up in that same predicament. Fortunately, thanks to Mary Jo Hayes’ timely intervention (more on that in a bit), Wheeler eventually changed his mind and informed Montgomery that he’d stay quiet about his sexuality. But as far as his own closeted life goes, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” wrapped up with the NIS head recommending Noah Oakley for a job in Washington D.C. that Vera Strickland was going to apply for. Meaning, he’s trying to get his boyfriend to move across the country, which I suspect is an effort on his part to smother his homosexuality.
How Some Good Came Out Of This For Wheeler
So yeah, Cliff Wheeler’s life is quite tumultuous right now, and I don’t see that getting better anytime soon as we enter this latter stretch of NCIS: Origins Season 2. The one silver lining that came from all this is by the end of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” he’s grown closer to Mary Jo. She learned about his and Oakley’s relationship during “No Man Left Behind” when the men both told her the same story, in separate encounters, about a date they’d had that gone wrong. Mary Jo kindly kept this information to herself, but upon learning what Wheeler was going to do to Montgomery, she confronted him with her knowledge in an effort to persuade him not to ruin this man’s life.
At first, Wheeler rudely dismissed Mary Jo, but after he changed his mind, he met up with her at the bar where the NIS agents hang out, and they cleared the air. More importantly, Wheeler now has a confidant in Mary Jo, as she made it clear to him that she’d keep his sexuality to herself. So now he has a friendly face he can turn to for support, be truly open with and not worry about any judgement. I look forward to seeing how Wheeler and Mary Jo’s relationship evolves from here, and I also wonder if anyone else will learn about him being gay before Season 2 is over.
The NCIS: Origins midseason finale will play on CBS next Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. After that, the show will resume airing at a yet-to-be-announced date on the 2026 TV schedule, so you can use the holiday hiatus to revisit older episodes with your Paramount+ subscription.