NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Who by Fire and the Making of Gibbs's Conscience

Critic’s Rating: 3.85 / 5.0

3.85

When you experience a traumatic event, you question everything about yourself that came before it. It can be a lot, but you’re rarely going through it alone. Your trauma affects everyone around you, and they undergo the same process.

NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 2 came out of the gate running hard with questions about God and identity, and “Who by Fire” underscores every frame like a quiet reckoning.

Cohen’s haunting lyrics ask who will face which fate, and that question hangs over everyone here — Gibbs, Lala, Diane — all walking their own line between mercy and judgment.

It’s early morning, and Gibbs is already watching Lala on the small screen under the guise of prep for his first interrogation. But when Diane emerges, excited to share the exciting moment with him, he dismisses her by saying he’s hungry, and she walks off to make eggs.

She doesn’t do it with a smile, but with a feeling of caution. She senses that something isn’t right with them, and it breaks my heart that we know this will go on long enough that they will wed. Why didn’t she run?

Like many in the same position, she’s probably focusing on everything right in her relationship with Gibbs and brushing aside her doubts because, from the outside, they might fit. But on the inside, they don’t.

I have to say that I had a striped blazer almost exactly like Diane’s when she was sharing her story of grabbing the bull by the horns with Gibbs.

Gibbs is volatile, so I can understand holding him back from interrogations. I doubt he’d vomit like Carl. I’d expect him to hold his ground, not fold, or worse, be somewhat violent like Franks, and that’s exactly why Franks worries about his volatility.

That’s when I realized that Franks isn’t worried about Gibbs stunting his career with something silly like puking. He’s more concerned that his volatility will get the better of him.

Franks can pull back when he needs to, but we haven’t seen the same from Gibbs. They just helped him cover up killing the man who killed his wife and daughter, a dark act still echoing beneath the surface. They can’t have any undue pressure coming their way.

Those must be the things eating away at Franks and keeping Gibbs from the interrogation room. And dammit, I was right.

Gibbs watched two videos. One of Lala treating a guy compassionately and Franks taking the rough route.

Gibbs, who has a huge, soft heart, exploded when he failed to see that the boy in front of him was just as worthy of protection as the boy whose death he was trying to solve.

We saw how cases appeal to Gibbs’s soft side during NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 1. It’s the very thing that will ultimately make him such an asset for NCIS.

The Gibbs we knew on NCIS was the “lean in, lower your voice, and make you squirm” kind of interrogator, not the table-pounding kind.

His power came from stillness and control. When the elder Gibbs walked into an interrogation room, the suspect felt the weight of him before he even said a word.

Mark Harmon built that energy around subtle cues — a look, a pause, a small shift in tone — not volume or aggression.

So, if his first interrogation was rough, we can give him a pass because we know he’s going to be one of the best.

This might be my favorite thing about Gibbs’ progression on the show so far. Seeing how he learns to be that man is why we are all here, isn’t it?

I suddenly see the cases in a different light. The way Franks explained to Gibbs, “that’s when you go hard,” but the look on Gibbs’ face still said, I’m not quite sure I know the difference.

Franks cares about his team. He doesn’t want Gibbs to lose it. He doesn’t want Lala to look out of place by arriving at crime scenes with her “fella.” He just wants to keep them safe and help them be better agents.

And how could you not laugh when Franks admitted he didn’t even need to discipline him for what he did since Carl got wind of the fact that the kid Gibbs interrogated asked if he hurt his hand after pounding the table, and used it to try to overcome his own vomit fiasco.

“That’s punishment enough,” Franks laughed.

The real kicker is that if Gibbs had maintained his stance in the interrogation room, he would have discovered the truth.

Their swim coach used the boys to run drugs, promising them funding to make up for their lost scholarships under the threat of death by the cartel.

Even Diane wondered why he went so far over the line. She tried to drag out of Gibbs how he felt. She wants so badly to be close to him. He finally admitted that communicating isn’t his strong suit, and if he can’t learn to communicate and do this job, he doesn’t know who he will be.

That led to the closest we’ve seen them as a couple. It’s still hard to watch a relationship that will eventually implode, but these moments matter.

And then there is Lala.

If you thought Lala might have lost any of her edge after the accident, fear not. She’s searching for meaning, but she’s still strong as hell. And that may be to her detriment.

As Gibbs said in the voiceover, traumatic events like the crash change you. You can try to go back, but you’ll never be the same. Lala’s just finding out what that means for her. When she gets in that car with Flaco, it reads like she’s trying to prove something to herself.

She didn’t hesitate to pull a blade on Flaco (in a church!) or ride off with him. And she didn’t think twice about lying to Gibbs about where she’d been.

Later, when she talks with Vera, she’s hesitant and unsure. She knows her actions are problematic, and I hate that she has lost touch with her team. Was she always so secretive? Did her kiss with Gibbs cause this?

Coming out of the accident seems easier to navigate than that kiss, what it meant, what it means now, and everything that comes with it. Gibbs not visiting, pulling away, dating Diane.

I don’t love the strangeness between Lala and Gibbs, but I did love how he reacted when she teased him about interrogating.

He got all flustered, and the look on his face when he said he does care what she thinks reminded me of the look on Ralphie’s face when he handed in his composition to the teacher in A Christmas Story.

Vera is right to believe that Lala is playing with fire. Getting involved with Flaco, even if he wants to help her bring down Luna, is crazy. As I recently heard, if you invite an arsonist to stay over, don’t give them matches.

You cannot trust a bad guy for any reason, even if the end goal would be worth reaching.

When Gibbs told her he cares what she thinks, it gave her pause. She told Flaco that she couldn’t go down that road. She’s still not sure who she will be after the accident. But it looks like Gibbs will be as good for her as she is for him.

Gibbs may never talk about her past a certain time in his life, but this relationship could be the most influential on his life.

What do you think? Did this feel like a deeper dive into how Gibbs becomes Gibbs? Does it maybe give you a little more clarity about his various relationships?

Drop a comment below, and take a peek at our NCIS Season 23 Episode 2 review, too! And be here next to discuss Gibbs and Ducky’s first encounter on NCIS: Origins Season 2 Episode 3.