The NCIS: Origins crossover special began with a voiceover from Gibbs. When we check in with the older Leroy, he is with a stray dog he discovered during the beginning of a bad storm. There was a cool transition going from an older Gibbs discussing the early days of his career to a younger Gibbs in his prime as he began building his first boat.
In the case that started it all, the team looks into the death of retired Chief Petty Officer Louis Burke, whose car had been completely obliterated by a train. At first, it does look like suicide, until the autopsy finds Burke was shot before he was pushed onto the train tracks, which Gibbs had discovered once he found a piece of the car.
They get information from a resident, whose grandfather, Dom, has been in the hospital since he was viciously attacked by none other than Burke himself. He was the resident bully and terrorized the town for years. The team learns that everyone wanted a reason for Burke to die, but none of them were going to rat out their fellow citizens.
What happens when a town refuses to reveal a killer on NCIS: Origins?
Unfortunately, they can’t get prints from the car part they have, so they need to find the steering wheel. Once they do, Vera gets it down to forensics so they can find a match. They also learn that the gun used to kill him is rare, so whoever owns it will be their killer.
Just as the team goes to the church to let everyone know they are taking prints, Sheriff Mulligan comes in, claiming to be the killer. He was in love with a local woman named Lainey, who was married and pregnant. She had grown up with Dom after he took her in, and she owned a Smith & Wesson. However, Mulligan refused to recant his story about being the killer despite evidence pointing away from his guilt.
It is made clear that Franks was hit hard by the case, and he continued to visit Mulligan to ask if he would change his mind. In a voiceover, Gibbs revealed he continued visiting Mulligan until his death. This episode also introduced us to Gibbs' rule 11, which he learned from Mike. It was when the job was done, walk away. However, as we would learn, Franks couldn’t follow his own real.
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The episode easily transitioned into the second part of the crossover, showing Mulligan 30 years in the present, mindlessly going through prison life before he made his big escape. In addition to Mulligan, an inmate named Luther Stokes also escaped. Even though there was worry due to his connection with the mob, Torres learns right away that the inmate’s body was discovered.
Mulligan’s escape is a source of confusion for the team, since he had been three weeks away from release. They learn more about the case, and that it is likely Mulligan is on his way to find Lainey Sims.
Kasie is keeping an eye on a phone that Mulligan likely stole from a corrections officer, when they get an alert that he ordered an Uber to the home of Vera Strickland. When Agents Parker and McGee arrive, she claims she did not see Mulligan, but they find another cup on the table, indicating she had company.
Before they can question her, they hear the sounds of a motorcycle, which Vera had taken up after an invitation from Mike years ago. Parker and McGee aren’t too thrilled that she gave Mulligan a head start. He was apparently on his way somewhere, but wouldn’t reveal where.
Eventually, though, they agreed to allow her to help with the case. While she stayed with Jimmy and Kasie, Parker and McGee talked to Congressman James Wallace, whose grandpa was the beating victim that led to Burke’s murder.
Wallace told the agents that he had visited Mulligan since he was asked to help with his parole. However, he realized that Mulligan was more aggressive than he had been in the past. They are all still looking for Lainey, but her ex-husband, Mac, is in the town of Serenity.
He ends up confessing to Torres and Knight that Lainey, who has since passed away, felt guilt over killing Burke. She had pulled the trigger, but the people in town, including her husband, helped cover up the murder. But then he stuns the two agents by admitting he isn’t sure Burke actually attacked Wallace. Before they could say anything, he pulled out a gun and killed himself.
Now that they know Wallace’s death was likely not at the hands of Burke, they need to prove it, which will be difficult. Luckily, they get help from former forensic analyst Woody and his former assistant, Phil. They tell Torres and Knight that they kept the bat that was used to kill Wallace at Franks’ request. It only had a small partial print, but he knew that eventually it could likely be used to find the real killer.
The Mulligan case has plenty of surprising revelations on the crossover episode of NCIS
After watching an old interrogation video of Franks and Gibbs, McGee notices some information Gibbs had written in his notebook. He had been trying to get a hold of records that Wallace had been collecting, but wasn’t getting calls back. Since they eventually closed the case, he couldn’t get more information since Wallace was not NIS’s jurisdiction.
Now the team discovered that the records were recently released to Jason Cross, Lainey’s son. Once Torres and Knight go to his house, they find Mulligan, who claims that Jason had just left. He also surprises them by admitting he and Lainey had been having an affair, and he was Jason’s father.
He didn’t know who killed Wallace, but somehow Jason had figured it out. Jason was now looking to get revenge on who he believed killed the man and had been the reason his actual father was in prison all these years.
Luckily, the original files were still logged, so Kasie got hold of the information. It turned out that Wallace’s property had been sitting on an aquifer, and he had the option to save the money for himself. However, his goal was to gift the money to the town he loved dearly. The person who stood to profit from the aquifer was none other than his grandson, Congressman James Wallace.
Wallace was due to give a speech for his campaign, so they figured out Jason would likely find him there. Luckily, Vera and Parker stopped him and convinced him not to make a mistake. Even though Jason would have to do time for his intent to murder, his dad was not in danger of going back to prison. Plus, the inmate who was killed had been planning to rob a gas station employee, and Mulligan killed him in self-defense. Father and son shared a heartwarming reunion in the end.
This was a case filled with twists and turns, and it seamlessly blended the old team with the new team as the results of the case allowed for closure. Vera was able to help solve the case not only for herself, but also for Franks, who died with this case hanging over him. Even though we didn’t see Gibbs find out the actual story, we’re sure he will hear about it from Vera somehow, who mentioned talking to him to McGee.
While it would have been fun to see Gibbs find out the results of the case that long haunted Mike, we did get some fun additions during the course of the second part of the crossover. Vera told McGee that Gibbs was proud of him, and the team tried to figure out what to put in the NCIS time capsule. Eventually, Jimmy decided on Ducky’s book, which he had written about their previous cases and also included photos of the agents over the years.
This was such a well-done crossover event, and perfectly blended both the past and the present together.
With the crossover now complete, NCIS will return to its regular timeslot at 8/7c with NCIS: Origins airing at 9/8c Tuesdays on CBS. Make sure to check out the episodes again on Paramount+.