NCIS: Origins paid homage to the late Doctor Donald “Ducky” Mallard by introducing the first case he ever worked on with Gibbs. Not only did this introduce Ducky back into Gibbs’s life, it also paved the way for two arcs that followed the men throughout the series.
In the episode, Ducky (Adam Campbell) came to NIS in order to look into whether the Camp Pendleton office needed an in-house Medical Examiner. However, both Franks and Wheeler thought he was there for other reasons, getting Gibbs and Lala to look into whether he was trying to gain intel on them.
Randy really liked Ducky, who told stories as soon as he arrived during their case. A woman named Mimi Lam was found frozen to death in the freezer of her restaurant she ran with her husband, Rolam. He was suspected at first, due to not having a strong alibi, but the case had to move forward.
What did Ducky's first case with Gibbs look like on NCIS: Origins?
Since she was frozen, Ducky had to be careful about allowing her to thaw so he could conduct an autopsy. As he waited, the team would come join him. Gibbs was first, and had no recollection of suggesting Ducky worked as a medical examiner. He enjoyed working with him, and it was great to see how the two of them instantly connected despite not having seen each other for 12 years.
Lala also had a moment with Ducky, admitting to him that she was having difficulties after her brain trauma injury. She loved Kowalski’s sourdough bread before the accident, but found that she no longer liked it. Lala didn’t want to hurt him by telling him this. Ducky was very kind and soothing to her, telling her that she just might prefer something different, but that her heart was still intact.
Eventually, as he always does, Ducky managed to get to Franks too, after the man spent the entire episode even more volatile and frustrated. Franks had gotten hurt after getting into it with a police officer who didn’t realize their evidence never made it back to the team. Having heard Ducky used to be a doctor, he asked about how to help Gary Callahan, their police dog, who had been depressed.
Ducky suggested that he could be picking up the emotions Franks has been dealing with regarding his brother. He was very intuitive without pushing Franks, something the man needed after having a hard time.
After their victim was thawed out, Ducky realized that despite having petechial hemorrhaging, Mimi wasn’t killed. The investigation had revealed that in addition to her restaurant work, she was taking side jobs in IT. One of the items the police had seized was a floppy disk for one of the companies she had done work for.
There were plans for a bioweapon, and the nerve agent was designed to work silently. Mimi had been effected by it and because she knew it was stable while frozen, she went into the freezer to make sure it stayed on her body.
Ducky felt guilty for thawing away the evidence, but Gibbs tried to make him feel better. He was frustrated at not being able to talk to Mimi before realizing that he had noted she had a porcelain tooth. It was able to stay colder for a longer period of time even after thawing, meaning that the nerve agent was still in the tooth.
With the suspect in custody, this meant Ducky had to go home. Before he left, he gave Gibbs a gift that would have a lasting impact. It was a Ship in a Bottle, something Ducky had noticed Gibbs looking at back when they first met. This is likely what led Gibbs to decide what he wanted to create with the wooden boards he had stored.
For their first time working together, Campbell and Austin Stowell were great together as Ducky and Gibbs. It was a touching look at how their friendship had its beginnings, and at the end of the episode, in a voiceover, older Gibbs admitted to missing how much his old friend would talk.
This was definitely a tearjerker, and we hope to see more of how Ducky and Gibbs got closer later in life. Plus, the episode also left fun hints about what is in store for the future of NIS, including the name change that will eventually lead them to calling it NCIS.
NCIS: Origins airs Tuesdays on CBS at 9/8c. You can find new episodes streaming on Paramount+.