NCIS: Origins returned from a break that spanned several weeks and also told us more about Mary Jo Hayes, who was essentially the glue that held the NIS team together. As the team looked into the death of an investment advisor who had just been released from prison, we learned more about Mary Jo’s background and learned information about her that showed how she came to be the type of person she is to the team and everyone around her.
The case for the week involved the death of Sarah Dane, who had stolen millions from her clients before going to prison. Not long after her release, her marine sergeant husband noticed she had gone missing. It didn’t take long for LaLa to discover her body hidden under the tarp in her pool as a threatening call came in that Gibbs answered while he was in the house.
Mary Jo's divorce comes to light
While the team investigated, Mary Jo was making sure the receptionist, Gail, trained a new girl to help. She made sure to give them information they needed, such as transcribing interviews and scheduling things so that the people Sarah stole from weren’t in the building at the same time as her husband.
Unfortunately, Mary Jo was in the middle of a personal crisis and was a little more distracted than she normally would be. Her estranged husband had sent divorce papers and it led her to remembering the good times, but also not focusing enough to notice that a scheduling error led to a confrontation between Sarah’s husband and one of her clients.
It was understandable for Mary Jo not to be handling things well, having been blindsided by divorce papers, even though she knew they would eventually come. What she was not prepared for was a request for alimony and the house that Marcus didn’t even want to live in. However, when she went to see Marcus, he apologized and said he didn’t read the papers from the lawyer he found and would take care of it so she wouldn’t have to pay a cent.
Mary Jo has attempted to start a family
Eventually, the team learned that Sarah had simply had a heart attack and likely fell into the pool of her own accord. With the case closed, the team was ready to call it a night. However, having transcribed the interviews, Mary Jo knew they needed to help the clients find the rest of the money Sarah was hiding.
Randy eventually was able to get phone records from the Dane home that showed Sarah was planning a one-way trip to Colombia. This meant she had money she was preparing to use to fund her new life. When they told her husband, he mentioned that he found it weird she’d go out into the backyard. This actually led the team to discover the stolen money hidden underneath the pool drain.
The episode ended with the revelation that Marcus and Mary Jo had attempted to have children together multiple times unsuccessfully. It was a painful look into how Mary Jo hid so much pain but was always there for others. With a new season on the horizon, we’re excited to learn more about her and the rest of the agency who all had an impact on Gibbs’s life before we met him decades later.
You can catch up on previous episodes of NCIS: Origins on Paramount+. New episodes air Mondays on CBS at 10/9c.