NCIS: Origins is on break for Thanksgiving, but luckily we won’t have to wait too long for the next episode! Before we get into how long the wait will be before a new episode airs, what happened on Season 2, Episode 6?
This episode focused on Randy and his background, showing how he grew up with a single mom who struggled to make a living. However, she always encouraged her son to be a light in the world, something we see from him in every episode. Despite the fact that he sees so much sadness and pain at work, he still strives to be there for people.
One of the things Randy has been working toward is uploading their files digitally so they have a place to store them. He was halfway done with his work, which is what Franks told him to do when he was off hours.
The case for the week involved a Marine Sergeant Henry Aldrin, who was found dead in a drug house with salt around him and what looked to be religious symbols around his body. One thing found was someone had put a coin inside his throat.
Randy was certain he had uploaded file information on something that involved a coin. However, he couldn’t find it and because Franks got frustrated, he grabbed Randy’s computer and tossed it to the floor. This caused the computer to break and despite Randy taking the hard drive to Herm, he was unable to salvage the disk.
Keeping his cool throughout, Randy focused on the case and finding that file. At one point, once he finally confronted Franks about not apologizing for the computer, Franks admitted he did it on purpose because it felt like Randy was no longer the person he used to be, which was a people person. It was jarring to see this from Franks, but deep down, it seemed as though he was afraid of the computer taking up all of Randy’s time and keeping him from being out in the world.
Randy told Franks he clearly didn’t actually know him at all then, but even then, he still didn’t let Franks get to him. While Franks was out of line with his behavior, it was interesting to see how the show incorporated the worry expressed about how social media and computers could affect social interaction.
Eventually, the team found out about a case involving a woman who was killed in the same manner as Aldrin, although in Aldrin’s case, he died of a heroin overdose before his throat was slit. One of Lala’s contacts had been out with someone who told him about a woman had been killed with a silver dollar in her mouth before they got into an accident. He didn’t remember who he was riding with.
The case happened in 1982 and while there was a suspect in the case, he didn’t officially confess and was in jail for another crime. Lala went to visit him, and upon hearing about the copycat murder, he confessed to killing Lillian Garrett. However, he said no one else knew about the way he committed his crime.
Herm came through unexpectedly. He had talked to Mary Jo earlier, claiming he knew something about Wheeler. Mary Jo misunderstood him and thought he knew about Wheeler’s sexuality, and told him to stay quiet.
Instead, Herman went to the team to tell them what he knew. When Wheeler had taken Randy’s place on the team, he accidentally deleted two files from Randy’s computer and made sure to leave the paper files in a bin for him, which Randy didn’t know about.
Once it was found, Randy was vindicated, and the file gave them information on the DUI charge in the accident Tony was involved in. The file named the individual who was talking about his sister being killed, which turned out to be the brother of Lillian Garrett. He had found Aldrin’s body and did the rituals in the hopes someone would reopen his sister’s case. No one told him that there was a suspect.
Since he did not actually kill Aldrin, he would just be charged with desecrating Aldrin’s body, but Gibbs told Lala Franks would probably ask for leniency.
In the end, Randy got to celebrate his birthday with his family, as Herm and Franks worked together to start re-uploading the files Randy had painstakingly put together.
This was a great episode to delve into Randy’s world and we’re excited to see what comes next for him and the rest of the team. A brand new episode will air Tuesday, Dec. 2. In the meantime, episodes of NCIS: Origins are available on Paramount+.