NCIS: Origins has slowly been introducing us to various members of the NIS personnel at Camp Pendleton. This latest episode told us about Kowalski, who ran the Evidence room and kept things neat and orderly. But when a break in occurred, it became too much and he resigned. Who destroyed the evidence room?
Kowalski and Gibbs had gotten to work early when they discovered the Evidence room was trashed. Despite the team working hard to figure out who was responsible, Kowalski felt like his life’s work had been taken from him and he ran when it got difficult.
What we learned was that Kowalksi had been a prisoner of war in North Korea and he barely had anything to hold onto. He had hopes he would make something of himself, but felt it was destroyed in one night.
An agent named Roger was the guilty party
However, Herm, another agent who had been assigned to the Evidence room after being removed from the field, told Kowalski that he had learned a lot from him and he shouldn’t let the past keep him from the present.
In the meantime, the team worked hard to figure out what happened in the evidence room. After Gibbs repaired the broken window that was used as a way in, LaLa noticed that the ladder he was using had previously been moved. They realized it was an inside job and someone made it look like a break in.
As it turned out, the culprit was an agent named Roger, who had been brought in on a drug sting, in which 41k was seized. Using their K9 companion to sniff for drugs, they found the money hidden in a file cabinet.
He had gotten caught up in gambling and made it look like someone trashed the office in order to get the money back from the operation it came from. They also learned that Roger had been approached beforehand and offered 25k on information pertaining to Mildred, the little girl who was a target of a hit man that Gibbs shot and killed.
Gibbs and Lala also had an intimate moment
The team was furious and Mary Jo got to have a few moments to confront Roger. She had taken care of Mildred before she was reunited with her father and was extremely protective of the little girl.
The episode ended with Kowalksi returning to work with Herm, and things appeared back to normal. We also got a hint that Gibbs and Lala acknowledged that feelings were brewing and they needed to step back to keep those boundaries. Gibbs had come to work early at the same time she did, and with both of them having their demons to work through, it was not a good idea to give into whatever was happening between them.
So far, it’s been exciting to get to learn about these characters from the past and we hope to learn where they might be today.
NCIS: Origins airs Mondays on CBS at 10/9c. You can catch up on previous episodes on Paramount+.