NCIS: Origins Solved An Earlier Season 1 Mystery While Delving Into A Tragic Backstory, But The Latest On Gibbs And Lala Threw Me For A Loop

Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS: Origins episode “Touchstones” are ahead!

In the NCIS: Origins episode where we learned what Leroy Jethro Gibbs did after learning his wife and daughter had been killed, the main story revolved around Gibbs and his NIS team looking for a missing little girl named Mildred and trying to figure out why someone was trying to kill her. (If none of this is ringing a bell, I suggest you stream “All’s Not Lost” with your Paramount+ subscription.) While most of that episode’s loose ends were tied up, there was an unresolved plot thread that’s been left hanging… until tonight.

The latest Origins episode to air on the 2025 TV schedule, titled “Touchstones,” finally answered this lingering mystery as a byproduct of this week’s case, which also provided the opportunity to delve into the tragic backstory of Dick Kowalski, NIS’s Evidence Custodian. As if that wasn’t enough, by the time “Touchstones” was over, things also took an unexpected turn (at least in my opinion) with Gibbs and Lala Dominguez’s dynamic.

An NIS Traitor Was Discovered As We Learned About Kowalski’s Past

Tonight’s NCIS: Origins episode focused on the NIS evidence room being broken into, something that hit Kowalski hard. The only thing that was stolen was $41,000 seized from a cocaine sting operation, but with the room and its contents left in shambles, that was enough for Kowalski to write a letter of resignation. This left his assistant, Herm Daniels, in charge of looking after evidence, though Mary Jo Hayes was skeptical that he’d be able to handle the job.

It turns out that Kowalski’s reaction was rooted in trauma stretching back decades, as he’d been taken prisoner during the Korean War. He entered the war as a chaplain, but he lost his faith during the two years he spent in a POW camp, and the only thing that gave him any semblance of hope during that time was a stone one of the guards inadvertently kicked over to him. It was the one thing he could call his own, and he still had it in 1991. When the evidence room was broken into, Kowalski was so perturbed by this because that had been his primary focus in life for decades, and losing all that brought back those horrible memories.

Fortunately, Kowalski didn’t stay gone from NIS for long, as the culprit behind the evidence room was revealed to be NIS agent Roger Murphy. He stole the money (although he got cold feet and ended up only hiding it elsewhere in the office) because he had a gambling problem and was being threatened if he didn’t pay his debts. But that wasn’t his biggest offense, as he also revealed he’d tipped off Mildred’s location to Jesse Hatcher, the hitman from “All’s Not Lost,” in exchange for $25,000.

Gibbs And Lala's Relationship Hit A Setback

During Lala and Gibbs’ investigation into the evidence room break-in, Lala ran into that guy she made out with outside that club a few episodes back, which happened while she was still with her then-boyfriend Eddie. Lala told Gibbs about her having cheated on her boyfriend when he mistook the guy for Eddie, whom she described as “amazing.” In turn, Lala learned that the reason Gibbs had been in the office so early the morning Kowalski discovered that room torn up was because he’d been hoping to run into her as she did paperwork.

But in a stroke of bad luck for Gibbs, between her unresolved issues with Eddie and still coming to terms with learning that Gibbs killed Pedro Hernandez, Lala told him that it’d be better if she and him didn’t come in early on the same days. She also called Eddie, indicating that she’s either wanting to get back with him or just give some proper closure to that relationship. Considering the NCIS: Origins showrunners recently told me that Lala is interested in Gibbs on two fronts, I’ll admit that I was surprised by this development.

Still, with six episodes left to go in NCIS: Origins Season 1, there’s still time for this to turn around and for these two to become closer. She may not become one of Gibbs’ ex-wives, but we know that Lala will become someone important in his life considering that the older Gibbs said that the story he’s chronicling in Origins is about her.