
Spoiler Alert for NCIS: Origins episode 12, “Touchstone”
NCIS: Origins episode 12 focuses on an underappreciated member of the cast, resulting in an emotional story. The show has had a decent run so far, exploring the origin story of Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell) as he gets his start at NIS. The offshoot was advertised as the story of how Gibbs’ journey at NIS began, and yet the NCIS: Origins cast introduced new faces whose stories are just as significant as his.
In the NCIS: Origins premiere, Mark Harmon’s older Gibbs says in his narration that the prequel is Lala’s (Mariel Molino) story, but it has yet to really delve into her character. NCIS: Origins episode 11 focuses on Mike Franks’ (Kyle Schmid) backstory instead, as fans learn about his childhood and family life before joining NIS. “Touchstone” takes a similar approach, revealing more about Dick Kowalski (Michael Harney).
10
Gibbs And Kowalski Discover Someone Broke Into The NIS Evidence Room
Someone Stole $41,000 From NIS
NCIS: Origins episode 12 starts with narration from Mark Harmon’s older Gibbs character retelling the story his mom used to tell him about a little field mouse. At the same time, the episode shows Kowalski, who runs the NIS Evidence Custodian, baking a loaf of sourdough bread before showing up bright and early to the agency. However, when he arrives, Kowalski makes an alarming discovery: someone broke into the NIS evidence room.
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Luckily, Gibbs is also at NIS bright and early, as he clears the office for perpetrators. Mary Jo is shocked to hear about the room when she arrives, finding Lala and Franks investigating the scene as Kowalski gathers things off the floor. The invasion of his workspace tears up the evidence manager, and he gets frustrated as the other agents cause further disorder. The agents assume that whoever broke into NIS came for the $41,000 someone stole from the safe.
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NCIS: Origins Explores Kowalski’s Time in Korea
NCIS Explores Kowalski’s Origins
As the agents process the scene, Kowalski’s assistant, Herm (Daniel Bellomy), shows up and understands the severity of the mess. Herm repeatedly says to his colleagues that they need to get everything back in order, citing the need to get the evidence log together and do the morning roll call. At the same time, Kowalski momentarily loses touch with reality and experiences a flashback. It shows a young Kowalski walking out of what appears to be a prison and looking up at the sky.
Later, as Kowalski listens to his recordings that report the two years spent as a prisoner, flashbacks show the day the stone got kicked into Kowalski’s corner.
The young Kowalski clutches something in the flashback, a rock that accidentally got kicked into the corner where he lived as a war prisoner in Korea. Later, as Kowalski listens to his recordings that report the two years spent as a prisoner, flashbacks show the day the stone got kicked into Kowalski’s corner. His tape explains how everything was taken from him and that the stone was all he had. It describes how Kowalski interpreted the stone as the first of many things he would have after being free.
8
Kowalski Resigns From NIS After The Mishap
The Break In Upsets Kowalski
As Mike Franks and his team process the scene in the evidence room, things get out of order. The disorder boils over as the NIS K-9 dog, Gary Callahan, causes further disarray. Kowalski yells at everyone to give him the room so he can take a moment to himself. The evidence manager is shaken up, sitting on the desk and staring at the chaos alone. While the other agents try to decipher what happened, Kowalski closes himself in.

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When Kowalski finally emerges, he carries a yellow notepad with his resignation letter to Cliff Wheeler (Patrick Fischler). The letter has pages of detailed notes that Kowalski’s colleagues say reads like a 25-year history of the agency since Kowalski started. After Kowalski’s resignation, the agents wonder how the evidence room will be reorganized without his expertise. However, despite Franks’ call asking him to return, Kowalski stays at home and replays his darkest days as a prisoner of war.
7
Lala’s Past Fling Returns
Gibbs And Lala Discuss Romance
The agents think that the dealers whose cocaine money was taken by NIS might have come back to reclaim their cash. Lala and Gibbs visit another called “Dalton Basement” (Jeffrey Boehm), who tells them that everyone who was busted is behind bars, except for an associate called Flaco (Scotty Tovar). Dalton tells Lala that the confidential informant she calls “Black Kenny” (Rafael Castillo) might know where to find the man who evaded their bust. After Black Kenny tells her where to look, Lala and Gibbs stake out a park where Kenny says they can find their guy.
Gibbs assumes Lala’s hookup is her boyfriend, prompting Agent Dominguez to confess they broke up.
When Gibbs and Lala make contact with Flaco in the park, the man Lala cheated with the night she went out with Vera and Mary Jo jogs past the special agent and stops to say hello. The greeting causes a tense situation as Lala sends Gibbs to talk to Flaco, as they try to maintain a peaceful conversation with the suspect. Gibbs refers to the encounter later, asking his partner if he should put Lala running into Eddie (Ektor Rivera) in his report. Gibbs assumes Lala’s one-time lover is her boyfriend, prompting her to confess they broke up.
6
Gibbs And Lala Find Evidence That Breaks Their Investigation
Lala Breaks The Case
Flaco’s tip leads back to the case from NCIS: Origins episode 4, saying that whoever is responsible for the missing NIS money also had something to do with giving away Mildred’s location. Gibbs tells Flaco that the hitman responsible for taking out Mildred, Jesse Hatcher, is dead. However, Flaco is convinced of his intel and tells the NIS agents to look around. Back at NIS, Franks sends Gibbs to ensure maintenance has properly sealed the window where an intruder broke in.
Lala and Gibbs’ development suggests that the criminal who took money from the NIS evidence room came inside the building rather than breaking in from the outside.
When Lala comes down to check in on Gibbs to get a maintenance update for Franks, Lala notices some odd scuffs on the floor while they are talking. Upon further inspection, Lala believes that the marks are from a ladder, which flips their case on its head. Lala and Gibbs’ development suggests that the criminal who took money from the NIS evidence room came inside the building rather than breaking in from the outside. The discovery is the development needed to break the case since Franks’ team can narrow their investigation to hone in on those at NIS.
5
Mike Franks Uses Gary Callahan To Catch Roger Stealing From NIS
The NIS Police Dog Returns
Once the team discovers that someone within NIS stole the $40,000 in dirty evidence, Cliff Wheeler and Mike Franks lock up the building and use their secret weapon: Special Agent Gary Callahan is a police dog. The prequel introduced in NCIS: Origins episode 4, who Franks enlisted to help sniff out Mildred Jones (Hattie Hoskins). The police dog goes to work again within NIS walls, with Franks giving him a scent to go after. Within moments of sniffing around, Gary Callahan stops at a filing cabinet, indicating he has found the money.

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When Franks unlocks the community filing cabinet and rifles through it, he finds the drug bust money. Franks then looks around the room for the guilty party and hones in on Roger (Eric Normington) as his primary suspect. While the team initially thought the money they seized from a sting operation was stolen by the dealers coming back for their money, Franks’ finding the money and Roger’s admission of guilt confirm that someone in NIS trashed the evidence room to take the cash from the drug bust.
4
Franks Interrogates Roger About Millie’s Location
Roger Is A Dirty NIS Agent
After NIS hones in on Roger, Franks takes him into interrogation to question him about the money. Roger confesses to Franks that he has a gambling problem. His addiction got so bad that he started to owe people money, who threatened Roger and his mother to get him to pay up. After Dalton Basement loops Roger in on his sting operation to catch a local gambling ring, the NIS agent knows about the dirty money and steals it to pay off his debt and save his mother.
The special agent tells Franks that someone would occasionally pay him for intel and that he gave up Millie’s location in NCIS: Origins episode 4 for a large sum of money he used to pay his gambling debt.
Franks also interrogates Roger about his connection to Millie. The special agent tells Franks that someone would occasionally pay him for intel and that he gave up Millie’s location in NCIS: Origins episode 4 for a large sum of money he used to pay his gambling debt. Everyone involved in the investigation is looking at the monitor, watching Franks interrogate Roger in real-time, and his comments strike a nerve, considering how much they worked to keep the kid safe.
3
Mary Jo Shows Reveals A New Side Of Her Personality
Mary Jo Is Furious With Roger
Upon hearing that Roger gave up Millie’s location to a hitman, everyone in the room is shocked, but Mary Jo is appalled. During Millie’s investigation, the agents kept Mildred at NIS, and Mary Jo particularly liked the girl. After a long day at the agency, Mary Jo took Millie back to her house to make her a home-cooked meal and provided her with a bed. NCIS: Origins has since established that Mary Jo has remained connected to the girl, so she is distraught to hear about Roger’s involvement.
You can catch up with NCIS: Origins season 1 on Paramount+.
Mary Jo knocks on the door, uncharacteristically interrupting Franks’ interrogation. When Franks opens the door, Mary Jo asks if she can speak with Roger. Mary Jo’s face is tense and angry, and her love for Millie reveals a new side of her personality. While the episode doesn’t show what happens next, Mike agrees, and we can only assume Mary Jo did her worst. The moment contrasts with something Mary Jo said earlier to Franks about not being mean.
2
Lala Calls Eddie After Gibbs’ Encouragement
Lala Calls Her Ex
When Gibbs asks Lala whether to include Eddie in the report, Lala confesses that she and Eddie broke up because she did horrible things to him. Lala also tells Gibbs that she doesn’t know how to feel about what happened in Mexico, referring to Gibbs’ killing of Pedro Hernandez. Lala then says she doesn’t think she and Gibbs should come in early on the same days anymore.

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Lala refers to Gibbs arriving early that morning to spend extra time with her. Lala’s comments are coded but suggest she wants to stop a potential romance between them. Surprisingly, Gibbs responds by telling Lala she should call Eddie and tell him she has been thinking about him if it’s true. At the end of the outing, Lala takes Leroy up on his advice.
1
Kowalski Returns To NIS & Symbolically Gifts Herm His Korea Rock
Herm Helps Kowalski Move On
As Mark Harmon closes out the episode, his narrative track reflects on his mother’s story about the mouse while Herm checks into NIS for the morning. Harmon analyzes his mother’s folk tale as Herm turns on the lights and goes to the kitchen, waking up NIS for the morning like his predecessor, Kowalski, did at the beginning of the episode. While Herm doesn’t wake up early to bake fresh bread, he opens a fresh bag of onion chips, showing his willingness to carry on Kowalski’s traditions.
Kowalski’s willingness to part with the only thing he once had suggests he understands what he has gained since, which includes his friendship with Herm.
While Herm prepares to take on Kowalski’s legacy, heavy as it may feel, Kowalski returns in the end. He tells Herm at the end of the NCIS: Origins episode 12 that he canceled his resignation. Kowalski also gives Herm his Korean rock. Kowalski’s willingness to part with the only thing he once had suggests he understands what he has gained since, which includes his friendship with Herm.
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NCIS: Origins
- Release Date
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October 14, 2024
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Austin Stowell
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
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Robert Taylor
Jackson Gibbs
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Patrick Fischler
Cliff Walker