Get the latest gossip
‘NCIS: Origins’ Offers Up Gibbs’ Backstory (Again), but It’s Also a Chance to Atone for Killing Off Fan-Favorite Mike Franks: TV Review
'NCIS: Origins' has been touted as Gibbs' origin story, but it's also a chance for producers to atone for the unfortunate offing of Mike Franks.
As portrayed by the actor over 22 seasons, Gibbs never did stop being the strong, taciturn type, but at the close of that tenure it didn’t feel like could possibly be much backstory left to mine, given the myriad flashbacks to the trauma that led the lawman to a seemingly permanent state of loner-dom. It will surely be easy to overplay the character’s inconsideration for polite norms, but viewers may get a kick out of the scene in an early episode where a suspect is seen being interrogated on video about his belief in the fearsome Mothman legend — and the show’s editors keep cutting to Franks leading his colleagues in uproarious, derisive laughter. The first four episodes that were made available for review for critics concentrate plotwise on the franchise’s usual procedural cases, the elaborate details of which are forgotten as quickly as they’re farmed out, while fans accept these as the delivery system for the character stuff they love.
Or read this on Variety
