The rest has gone: “Ncis: Origins” looks at the beginnings of Jethro Gibbs

A little melodrama always swung with “Navy CIS”, the CBS success series, which has been on the air since 2003. Finally, the main character, the special agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs (Mark Harmon), who with his team in criminal cases in the Navy and the US Marines was investigating, in silence with the long-past, violent death of his wife and daughter; This made the man who led his team with a quiet hand and clear head through many dangerous adventures, all the more interesting. In 2019, Harmon said goodbye to Alaska from the series with Gibbs' retreat; It was not to be expected that CBS would simply let this enormously popular figure go.

And so Harmon is back in the youngest offshoot “NCIS: Origins” – if only in a guest appearance (and interspersed comments from off), in which he leads us after 1991, while he puts his thoughts on paper in the flames of a campfire: “Our task was to come to an end with which we could live, regardless of the price.” Although the always rather closed Gibbs as a diary author reveals a surprising new page here, he also presents the premise of the whole: here, the crime education is primarily a matter of honor. But “Navy CIS” was always a job comedy about a team of pretty different characters, the advantages and quirks of which also collided with all mutual respect – and from time to time the head was washed by Gibbs.

So now the view goes back to the early days in the early nineties, when the investigative service was still nis, did not name NCIs and the hair of Gibbs, played by Austin Stowell, was still dark and briefly sheared.

“This series is a little more directed inwards,” said Mark Harmon at a press date in Los Angeles in July. “We look at the experiences from which Gibbs draws his self -confidence and his calming presence, which always get effect when the world threatens to break apart.” The silent side of Gibbs fits Austin Stowell, even if it looks physically angular and misses a certain suppleness, the Harmon figure. However, hopes that you would take a look at the nursery of the old NCIS team would not come true. Rather, this is about the early partnership between Gibbs and his mentor Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid), who fetches the young sniper in his team in Camp Pendleton in South California.

Franks (once embodied by Muse Watson), a creak and direct guy who likes to become blatant, but always had a nose for the investigative subtleties, was a crowd favorite by “NCIS” – not least because he had shaped Gibbs so sustainably. When the series makers killed him in the eighth season, there were outraged reactions; As a result, he was occasionally appeared as Gibbs' ghostly guide. Here, Kyle Schmid is now stuck so wide and with a determined rummaged forehead above the Burt Reynolds memory Schnauzer that he sometimes shouts past the caricature. Apparently this macho attitude is meant as a not very serious hint towards the nineties, but Schmid has enough charm, so it remains entertaining. In addition, Franks has a competent woman in the team with the uncompromising Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino, who steals some scenes here as a hot spur, where his casual sexism usually leaves. In addition to these spatial figures, Stowell's Gibbs threatens to fade a little. In addition, he has to record it directly with Lala, which has no desire for a “psycho” in the team: As was leaked, the “probie” has not passed his psychological evaluation. Franks must defend his decision for Gibbs on all fronts.

The generation change also takes place here behind the camera-the idea for this spin-off comes from Harmon's son Sean, who embodied the young Gibbs in the flashbacks of the original series and produces the current piece together with his father. It is “nice to work with someone you know your whole life,” said Harmon. Sean learned a lot, “even if he doesn't really know how difficult it can be. But I have to leave him and he has done it well so far.”

The embodiment of Jethro Leroy Gibbs, Harmon has known that, was “the best job I've ever had”. Harmon rejects the fact that he also plays a formative role when looking at Gibbs' youth days with typical modesty. “I am here to support when it is needed,” he said in Pasadena, “if not, okay too.” But of course he was also involved in the casting of the young Gibbs: “It is quite a burden for an actor not only to be similar to this figure, but also to embody it,” said Harmon. “I always found that Gibbs exuded this calm, it was very important to me.” And Austin Stowell was “just himself”, says Harmon. That impressed him. In his opinion, Stowell (“Bridge of Spies”, “Whiplash”) is a star. “But it is still early,” says Harmon, “and this is a hard industry. Most series cannot make it. We have a chance.”

NCIS: Origins is available at Paramount+.