‘NCIS: Origins’ Offers Up Gibbs’ Backstory (Again), but It’s Also a Chance to Atone for Killing Off Fan- Favorite Mike Franks: TV Review

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic For a leading man in a massive series, Mark Harmon got to play Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs as a bit of a man of mystery on the “NCIS” franchise mothership series, at least up to the point that it had to exhaust whatever it was that put that haunted look in his baby blues.

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.

So when a prequel series for Gibbs was announced early this year, a series fan might’ve wondered: Is there any aspect of his pining for his dead wife and daughter that’s been left remotely unplummed?

But, as it turns out, “NCIS: Origins” does have a raison d’etre that doesn’t depend entirely on quickie corpse-of-the-week cases or on Shannon-and-Kelly redux. (Although, rest assured, there’s plenty of both of those.) Watching the first few episodes, you start to wonder whether the show’s existence isn’t just about milking Jethro for more tortured looks.