Warning! Spoilers ahead for NCIS: Origins episode 8, “Secret as Our Secrets.”
NCIS: Originsepisode 8, “Sick as Our Secrets,” continued the show’s streak of harrowing reveals with Randy’s surprising connection to Gibbs. During the episode, the team is sent to investigate the murder of a Navy reserve chaplain. While on the scene, a second priest emerges, andFranks assigns Randy and Gibbs to protection duty to keep him safe as NIS searches for the assailant. The priest reveals he knows the killer’s identity but that it was revealed to him during a confession, so he must keep it to himself, much to the disappointment of theNCIS: Originscharacters.
Besides the protection detail inNCIS: Originsepisode 8, there is also a large focus on Randy’s personal life throughout the episode. He had previously revealed that he was married and had a baby, butit is the first time Randy’s son and wife appeared on-screen. By focusing on Randy, “Sick as Our Secrets” exposes Randy’s darkest secret and its surprising connection to Gibbs' wife and daughter. The entire episode has a theme of the hurt that unrevealed secrets can cause to the person who bears them and Randy is clearly highly affected by this one.
Randy Was Originally The Agent In Charge Of Protecting Shannon And Kelly
He Reveals His Connection During A Makeshift Confessional
While Gibbs is out of the room, Randy confesses to the priest that he was originally the agent in charge of protecting Shannon and Kelly. He was so tired from having a newborn that he requested to be unassigned from the case, and the case went to Agent Mitchell instead. Randy admits that every time he holds his baby, he thinks about his late co-worker’s family and how Mitchell’s son is now fatherless.Randy’s regret and sorrow are the reasons why he insists on being assigned to protection dutybecause he feels like he should have been killed instead, not Mitchell.
In the vulnerable scene, the priest receives a note from another agent to try to coax him into revealing the identity of the killer, which offers some guidance to both the priest and Randy. The note reads, “There’s always forgiveness and no one to blame.”
From the scene, it is clear thatMitchell’s death has been weighing heavily on Randyand that he does not feel comfortable revealing his connection to Gibbs, since he waited until Gibbs was gone to say anything. But it also seems like Randy is learning that he is not at fault for their deaths and that he may reveal the truth to Gibbs one day. Sharing the pain of the deaths of Mitchell andGibbs' wife and daughtercould bring Randy closer to Mike Franks' newest agent.
Why Randy Was Not In The Main NCIS
Randy And Gibbs Could Have Grown Apart
While he and Gibbs are good friends inNCIS: Origins,Randy’s absence inNCIScould be due to a falling out between them. While there is potential for Randy’s confession to Gibbs to bring them closer due to sharing their sorrows, the matter could also push them apart. As Gibbs is still hurting, if he finds out that Randy was the original agent in charge of protecting Shannon and Kelly, he could start to blame Randy for their deaths.
While there is potential for Randy’s confession to Gibbs to bring them closer due to sharing their sorrows, the confession could also push them apart.
NCIS: Originsepisode 8 also revealed the dark side of Randy, so their falling out could also be related to a difference in opinions between the two. Gibbs is stoic but he is not dark. Their differences could have led the two of them to grow apart, leavingRandy to pursue a career outside NCIS, and maybe even outside policing, which would explain his absence in the main show. In the real world, Randy’s absence in the flagship is because Gibbs was already retired when the idea of the character was born for the prequel.
NCIS: Origins
Cast
NCIS: Origins is set in 1991, preceding the events of the original series. The series introduces Leroy Jethro Gibbs as a new special agent at NCIS Camp Pendleton. Under the leadership of NCIS legend Mike Franks, Gibbs navigates his role within a tenacious, unconventional team.
