NCIS: Origins EPs: Gibbs’ First ‘Elevator Stop’ Is a ‘Wow’ Moment — Plus, Watch a Sneak Peek Featuring His Rules

A momentous “stop” for young Leroy Jethro Gibbs will start the NCIS: Origins character on an exciting path to becoming the Special Agent fans know and love, co-showrunners Gina Lucita Monreal and David J. North tell TVLine.

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In the CBS prequel spinoff’s third episode, titled “Bend, Don’t Break” and airing this Monday at 10/9c, a murder near Camp Pendleton leads Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell) and the team to a suburban mall in San Diego.

It is during a bit of a manhunt at said mall where Gibbs takes matters into his own hands by impulsively yanking on the Emergency Stop button in order to lean on a person of interest for answers — all while Special Agent Randolf (Caleb Foote), from two levels below, desperately tries to get his new colleague to stand down.

It’s a sequence that, yes, lays the foundation for many “emergency” elevator stops by Gibbs and others on the NCIS mothership series, but it also marks a pivot for the brand-new NIS agent, who understandably played things very safe in the double-episode premiere.

“[Episodes] 1 and 2 were a whirlwind, both the shooting and the editing process and everything that led up to it,” notes co-showrunner North. “But shooting Episode 3 at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, and watching Austin in that elevator… I sat alone and felt, Wow. I’m really watching young Gibbs . It was special.”

Co-showrunner Monreal adds that, “aside from activating Gibbs in a different sort of way, one of the things I love about [Episode] 3 is it shows the range in tones that we’re able to achieve, in that it has both lighter moments and moments of dark humor that are really going to be infused throughout the series.”

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Already Gibbs has been told to grab his gear, and Episode 3 features his first elevator stop as well as a look at his well-known, handwritten “rules” (watch an exclusive sneak peek above). What other sorts of touchstone moments can longtime NCIS fans expect?

“His first interrogation, seeing him learn how to roll fingerprints, checking in evidence…,” Monreal previews. “All of these sound mundane, but seeing Gibbs do these for the first time, for us, is really fun and exciting.”

It has also been fun and exciting for the showrunners, as well as viewers, to see series lead Stowell subtly evoke NCIS vet/ NCIS: Origins narrator Mark Harmon’s portrayal of Gibbs, and not only with the way his voice sometimes sounds.

“Austin has done his homework,” Monreal effuses. “He’ll tilt his head a certain way, or hold his jaw a certain way, and I’ll see all the work he’s done to get into this character.”

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