SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 3, Episode 5, “Baila Esta Cumbia.”

Okay, NCIS: Origins. WHAT THE HELL?!

I was having such a good time watching Gibbs learn cumbia, Randy pretend to be a spoiled rich kid, and Mike Franks deliver his usual sarcastic remarks. Then we started learning about Lala’s childhood, and suddenly I wanted to reach through my television and hug that poor woman.

And that ending?! I HAVE QUESTIONS!

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Gibbs, Since When Do You Dance?!

We open in Baltimore in 2026, where Gibbs and Bishop are chasing a suspect. Gibbs decides to stop the guy by crashing his truck into the other vehicle. Well, that’s certainly one way to do it!

The airbags deploy, and Gibbs looks a little disoriented afterward. His shoulder is bothering him, too. Considering everything this man has been through lately, perhaps he should consider taking it easy. Who am I kidding? This is Gibbs.

But I absolutely loved what happened next. The suspect looks up at Gibbs, clearly surprised to see him standing there alive, and Gibbs responds, “Surprise, right?”

Then Bishop chimes in, “Know your target, dude. Takes more than one shot to kill this guy.”

YES, BISHOP! I LOVE IT!

Then we’re back in San Diego in 1993, where the team is investigating a woman who crashed her car after being shot. Randy notices that she has two different-colored eyes, just like Lala. There’s blood on the door handle, and the lack of skid marks suggests she never even tried to brake.

But can we discuss something far more entertaining?

GIBBS IS TAKING CUMBIA LESSONS!

Apparently, he came straight from a lesson and forgot to change his sneakers. And naturally, everybody has something to say about it.

Now, I wonder why Gibbs would suddenly become interested in cumbia. Could it possibly have something to do with Lala?

GIBBS, I SEE YOU!

Of course, Lala isn’t about to entertain that conversation, so it’s back to the investigation.

And look who’s here! Lori Petty as Dr. Lenora Friedman!

I’ve been a fan of Lori Petty for years. She’s an incredibly talented actress, writer, director, and voice performer, and I absolutely love seeing her in this series. She’s one of those performers who brings something special to every role.

But Dr. Friedman has some rather interesting news about our victim. Apparently, she’s more than eight months pregnant.

Except SHE ISN’T!

THE BABY BUMP IS FAKE!

I’m sorry, WHAT?!

Half a Million Dollars for a Baby That Doesn’t Exist?!

As if the fake pregnancy weren’t strange enough, practically everything about this woman is fake. Her wig, eyelashes, breast padding, even those different-colored eyes!

Meanwhile, Phil has apparently decided Gibbs isn’t going to be the only one showing off his dancing skills. He’s tap dancing while Woody sits there watching him like he’s completely lost his mind.

I was cracking up. And I love that Gibbs taking dance lessons has apparently become everybody’s favorite subject.

But back to our victim.

The team eventually identifies her as Lily Wiggins, and apparently, Lily had quite the little business going. She was a con artist.

Her latest target was the Banks family, whose extremely wealthy patriarch, Victor Banks, recently died.

So what does Lily do? She shows up at the man’s funeral pretending to be pregnant with his child!

AT HIS FUNERAL!

The woman had some nerve!

She even brought along supposed love letters and a lawyer to help convince the family that her story was legitimate.

Rather than deal with the possibility of another heir delaying the estate settlement, Victor’s daughters agreed to pay her $500,000 to disappear.

HALF A MILLION DOLLARS! For a baby that doesn’t exist!

But here’s where things get interesting.

Lala recognizes the scheme immediately. It’s called a royal bastard con, and when the family describes Lily’s Mexican attorney, Lala starts wondering whether her father might have been involved.

Wait a minute. Lala’s father?

Well, now I’m interested.

Just You and Me, Kid

Through flashbacks to 1971, we learn that Lala’s father was a con artist. And apparently, he had no problem involving his daughter in his schemes.

He made her feel special, praised her when she helped him trick people, and constantly reminded her that it was just the two of them.

“Just you and me, kid.”

At first, I thought it was sweet. Then I started realizing what kind of father this man actually was.

Lala hasn’t spoken to him in five years, and while she knows he’s a con artist, she doesn’t believe he’s capable of murder.

I can understand that. He’s still her father, and there’s obviously a part of her that wants to believe there’s some good in him.

But these flashbacks? Oh, they made me angry.

Lala’s mother was sick, the family was struggling, and young Lala was trying to help however she could.

Then we see her father being threatened and beaten by another man.

Can you imagine being a child and watching somebody do that to your dad?

Lala is terrified. She believes he’s in danger, and she wants to help him.

So she suggests they pull one more con. Just one more, and maybe they’ll finally have enough money to take care of the family.

Oh, Lala. Honey, no.

Randy Randolf, You Deserve an Oscar!

Back in 1993, the investigation leads the team to a counterfeit collectible stamp and the man who posed as Lily’s attorney.

So naturally, they decide to set a trap.

And who gets to play the obnoxious, wealthy young man with more money than sense?

RANDY!

OH MY GOD. I loved this!

Randy is flashing cash, acting like a spoiled little rich boy, and putting on quite the performance. And Vera gets in on the act, too!

These two were hilarious.

But while the team is working to catch the con artist, we finally learn what happened during Lala’s last scheme with her father.

And I wanted to scream.

Young Lala helped him pull a King Farouk con involving a counterfeit collectible. She genuinely believed they were doing this to help her family.

Instead, she ended up facing the police.

And her father? GONE.

He left his own daughter behind!

She’s terrified of being sent to juvenile detention, worried about her mother and sisters, and still trying to understand what happened.

Then the investigators show her a photograph of the man who supposedly threatened and beat her father.

Remember that awful confrontation?

IT WAS STAGED!

That man was her father’s partner!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

He deliberately frightened his own daughter into helping him pull another con, then abandoned her when things went wrong!

That son of a bitch!

And the look on young Lala’s face when she realizes she was her father’s mark?

Oh, my heart.

When she speaks with her sister Estela and asks her to tell their mother she’s sorry and that she loves her, I wanted to cry.

This poor girl thought she was helping save her family. Instead, the person she trusted most used her love against her.

No wonder Lala has such a hard time letting people get close to her.

Victor Banks Gets the Last Laugh

Thankfully, the team catches the man who posed as Lily’s lawyer.

Lala reaches him first, and for a moment, I wondered whether she was about to discover that he really was her father.

But no. It’s not him. And she lets the others handle the arrest.

The man insists he didn’t kill Lily, and the investigation eventually leads back to the Banks family.

Specifically, Victor’s fourth wife, Audrey.

Apparently, Victor discovered she was having an affair and decided to make his feelings known through his will.

He left her some pharmaceutical shares worth $312.50 and a practically worthless fishing cabin.

THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS!

The man had an estate worth more than $100 million, and that’s what he left his cheating wife!

Well played, Victor.

Unfortunately for Audrey, that fishing cabin becomes a rather important piece of evidence.

Remember the black soldier fly larvae found on Lily’s shoes?

They help lead the investigators to the cabin, where they discover evidence that Lily had been shot.

Audrey tried cleaning up the blood with bleach, but luminol reveals what happened. And wouldn’t you know it? The missing $500,000 is hidden there, too!

Turns out Audrey was working with Lily to scam Victor’s daughters, but apparently, splitting the money wasn’t good enough.

She wanted all of it. So she murdered Lily.

Well, Audrey, I hope that half-million dollars was worth it.

And can we please appreciate Mike Franks?

When the Banks family starts making demands about Perrier, Franks suggests giving them a straw and telling them to blow bubbles.

I LOVE THIS MAN!

Kyle Schmid is absolutely fantastic as Franks. His delivery, his sarcasm, and the way he can go from making me laugh to showing how much he cares about his team are just wonderful.

And speaking of caring about his team, I loved how Franks handled learning about Lala’s past. He doesn’t see her childhood as something that makes her less capable or less deserving of respect.

AMEN, MIKE!

Vera, I Love You!

With the murder solved, we get one of my favorite conversations of the episode.

Vera and Lala.

I absolutely love their friendship.

Vera knows her best friend has been carrying around a tremendous amount of pain, and she wants Lala to understand that she doesn’t have to keep holding on to it.

She reminds Lala how brave and resilient she is, but she also recognizes the little girl who was hurt by her father’s broken promises.

And she encourages Lala to let go.

Not because her father deserves forgiveness, but because Lala deserves to be happy.

She deserves to trust people and make room for love without constantly expecting somebody to hurt her.

YES, VERA!

I loved every bit of that conversation. And honestly, after everything we’ve learned about Lala’s childhood, I think she desperately needed to hear it.

Oh, Mama. My Heart!

Then Gibbs asks Lala to meet him at the bar.

And he gives her something unexpected.

Her father’s phone number.

But here’s what I loved about this moment.

Gibbs doesn’t pressure her to call. He doesn’t tell her what she should do or insist she needs to forgive her father.

He simply gives her the number and lets her decide.

And after everything we’ve just watched, I appreciated that.

Lala walks toward the pay phone, looks at the number, and then crumples it up.

She’s not calling him.

GOOD FOR YOU, LALA!

Instead, she walks over to the jukebox and puts on Selena’s “Baila Esta Cumbia.”

OH MY GOD. SELENA!

And now that title makes perfect sense!

Lala starts dancing, Gibbs joins her, and suddenly those dance lessons from earlier make perfect sense, too.

And when she tells him to show her those moves? I LOVE IT!

I was smiling so big.

I absolutely adore these two together. Austin Stowell and Mariel Molino have incredible chemistry, and I love watching their relationship develop.

But then Lala starts crying.

And so did I.

Oh, mama. You’ve been holding on to so much.

And seeing her finally let some of that pain go while Gibbs holds her? I couldn’t help getting emotional.

What I loved most was that Gibbs didn’t need to say anything. He was simply there for her.

And sometimes that’s exactly what somebody needs.

Whether Gibbs and Lala eventually become romantically involved or their relationship takes another direction, there’s something incredibly special between them.

This was such a beautiful scene.

Mariel Molino was phenomenal. Watching Lala go from enjoying the dance to crying in Gibbs’s arms absolutely broke my heart. And Austin Stowell was wonderful right alongside her.

I genuinely thought this was going to be the moment that stayed with me after the episode ended.

HA! Apparently, I should have known better.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE WASN’T ON THE PLANE?!

Because just when I thought NCIS: Origins was finished messing with my emotions, we’re back in Baltimore in 2026.

Gibbs and Bishop are questioning the man they captured earlier.

He’s a tracker who was hired through the dark web to locate two former federal agents.

Gibbs is one.

And the other?

CECILIA DOMINGUEZ.

LALA!

Okay, now you’ve really got my attention.

The tracker explains that he discovered Lala supposedly died in a plane crash in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Four people were aboard, and according to the official records, nobody survived.

We learned about that plane crash in the previous episode, and I’ve been wondering what happened ever since.

But then he tells Gibbs something that changes EVERYTHING.

When he showed Lala’s obituary to the man who hired him, the man smiled.

Because apparently…

SHE WASN’T ON THAT PLANE!

WHAT?!

WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?!

EXCUSE ME?!

You cannot spend an entire episode showing me Lala’s heartbreaking childhood, give me that beautiful dance with Gibbs, and then drop THAT on me!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

If Lala wasn’t on that plane, then WHERE THE HELL WAS SHE?!

What happened to her? Where did she go?

And the biggest question I have is what could possibly make Lala allow Gibbs and everyone else she loved to believe she was dead?

Because after everything we just watched, that’s what I can’t get past.

We know how deeply her father’s betrayal affected her. We know how difficult it is for her to trust people. And we just watched her finally allow herself to be vulnerable with Gibbs.

So what happened?

Was she protecting somebody? Was she forced into hiding? Did Gibbs know anything about it?

And who is this mysterious person looking for her now?

I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!

Of course, we only have the tracker’s account of what his employer said, so I’m not ready to treat any of this as confirmed just yet.

But GOOD LORD!

Every single week, these writers manage to give me an even bigger WTF moment than the week before.

I loved getting to know Lala better in this episode, even though learning about her childhood absolutely broke my heart. Her relationship with Vera, the way Franks supports her, and especially that beautiful moment with Gibbs reminded me why I love this cast and these characters so much.

I laughed at Gibbs taking dance lessons, Randy’s ridiculous undercover performance, and Franks being Franks. I wanted to reach through the television and smack Lala’s father. I cried during that dance.

And then the ending happened.

Now I’m sitting here wondering what the hell happened to Lala and how long we’re going to have to wait before somebody tells us the truth.

Seriously, NCIS: Origins.

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK?!