Tonight on CBS NCIS: ORIGINS returns with an all-new Monday, February 10, 2025, season 1 episode 13 called, “Monsoon,” and we have your weekly NCIS: ORIGINS recap below.
In tonight’s NCIS: ORIGINS season 1 episode 13 called “Monsoon,”as per the CBS synopsis, “The team investigates the brutal murder of a veteran who fell on hard times after serving in Vietnam, leading Franks to reflect on his own struggles following the war. Also, Gibbs considers a new path forward.”
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Tonight’s NCIS: ORIGINS Recap begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
In tonight’s NCIS: ORIGINS episode, Mike Franks was once a mess. He was a mess because he served his country. He was deployed to Vietnam when he was barely an adult and unfortunately there wasn’t treatment back then for PTSD to deal with the fallout of that war. He got shipped off at twenty-one, but a part of him never came back home.
He was troubled for a long time. He went to war in 1969. He was still a screw up by 1982. He was running drugs and living with a woman that didn’t care for him. He got lucky when he ran into Tish. She saved his life. She got him where he needed to be.
Tish only ever asked for one thing. She asked Franks to stop investigating an old crime. Tish was raped by a stranger years ago and she’s done best to heal from that. She just wants to move on now.
She doesn’t want to look back. She doesn’t even want to find the man and send him to prison. She doesn’t want that person to have anything else. Not her thoughts or her future. Tish made Franks promise that he would stop investigating the case and he broke that promise. He continued to look for the man that hurt her.
Franks couldn’t bring the case file home with him. Tish might find it. Franks had to come up with a new place and he somehow landed at the laundromat. The twenty-four hour laundromat. Franks was there all night looking over her file.
He got some looks from people. He also heard a homeless man get into trouble with some local cops outside. Franks stepped in. He noticed the homeless man was wearing military gear. He was a veteran. The man would go to name his unit and admit he was a Marine.
Franks saw the uniform before he saw the man. He stepped in. He told the cops he’d handle it. He spoke with the homeless man who identified himself as Marine Lance Corporal Tom Molina.
Molina wasn’t bothering the cops. He was simply asking them for help. His buddy was killed that morning. His friend was Marine Lance Corporal Peter Rice. They both served in Vietnam together. Pete saved Molina’s life back then. They returned home to several protests. To people who spat at them for doing their job.
Again, there wasn’t any mental treatment for returning soldiers back then. There was a lot of them that ended up on the street. Franks was nearly one of them himself. Its why he was able to talk to Molina and not treat him like a pest like the cops were doing. Molina did need his help. His friend was found beaten to death not far from their campsite. Pete being a veteran also meant that his murder was NCIS’s territory. Franks called in his people. They investigated the marine’s murder. It turns out it was connected to a string of attacks on the homeless.
Detective Archer has been investigating the murders. He went to NCIS’s office. He told them all about several homeless men getting attacked and there was a survivor. The survivor was named Jonathan Smith or at least that’s what he called himself. He was another homeless man. He was attacked.
He managed to survive. He gave them the cops the best description he could give and then he disappeared. The homeless were hard to pin down. The cops couldn’t find him again. And they had suspects.
The cops tracked the killer back to this one bar. He pulled up several photos of people in the bar. He just didn’t have a witness anymore that could pick someone out of the photos. Now, Gibbs figured out the best way to find this missing witness. They were told by the cops that the guy was another veteran.
He then took a photo of the witness to the many Veteran Support Groups happening in town. One of them recognized Jonathan. He went and he brought Jonathan to NCIS. Jonathan was shown the pictures of the suspects. He picked someone out. He picked out Jeremy Brody.
Brody was brought in. He was questioned. He admitted to pushing one of the homeless men down. He was denying killing them. He also mentioned that Detective Archer already questioned him about it for two hours.
The detective couldn’t find anything. NCIS couldn’t find anything. Brody’s alibi for the murder was that he was home alone sleeping. Which wasn’t much. The NCIS still couldn’t arrest him for murder without evidence and Franks wanted to help Molina in the meantime. Molina wasn’t checked in with the local VA hospital.
Most returning veterans didn’t believe the government was good for anything. They don’t even bother to get the loans or medical treatment that Veteran Affairs offers. Franks made sure that Molina got what he was owed. Franks actually met Tish because he didn’t get his veteran affairs in order. Someone stole his bike.
He couldn’t even get anyone to pick him up at the gas station because he didn’t register in person for help first. Franks then started walking on the side of the road. He tried to hitch and that’s when he met Tish.
Tish was driving on the rim. She didn’t realize it because she was playing music loud. Franks called out to her to warn her and he changed the tire for her. Tish was so grateful that she tried to pay him.
Only he didn’t need payment. He needed a ride into a city. He had left his things with his motorcycle. He lost the bag of cocaine he was asked to transport and so there was no returning “home” for him. He needed to start over somewhere new. Franks survived back then because of Tish. He now wants to offer that same support for Molina.
When Franks returned to the office, he learned that Brody lawyered up. Lala and Randy had allowed Detective Archer the chance to talk to Brody. The detective thought he had a rapport with the suspect.
He was wrong. Brody was guilty of assault. He didn’t commit murder. The murderer was actually Molina. Molina has flashbacks when he goes to sleep. He wakes up violent. He doesn’t mean to hurt anyone. He doesn’t even remember harming anyone. He just does it sometime and that’s why he lives on the street.
Franks didn’t know about the violence until he put Molina into a shelter. Molina woke up not knowing where he was. He attacked someone and the staff at the shelter had to defuse the situation.
Franks realized what happened after that. He realized Molina killed his friend. He was taught to kill and he thought that was all he was good for. He came clean to Franks. Franks was very understanding. He agreed to put in a good word for him with the prosecutors. Molina was going away for murder. Brody was going down for assault.
If everyone hadn’t been so focused on their little crush on Detective Archer, they might have solved the case earlier. But Franks didn’t hold that against them. He made his own mistakes.
He came clean with Tish. He admitted he was still investigating her assault. He heard that a man matching the description was seen leaving the laundromat late at night. He’s been stationed there ever since then hoping to find the man that hurt her. Franks truly loves Tish. Tish even loves him. She just couldn’t keep looking into the past. She ended things with Franks tonight and he understood.
Franks knew he crossed a line and he also knew he wouldn’t stop investigating her assault.
THE END!
