The moon is in the Seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars when NCIS: Origins flashbacks to the late ‘60s and early ‘70s on tonight’s “Monsoon” episode, and viewers get a chance to discover where the trademark Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid) mustache was born during the age of Aquarius.
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It had already been revealed that Franks did a tour in Vietnam, but this episode revealed a tidbit of his life afterwards, where he’s sporting long hair, a beard and is transporting drugs to earn a living. A road trip takes him to California on his motorcycle to deliver a package for $2000. But when he stops to get a drink of water at a gas station, his bike–and the drugs–are stolen. Franks tries to call the VA for aide, but as he’s never registered with them, so there’s nothing they can do until he comes in in person.
It was the ‘70s when people hitchhiked, so Franks tried his luck at sticking out his thumb, but to no avail. That is until Tish (Tonantzin Carmelo) has a flat tire, which Franks offers to change for her. She offered him money, but what he really wanted was a ride, and before the end of the episode, she was cutting his hair and shaving his beard. But Tish is a hairdresser, so she decided the best thing to do is not to cut off all the facial hair, but to leave the mustache. So, it’s the love of his life that gave Franks his signature look.
Related: NCIS: Origins Star Kyle Schmid Puts His Mustache to Good Use
“That was awesome,” Schmid tells Parade exclusively. “That was so much fun. Tish trims me up, and she cuts it. And so, we slowly see the hair fall away, and you see this younger version of Mike slowly appear on camera. The fact that Tish gives him this signature, iconic mustache is the best way to end this episode. Because in one way or another, she will always be with him. And he will always be reminded of her every time he looks in the mirror.”
Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS
And the reason he will need to be reminded is that he also lost Tish in the episode. Franks promised Tish that he would give up the hunt for the man who hurt her. That he would let the FBI do the job, but he just can’t let it go. And in the end, she tells him she loves him, but she has to leave.
“He is given every opportunity through the last few episodes to do exactly that [walk away],” Schmid explains. “And so, there’s such a deep-rooted sense of violation, but Mike has this need to protect the people that he holds close. We see it with Gibbs (Austin Stowell). We see it with Lala (Mariel Molino). We see it with the cases that he takes on. They all become very, very personal to him.”
Related: NCIS: Origins Star Kyle Schmid Previews a Post-Vietnam Flashback for Franks (Exclusive)
But, especially with Tish, the love of his life, the angel who saved him from going down the darkest of roads when they first met, he is trying his best to right the wrong. But he’s unable to save the person that he felt he was supposed to save.
Photo: Erik Voake/CBS
“The sense of failure as a human being that he feels, I mean, I’m getting emotional right now just thinking about that,” Schmid continues. “I couldn’t imagine. It’s not as easy as walking away for him. It’s not. And it is truly sad. As Kyle, I recognize how sad it is that he’s just unable to make the choice to give her what she wants and to walk away from it. But there is a part of Franks that we have to stay true to. We live in a world where characters are flawed, and Mike’s is absolutely flawed like everybody else.”
Related: NCIS: Origins Reveals a Pivotal Part of Mike Franks’ Past, Including His Brother (Exclusive)
The episode opened with a vet in trouble with the police, and Franks hears the commotion. He goes out to see what’s up, and that’s when Lance Corporal Tom Molina (Nick Gomez) tells him that his fellow vet, Lance Corporal Peter Rice, had been murdered. Franks and Tom go out to the homeless vet encampment, where they find the body. The discovery of how Tom is living causes Franks to reflect on his own struggles following the war. But the result of that is he takes Tom seriously and gets the NIS team involved in the investigation of Peter’s murder.
Photo: Greg Gayne/CBS
And the ending turns out to be shocking. It turns out that in a fugue state caused by PTSS, Tom killed his friend Peter, and he has no memory of it. So the episode, in addition to being a murder mystery, is also a look at the ravages of war.
“Anything that we can do to try and shed light on mental illness is a wonderful byproduct of making this show,” says Schmid, who put his character’s mustache to good use last November for a good cause–mental health–as part of Movember, the men’s health movement.
NCIS: Origins airs Monday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Streams next day on Paramount+.
Next, NCIS: Origins‘ Kyle Schmid on Mike Franks Being a Gruff Cowboy on the Outside but a Lover on the Inside
