(Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS: Origins Season 1, Episode 5 “Last Rites.”)

Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid) keeps his promise made to the sister of a victim at the latest NCIS: Origins episode.

Before he had his current team, and after Vera (Diane Rodriguez) left him as a partner – Franks committed a double homicide, a woman and her lover killed by her husband. The woman’s body was never found. As her execution date approaches, time is running out, so Franks makes a deal with him (but cheats on him) and eventually finds out where she is buried, something he had promised his sister he would do. And during that time, Franks had two important conversations, one with Tish (Tonantzin Carmelo) about why he made that promise to the victim’s wife (no, it wasn’t an affair) and Mary Jo (Tyla Abercrumbie) about the case – and how she sees everything, including a certain file.

Below, Schmid breaks down these key moments from this episode and explains what’s next.

I have to say how much I enjoyed Franks and Mary Jo’s scene in this episode. It feels like she’s one of the few people who can reach him at times like this, right?

Kyle Schmid: Absolutely. I think everyone needs their angel on their shoulder. And for Franks, I think it’s Mary Jo, and I think Mary Jo actually plays this character, she’s this angel on the shoulder for a lot of people. And I think she reflects Franks for Franks. Franks takes on the weight of other people in his life. He wants to protect Lala (Mariel Molino), he wants to protect Randy (Caleb Foote), he wants to protect Gibbs (Austin Stowell). He is perhaps as gruff as he is the angel on these characters’ shoulders. And for Franks, the angel on his shoulder is Mary Jo, and I think she’s the angel on everyone’s shoulder too. Tyla plays it so well.

Sonja Flemming / CBS

Yeah. And she has this line about how she thinks the case is about Pedro Hernández and his reaction – he would only react that way to her. I feel like if someone else talked to him about it, he would react differently.

(Smiles, attention) I think he would react differently. I think you also have some surprises ahead of you.

As for Franks and Tish’s relationship, there’s a moment where she wonders if something happened between him and Julie and the way he responds seems honest. This is also the first time he really stops and calms down a bit. He takes a moment to assure her that no, nothing happened there. How would you describe their relationship and what’s next?

I think Tish is the only person in Franks life who can still him and force him to see through the fog. At this point we see Franks with blinders on. Franks is going 100 miles an hour with one thing he’s focused on. It says a lot about their relationship: I don’t think there’s anyone in the world that Franks could love more than Tish and vice versa. Tish has been supporting Mike for a long time. She brought it out of the ashes, and I think we’ll see some really cool stuff there. I don’t think Mike ever stopped to think that his obsession with this case had any detrimental consequences beyond what it caused him, because he was never able to open his eyes to see the whole situation.

And when Tish expresses her suspicions that maybe it’s an affair, maybe the overall why, that’s the only thing that brings Franks back to reality like, oh my God, this crumbling rock that is Mike Franks is creating destruction. beyond himself. And Tish, the fact that Mike would one day walk away from the woman he adores more than anything in the world baffles him. The fact that he led her to a place where she could even think about it breaks her heart. And so I think that says a lot about their relationship.

Greg Gayne/CBS

We learn a lot about who Mike is and his loyalties. Mike is this hippie cowboy. As gruff as he is on the outside in his fucking boots, he has the biggest heart in the world and he takes on everyone’s bullshit, and he feels and empathizes with everyone. He draws everyone into his world and tries to protect them. And he might say the wrong thing and be too direct from time to time. But ultimately, I think Mike loves it so much that this gruff exterior is his armor. It’s his armor that shows how much he loves everyone, I guess, in some way.

Because he wants to protect people, there is the question of Gibbs’ psychological evaluation. Lala told him what was inside. What would Franks think of this?

I think Franks would be disappointed that Lala gave this information to Gibbs behind his back. But at the same time, Mike always believed in Gibbs. He always believed that Gibbs had the strength to overcome trauma, otherwise you would never attract someone into your world unless you believed that they actually had a second chance at living their life. And so, as disappointed as Franks is, I think the timing of Gibbs getting the information would coincide with the fact that at this point, Gibbs has – you see it in episode 4 with the little girl and Gibbs saving the little girl daughter and how he is able to hold the emotional mirror of the loss of his granddaughter and his wife. He’s holding up. He saves the day. I mean, if it’s not an opportunity for us and our audience to go, it’s turning a page. I think he’s doing better. We’re starting to get a glimpse of the Gibbs we see in the mothership, aren’t we? I think the moment where Gibbs figures out what’s on his psychological evaluation is perfect.

What else awaits Franks after this episode? More with him and Gibbs’ father (Robert Taylor) ? It was a surprise.

It was good, wasn’t it? I love working with Robert. Robert is a talented man, Robert, in what he does in episode 5 with the flashback and in the hospital, it’s just heartbreaking. I’m really looking forward to seeing more scenes with him.

We’re shooting episode 10 through 11 and we’re talking about 5. …We’re still going to develop the relationship between the candidate and Franks. I mean, this is going to be a big catalyst for the future of our storyline. And I think it’s because Mike played such an important role in helping Gibbs become the man he is that the world knows NCIS.

You’re going to see some really cool things with Franks and Lala and their relationship. I think it’s important for the audience to remember that Lala was my Gibbs before Gibbs came into my life. And how that relationship gets put on the back burner when Gibbs joins NIS, and to see that dynamic change, because for me, I look at it as a parent, you introduce a new person into the family and all of a sudden, the rest of the family no longer receives the attention they used to receive. And how that affects the dynamics. You will see some very, very good work from Caleb Foote and Randy Randolph. Oh my God. There’s an episode coming up that’s going to knock your socks off and see, Kyle Schmid is now saying lines like, knock your socks off because it’s hard to put Franks away.

But aside from the Lala stuff, there’s a phenomenal episode with Caleb. You’re going to have an episode that’s basically a flashback episode, and it’s all Mike and it’s all a try. You’ll die when you see it because it’s so good. And then we had the Christmas episode which is phenomenal. And you understand more about why and how Gibbs is where he is and why – this show is really good. I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I don’t know if I’ve ever done anything and been as excited as I was to watch this.

NCIS: OriginsMondays, 10/9c, CBS