NCIS: Origins Season 2 Uses A Subtle Detail To Hint At Gibbs And Diane's Future

Contains spoilers for "NCIS: Origins" Season 2, Episode 13 — "Homeward Bound"

"NCIS" fans watching the prequel series "Origins" already know that the marriage between Gibbs (Austin Stowell) and Diane (Kathleen Kenny) is destined to fail — he has two more wives to meet, marry, and divorce before he winds up alone in Alaska. The case for the couple's upcoming separation begins to build in the "NCIS: Origins" Season 2 episode "Homeward Bound," with Gibbs spending hours in his workshop building a boat instead of waiting for a call from his wife, who is away in Los Angeles. The symbolism is strong: They grow further apart the more the vessel takes shape.

Gibbs confesses that he has no idea why he's spending so much time crafting it to Ducky Mallard (Adam Campbell), but anyone who's familiar with his future knows the truth about the boats that Gibbs builds: He makes them for people he cares about deeply. This is seemingly the boat that he will eventually name after Diane, and its fate is tied to their relationship. During the "NCIS" episode "Kill Ari – Part 1" (which is one of the best "NCIS" episodes to rewatch), Gibbs (Mark Harmon) has a catch-up with Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly), and the subject of the boat comes up. 

As they chat in his basement with the skeleton of a new watercraft looming behind them, Jenny asks if it's the same boat that he was building six years before. He tells her that he burned that one because he would think of Diane every time he sailed in it. Jenny asks Gibbs why he didn't simply sell it, and he replies with an appalled, "And watch some other guy sail off on her?" Jenny can't help but notice that Gibbs didn't care who the actual Diane sailed away with.

While the show doesn't explicitly confirm that Gibbs is building the boat he'll one day burn in "Homeward Bound," it seems implied, and if that's the case, then the episode has opened up a possible plot hole, especially as this boat appears almost finished. In the "NCIS: Origins" world, it's currently mid-to-late 1992, and the "Kill Ari" saga takes place in 2005. In "Kill Ari – Part 1," Jenny asks Gibbs if it's the same boat that he was building six years before, which would mean Gibbs was still working on Diane in 1999. This doesn't really add up. We know that Gibbs' marriage to Diane ends up being his longest, but they get divorced in the mid-90s.

Is "Origins" taking liberties with the "NCIS" timeline? Whether or not the boat shown in "Homeward Bound" is the one he eventually burns, it's serving a purpose for Gibbs, and his colleagues are well aware of this. Ducky suggests that Gibbs should show it to Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino), and when she lays eyes on it, Lala simply elbows him and says, "It's nice to have one thing that isn't going anywhere." It's an ironic statement when one considers how far he's travelled to escape his past, but Gibbs still considers this to be an important building block toward creating a true home — whether or not his domicile includes a significant other.