NCIS: Origins had a very special episode that centered on K9 Agent Gary Callahan and how his sad beginning led him to become the beloved special agent NIS has ever had. The episode followed the team as they looked into the murder of a convenience store owner, Javier Martinez, who was stabbed to death during a robbery. But when Gary Callahan became injured himself, it was a race to find out who did it.
Mike was called into work with Gary and his handler, Herm, hadn’t gotten the message so he wasn’t there yet to work with the K9 officer. Instead of waiting for him to arrive, Gibbs and Mike followed a boot print scent trail to find the person who may have killed their victim. Because Gary wasn’t on a leash, he got away from his human coworkers and caught the guy. He was stabbed and critically wounded as the man got away.
The NIS vows to find out who their killer is and who attacked Gary Callahan
They took him to Doc Tango since the nearest emergency vets were closed. Herm finally arrived, and he was completely shaken to see how badly Gary was hurt. Mike vowed to find the person responsible, but he also didn’t help by blaming the fact that Gary wasn’t leashed on Herm not being there. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t get the message in time.
Eventually, they found out their suspect was a man named Adam Plum, who lived in an encampment with other individuals who didn’t have a place to call home. Adam had injuries and a knife with blood on it, which eventually came back to positively match to dog blood. However, while he admitted to stabbing Gary, he said he didn’t go into the convenience store until after Javier was killed. Plus, when they spoke to the others in the encampment, they learned Adam was always helping them and wasn't violent.
Mike was still reeling from Gary being hurt, plus a fight with Herm in the vet’s clinic didn’t help either. They were both hurting, especially after finding out that Gary might never walk again.Â
Gary already had the odds stacked against him since he was a puppy, when he had a defect that meant he couldn’t play with his litter until he was eventually abandoned outside a kill shelter. But the little puppy ran off with the box he was left in, which he held onto until Mike eventually caught him when he worked as an animal controller.
Having never been house broken, Gary was hard to handle and always destroyed everything. Mike would take him to work despite not being allowed, and this led to an incident where they got skunked. It was actually Mike’s girlfriend, Tish, who got in touch with her Uncle Tango and he was the one who told her about a new agency, NIS. They had a K9 handler named Artie who could use a dog.
It was obvious how beloved Gary was to everyone at work. From Randy being unable to use his Chatty Cathy approach in interrogation to Artie returning to the office to check on Gary, there was a lot of love for the pooch.
NCIS: Origins season 2 episode 14 reveals how Mike came to work for NIS
While Mike and the team were trying to find an associate of Adam’s who was known for robberies and writing bad checks, Mike was also reading about Adam’s life. He also had a tough upbringing, going from foster home to foster home and being called a liar and a creep. Added to the fact that he only ever robbed the convenience store to bring back food for everyone else, it didn't seem like he was the one who killed their victim.
Once it was determined that Adam’s friend was in another state entirely, they went back to square one. It was Phil who was able to get them on the right path. There had been a substance on Javier’s wrist they couldn’t identify and their mass spec machine wasn’t working at first. But once he fixed it, he determined the gel on the victim’s body came from a gel bracelet popular among teenagers.
In fact, Javier’s store had just been painted by some high school girls as volunteer work and one of them, Bridgette Donovan, was wearing gel bracelets. They got her jacket and using other sweaters as a baseline, they got Gary to do one final piece of detective work to see if it matched evidence left by their killer.
It turned out Bridgette and another girl had decided to rob the store, but Javier fought back and was killed. Adam was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but even after what he did to Gary, Mike decided to help Adam turn his life around.
At the end of the episode, we learned that Mike became an agent after Wheeler saw him at Gary’s swearing in ceremony. He told Mike they could also use a human agent and even though Mike balked, we learned Wheeler had once been a science teacher before he became an agent.
In the present, at least on NCIS: Origins, Gary received a medal, and he surprised everyone by getting up and taking his first steps since his injury. The entire NIS team was thrilled to see him up and about again, proving to them he was not ready to retire. Plus, it’s also clear from the end that Herm and Mike worked out an arrangement where they both took care of Gary, with him staying with Mike on weekends and Herm the rest of the week.
This was such a touching episode that taught us so much about this beloved animal. We also learned that his name came from the box he carried around for years before finding his new home at NIS. Mike named him after his first home and it was such a sweet way to find out how he got his name.Â
NCIS: Origins airs Tuesdays on CBS at 9/8c. New episodes are available on Paramount+ the following day.