NCIS: Origins' Lala Crashes Out After Surviving The Crash — Plus, Gibbs Is In Crisis! Read Recap

Just because Lala is alive, doesn't mean she's free of any emotional scars left by her accident. 

In Tuesday's episode of "NCIS: Origins," the NIS agent is struggling to understand what happened to her, and seeks solace at church. She visits an empty parish during off-hours in order to pray, but it's unclear if she's actually talking to God, or simply taking stock of her life's contents in the wake of the accident. She looks like she still feels like a girl on the brink of death, and she has existential questions about why she's here, who she was before, and who she will become.

While contemplating her existence in the house of God, Lala runs into the least godly man alive: gang leader Flaco Navarro. Remembering her from their prior run-in, Flaco reminds Lala that he is owed a favor for saving "that little redhead." How does Lala respond? With a knife to Flaco's throat! The woman is not entertaining this guy — well, for now. 

Only moments later, curiosity gets the best of her and Lala agrees to go for a drive with Flaco and his henchman. Turns out, the criminals want Lala's help to take down Luna, the FBI-wanted murderer, using evidence planted by Flaco himself. Lala considers taking Flaco up on his deal, even jeopardizing her job and friendship with Vera over it.

Though Lala is still obviously crashing out, she ultimately decides against becoming partners in crime with Flaco. (Thank god!) She realizes she wants to be a good example for Gibbs — and she doesn't want him to think less of her, either. 

Elsewhere, we get glimpses of Gibbs secretly pining after his former flame. In flashbacks, we see him sitting by Lala's side in the hospital, clutching her comatose hand. Later, he's caught by Diane watching Lala conduct an interrogation, who assumes it's simply research for work, but it feels like there's something more there. Gibbs isn't just watching the video to learn Lala's tactics; he is pausing the tape to admire her. He is revisiting the woman Lala used to be, the woman Gibbs once loved. 

Gibbs also starts putting up walls with Diane, adding to the mounting evidence that he's still hung up on his work partner. When Diane asks Gibbs how he feels about doing an interrogation for the first time, hoping to have a vulnerable conversation about his dreams and anxieties, Gibbs distances himself from his girlfriend by simply stating he feels... hungry.

As the episode continues, practically everything Gibbs does or says revolves around Lala. He strays away from a crime scene to search for her on the beach, he gets nosy about her work with Vera at the office, and he just possesses an obvious affection toward the woman. It's starting to feel like we're just waiting for the Diane shoe to drop so Lala and Gibbs can rekindle their romance already! (I know, I know, canon says Diane and Gibbs will marry, but we don't know if their journey to the altar is a smooth one!)

When everyone isn't actively facing crises in their personal lives, the NIS team is investigating the apparent drowning of a collegiate swimmer. After learning that the victim's dad trained him mercilessly in order to keep his scholarship, Franks and Gibbs head to the patriarch's place to try to get some more information.

When he develops a sort of tunnel vision, believing the father must have had something to do with his son's death, Gibbs questions the guy way too hard. He fails to listen to the father, and his pushiness ultimately jeopardizes the investigation. Luckily, Franks is there to drag out the probie and leads him down a better investigative path — not without a few choice words, of course. 

Later, though he hasn't been cleared for a solo interrogation, Gibbs takes the swim captain down to questioning after discovering an injury on his leg that mirrors that of the victim. Once again, Gibbs screws up the interrogation, but this time, we can hardly fault him. The guy simply studied too hard! After watching an old tape of Franks questioning a suspect using brute force, Gibbs directly lifts those tactics to use on the young athlete sitting before him. He yells, circles the room and slams his fists on the table just like Franks once had, but it all backfires by revealing Gibbs' own weakness in the form of a sore hand and a bruised ego. 

Gibbs doesn't have a chance to redeem himself this week, since Lala and Franks ultimately bring the kid in for a second time, where he reveals his teammate died at the hands of the assistant swim coach, who had been using the boys as drug mules. Our probie does, however, make some headway with Diane, by finally getting real about his feelings of inadequacy at work. 

What do you think of Lala's crash-out? Will she revisit Flaco's offer? And will anything more romantic happen with Lala and Gibbs? Sound off in the comments!