NCIS: Origins Finally Delved Into Mary Jo’s Backstory, And I Wasn’t Expecting It To Be This Heartbreaking

Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS: Origins episode “To Have and to Hold” are ahead!

NCIS: Origins has resumed its run on the 2025 TV schedule after being away for roughly a month and a half, and the grand return spotlighted Tyla Abercrombie’s Mary Jo Hayes. Earlier today, CinemaBlend shared an exclusive Origins clip that revealed Mary Jo had been served divorce papers from her estranged husband, Marcus. Now that the episode has aired, we finally have more details about this aspect of her backstory, although it was pretty heartbreaking.

Whether it’s through her professional duties as Field Operation Support Officer, a.k.a. the “Head Secretary in Charge,” for NIS’ Camp Pendleton office, or looking after the people in her personal life, Mary Jo Hayes is someone who cares for others, oftentimes in a motherly way. Her selflessness is admirable, which made it all the more upsetting when a messenger stopped by the office to deliver the divorce. It bothered her enough that after work, she hit up a bar with Lala Dominguez and Vera Strickland to vent about what happened, particularly how it bothered her Marcus didn’t give the papers to her himself.

This led to Mary Jo recalling how despite that Marcus was a “know-it-all ass” when they met in high school, she still ended up being taken with him, especially when, while unusually asking her to Sadie Hawkins, he incorporated the Ray Charles song “Hit the Road, Jack!” But the reason that they’re separated in early 1992 isn’t because Marcus did something to Mary Jo that resulted in her hating him. Rather, she initially just said that, “Things change. We grew apart.”

Things then took a turn for the worse when Mary Jo discovered that the divorce papers that Marcus was asking for alimony, specifically half of everything, including her house. Fortunately, when she went to confront him, Marcus assured her that this wasn’t his intention and that there was some kind of mixup in communication with his lawyer. It was clear these two still respected one another even though they hadn’t been together in three years.

By the end of “To Have and to Hold,” the flashback that had been peppered throughout the episode of Mary Jo and Marcus dancing together was put into full context and revealed why these two drifted apart. Mary Jo suffered four miscarriages, and the names of the unborn children were Georgia, Isaiah, Dawn and Marcus Jr. With such heartbreaking losses, it makes sense why Mary Jo and Marcus didn’t stay together. Her inability to have children with her soon-to-be-ex-husband also adds a cruel element of irony given her maternal nature

This exploration of Mary Jo Hayes’ personal life occurred as Mike Franks’ team was investigating the death of an investment adviser recently freed from prison who was found dead in her backyard pool. Stream the episode with a Paramount+ subscription if you’d like the full context. There are four episodes left to go in NCIS: Origins Season 1, but fans can look forward to Season 2 airing on CBS this fall.

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