NCIS 1000th episode is a great way to celebrate the franchise’s history, but somehow, it forgets to include two vital members of Gibbs’ original team
NCIS’ 1000th episode celebrates the franchise’s history, but it fails to include two important members from Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ original team. Even after years since Mark Harmon left the show, his impact looms large in the universe, especially in the mothership series. Alden Parker has already taken over his old spot and is doing a great job leading the new squad, but Gibbs will unlikely be replaced as the poster character of the show. While NCIS has never forgotten to pay tribute to him, the 1000th episode ignoring some of his original members is a disservice to his legacy.
For its milestone offering, NCIS’ 1000th episode titled “A Thousand Yards,” sees Director Leon Vance getting shot and the agency subsequently being under attack from an unknown suspect. As it turns out, the perpetrator is the disillusioned daughter of the sleeper agent from NCIS’ pilot episode, “Yankee White.” While no agent from that case is still with the agency, the return of ex-FBI liaison, Tobias Fornell gives Parker’s team the first-hand knowledge they need to crack the case. In the end, the surviving Vance tells his son the importance of his work over a montage of some of NCIS’ biggest moments.
NCIS 1000th Episode Montage Tribute Ignores Ducky And Abby
Ducky And Abby Had Been Part Of Gibbs’ Team Since JAG.
While the NCIS’ 1000th episode cannot bring all integral characters back, it is able to honor them through several flashback scenes. For the mothership show, there are snippets of Gibbs, Tony DiNozzo, Caitlin Todd, Ziva David, and Eleanor Bishop, as well as active agency members, Tim McGee and Jimmy Palmer. Oddly, however, it snubs Ducky Mallard and Abby Sciuto — two members of Gibbs’ inaugural team when NCIS premiered in 2003. In fact, their services predated the police procedural, as they were introduced in JAG. Sadly, there is no official reason for their exclusion.
How Abby And Ducky Left NCIS
NCIS Has Experienced All Kinds Of Character Exits.
It has been two years since Gibbs retired from NCIS, and much has been said about Harmon walking away from the show, but the franchise has long been used to character exits. Sasha Alexander’s Caitlin Todd was murdered in the NCIS season 2 finale, which set a precedent that no one from the show is safe from tragedy. Ducky and Abby’s respective departures from the agency are different from each other. David McCallum’s death mirrored Ducky’s NCIS’ fate, with season 21 staging an emotional tribute to the medical examiner-turned-historian, which saw Michael Weatherly’s Dinozzo returning.
Meanwhile, Abby’s decision to leave NCIS stemmed from the death of MI6 Agent Clayton Reeves, who was protecting her from a hired hitman. She accompanied his body back to England and started a charity on his behalf. Unfortunately, the real-life story of Pauley Perrette’s exit from NCIS was a bit more complicated. After making public statements against Harmon, the actor decided never to work on NCIS again. Executives from CBS recently claimed that things between the production and Perrette have long been resolved, however. Whether that means that there’s a chance for Abby to return in the future is uncertain.
Despite snubbing Abby and Ducky in the NCIS 1000th episode, however, the mothership series remembered both in the ongoing season. Ducky’s send-off episode included a reference to Abby via a bouquet of black flowers sent to the agency’s Washington DC headquarters. She wasn’t name-dropped, but NCIS made it very clear that she was the one who sent the wreath in honor of Ducky. This makes it more peculiar that the police procedural excludes them from the nostalgic montage.
Why Snubbing Ducky And Abby Hurts NCIS’ 1000th Episode
Gibbs’ Relied So Much On Ducky And Abby’s Work.
Since Ducky and Abby were part of NCIS’ original team, it was absolutely imperative that they were included in the montage. That being said, that isn’t even the worst part of it. “A Thousand Yards” case prompts the team to look back at their history as their foe knows about it, hence why the deaths of Todd and former NCIS director Tom Morrow are re-examined. Ignoring Abby and Ducky while incorporating the events of “Yankee White” in the NCIS’ 1000th episode is a massive disservice to their legacy because both of them were vital in cracking that case.
Granted that it was Gibbs who was aboard Air Force One and stopped the sleeper agent’s plan to assassinate the president, but he wouldn’t have been able to figure that out without the information from Ducky’s autopsy and Abby’s lab tests.
Granted that it was Gibbs who was aboard Air Force One and stopped the sleeper agent’s assassination plan, but he wouldn’t have been able to figure that out without the information from Ducky’s autopsy and Abby’s lab tests. Subsequently, this had been the case throughout the majority of Gibbs’ tenure in NCIS. Despite his frosty demeanor, Abby and Ducky were the two members of the team that he was always mellow with because he knew of their softer (albeit not weak) personalities. NCIS couldn’t have taken that much time to include a snippet of them in the tribute scene.
Can Any Of The Available NCIS Original Characters Still Return?
Gibbs And DiNozzo’s NCIS Universe Returns Are Confirmed.
NCIS’ 1000th episode doesn’t feature any returning core characters, which is, understandably, frustrating for long-time followers of the franchise. That being said, it doesn’t mean that some of their much-anticipated comebacks will never happen. As the franchise thrives, CBS attempts to further expand the universe on the heels of NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Los Angeles’ cancelations. For starters, Harmon will return for the Gibbs prequel series, NCIS: Origins, which will tackle the character’s earliest years as part of Mike Franks’ team. While Austin Stowell will play young Gibbs, Harmon will narrate the show’s events.
Meanwhile, Weatherly will re-team with Cote de Pablo as they star in the Tony and Ziva NCIS spinoff that is currently nicknamed, NCIS: Europe. As the title suggests, the show will see the couple on the run from an unknown threat across Europe with their tween daughter, Tali. Unlike NCIS: Origins and the rest of the NCIS universe, the offshoot will stream on Paramount+, which would allow it to have a darker and gorier storyline.
While it’s great to know that they will be back in the universe, there’s still hope that they will make an appearance in the mothership series. Considering NCIS’ penchant for doing backdoor pilots, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that the flagship show brings Gibbs and DiNozzo back to launch their respective spinoffs. Beyond them, another original character who can still return is Abby. Despite the complications from Perrette’s NCIS exit, it may not be impossible for her to step back into her old working space, especially if the narrative needs her expertise.