How the NCIS Season 21 Premiere Set the Stage for Next Week’s Ducky/David McCallum Tribute Episode
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CBS’ NCIS with its Season 21 premiere on Monday night, yes, threatened to send Special Agent Nick Torres to prison for murder. But it also, with its last moments, planted the seed for what promises to be one of the long-running drama’s most emotional storylines.
On the Torres front: When last we tuned in, Nick following an undercover op in prison was laying in wait inside the home of Maurice Riva, the man who decades prior terrorized his mother and family. Season 21 opened with the reveal that Riva had been found killed, and the voicemail that Nick had left for his sister Lucia — saying that he had found Riva — was quite the semi-smoking gun.
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Upon being arrested, at NCIS, for Riva’s murder, Torres proceeded to not refute the charge. Instead, he thought he was protecting Lucia, who had left him a vague voice message about getting justice. (Note to the Torres family: Next time, text! And with details!) But neither Lucia nor Nick had offed Riva. Nope, it had been Nick’s prison pal Reymundo De Leon’s mom aka Riva’s latest victim. She killed Riva, then made off with his offshore money stash — but was nice enough to leave behind a full confession, to absolve Torres et al.
Then….
At episode’s end, Torres turned in his badge and gun, having brutally assaulted Riva and all, but Parker waved off the gesture, instead telling his agent, “One day at a time, Nick.” Parker’s cell then chirped, and after answering, he told the caller, Jimmy, “Whoa, whoa, slow down….” After listening a bit more, Parker’s face turned sad, which McGee, Torres and Knight instantly clocked.
“What’s going on…? What is it?” asked McGee. And though Parker said nothing before the episode cut to black-and-white, TVLine can confirm that he had just received the incredibly sad news — that NCIS medical examiner-turned-historian Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, who since Day 1 had been played by the late David McCallum, has passed away.
R.I.P., Ducky: Which NCIS Vets Should Return?
That sets the stage for next week’s full-on Ducky/David McCallum tribute episode, titled “The Stories We Leave Behind” and co-written by longtime NCIS cast member Brian Dietzen with EP Scott Williams.
In that episode, as NCIS mourns Ducky, the agents find some comfort in working on one of his unfinished cases involving a woman whose father was dishonorably discharged from the Marines.
Speaking with TVLine about crafting the very special Feb. 19 episode, Dietzen said, “Scott and I talked about it and decided we still wanted it to be an NCIS show — it wasn’t going to be entirely a clip show of ‘Ducky’s Greatest Hits’ — and we should come up with a case that’s thematically linked in some way to losing a valued and loved team member. So we came up with this concept of how, when we’re done with with life, the stories that we leave behind are what’s important. What’s important is what’s left to our loved ones.”
TVLine’s full preview Q&A with Dietzen will publish later this week.
Want scoop on NCIS, or for any other TV show ? Email InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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