NCIS season 15, episode 3 review: Is Ducky leaving NCIS?
Torres has become a character that we have really fallen for and while we understand that some fans had some resistance to him because he was coming in after Michael Weatherly left, we aren’t looking at him as a replacement because let’s be honest – no one can ever replace Michael. Wilmer Valderrama has always had really great comedic timing ever since his time on That 70’s Show (which we watched religiously when it was on back in the day) and this episode did a great job of reminding us just how funny he is.
The case of the week has the NCIS team working with another department from Metro – meaning that Torres is teamed up with a detective named Higgins who is driving him nuts with all of his James Bond gadgets (pretty much all of his “ordinary day items” turn into a knife). When Higgins goes missing on a stakeout (and later turns up dead) the case of the week kicks into high gear as the two departments work together chasing after a ghost. Namely a detective that has was declared dead ten years ago. When Torres realizes she’s not dead and shakes her down for answers, it turns out someone is holding her son ransom over some bearer bonds they think she has… and that person is the Metro captain that was working with Gibbs on this case.
We also had a chance to see Ducky speaking at his old school and he’s a total rock star to the students there. It was nice to see him reunite with his old friend Dr. Darwin, but she has another agenda besides just spending time drinking with him all night. She offers him a residency (just for a semester) saying that it will also offer him an opportunity to write his book. He doesn’t want to leave NCIS, but she says that it’s time to spread the wealth and that the NCIS crew will be able to go on without him. Is Ducky leaving NCIS? When Ducky comes back to the NCIS lab he learns that Dr. Darwin had already spoken to Gibbs about the offer and Ducky reveals that he is going to take the opportunity. Watching Ducky hug Jimmy goodbye was the worst and left us with a pit in our stomach, but if we had to wager a guess we would say that he will probably be missing for a few episodes and the will likely be back – even if it’s to say goodbye because he’s moving on.
Overall CarterMatt thoughts
We were hoping to see NCIS play out the McGee and Gibbs adjustment story a little bit longer since one episode feels a little short to have them bounce back into their jobs like nothing happened, but here we are. After setting up that they were both struggling with what happened to them in the last episode, it felt a little rushed to have them not even mention it or show signs of struggling with it. This is a procedural show, so we get that they don’t want to drag it out, but we were hoping that tonight’s episode would at least have a mention of it so that it could taper off a bit more evenly.
Update: It’s been confirmed via Brian Dietzen that Ducky will return.
What did you think of this NCIS season 15 episode? Leave us a comment in the box below with your thoughts on this season so far. If you are looking for more scoop on NCIS season 15 then head on over to the link here where you can check out a preview for episode 4. Also, did you miss the news that Pauley Perrette is leaving the show? More on that at the link here. Last but not least, if you want to keep up with all of our NCIS scoop, a great way to do that is to join our CarterMatt Facebook page. (Photo: CBS)