NCIS season 15 episode 7 spoilers: Fornell returning for ‘Burden of Proof’

You may have heard a while back that Joe Spano would be returning to NCIS — we now know it’ll be happening for NCIS season 15 episode 7!

The title for this hour is “Burden of Proof,” and if you want to see some preliminary details we like to think that the synopsis below serves a few of them up.

“Burden of Proof” – After a convicted felon swears the NCIS agency framed him for murder a decade ago, Gibbs begins his own investigation, starting with a new autopsy by Ducky. Also, Senior FBI Agent Fornell (Joe Spano) joins the team, since he was the lead investigator in the original joint FBI and NCIS case, on NCIS, Tuesday, Nov. 7(8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

This episode looks to be great largely because of the chance to see Spano again, given that Fornell and his friendship with Gibbs is one of the best long-running components of the case. Any chance you get to see him is the show honoring its own legacy — that’s important when you’ve been around for a decade and a half.

What else is important? Well, this one is a little bit more subtle: A return by David McCallum to the show! Ducky is a cornerstone character in the series and while he seems to be taken some time off in order to pursue some other things (namely as a lecturer), it’s great that there will still be opportunities to see him pop into the show here and there. His appearance here is all the more evidence that, as Brian Dietzen said weeks ago, McCallum is not leaving the show. There will likely also still be chances to see him on the other side of this episode.

One other thing that strikes us about this synopsis

NCIS is really taking a slow approach to introducing Maria Bello as Jack Sloane. She did not have an enormous role in her first episode aside from a great opening scene and a few moments throughout. Since that time, she hasn’t been emphasized in any of the press releases that we’ve seen. We’re not sure why the producers are so keen to slow-play the character, but it could just be to ensure that the chemistry of the show isn’t thrown off so much after being introduced to who is effectively the third new character in the past season and a half. If you were to count in here Duane Henry as Clayton Reeves (who first turned up at the end of season 13), you could argue that it’s four. That is a lot of new faces that could easily turn the show into something that it isn’t.

Don’t get us wrong — we love some of the newcomers. We’re just glad that the producers are playing this conservatively given that TV is high-risk and it’s often difficult to convince someone to come back after they have already left the show.

Excited on paper for NCIS season 15 episode 7?

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