NCIS season 21 episode 2: Did Mark Harmon return?

Given that tonight’s NCIS season 21 episode 2 was an emotional tribute to David McCallum as Ducky, it was to wonder about Mark Harmon. Did he actually return as Gibbs for this episode?

We should note that last year, Harmon claimed that he had not heard anything about a possible return for the episode. However, those comments were before the episode filmed and even still, this was the sort of thing that the actor (who is also an executive producer) would want to keep under wraps.

Going into the episode, we thought that a Gibbs return was possible. However, at the same time we did have our doubts. For starters, we knew that this episode would have a lot of flashbacks, and that could be the way to include the character without him being there in the present. Meanwhile, there was also only so much space in this episode to include a lot of people. We saw references early on to other teams who are a part of the greater NCIS umbrella, but not any characters beyond the cast of regulars.

We should also note that the writers have been waiting for the right time in order to get Harmon potentially back on the show. Was this it?

Well…

We did see Gibbs but as we suggested earlier, this was a flashback sequence highlighting the relationship that he and Ducky had earlier on. Surprisingly, this was not an episode that leaned that much on people from the past at all — at least not until we saw Tony!

Would it have been nice to see Harmon in the present? Sure, but at the same time, we did get a big surprise. That will have to suffice for now — and in the end, this episode was about McCallum and his character more than anyone else.

Related – Be sure to get some more news entering NCIS season 21 episode 3 — what’s next?

What did you think about NCIS season 21 episode 2 overall?

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This article was written by Jessica BunBun.