So far this season, the decision to leave much of Ziva’s story in “Past Present and Future” to the fans’ “imagination” left the majority of those fans desperately unhappy. Whilst I firmly believe that at times less is indeed more, there are limits. I very much hope that Gary Glasberg and the writers do indeed have enough imagination to think outside the box and Mr Glasberg is prepared to take a few risks. Whether or not you are a Ziva fan, Cote de Pablo’s importance to the series should not be underestimated and her departure cannot be compared to that of Kate’s. Sasha Alexander had been with the show for only two years and there was a much greater team dynamic in those days, with a lot more emphasis on Gibbs and Tony – something that has much diminished during the last few seasons. I believe that purely introducing a new character and then returning to “normal” will be insufficient to maintain viewers. However, on a positive note I was delighted that this week (episode 3) finally saw a brief glimpse of the old DiNozzo – first time in too long that we’ve seen Tony as a competent agent, skilfully firing his gun (something we’ve not seen since season 9) and I loved it! Definitely a step in the right direction. I love NCIS and have seen every episode multiple times and I just hope that Gary Glasberg and the writers have the vision to really pull something out of the bag. Maybe Mr Glasberg should re-watch the early seasons of NCIS and take a look at a spot of the best of NCIS fan fiction for inspiration!