Boy, you are right on. Listen up writers!

1. Further evidence of the brotherly bond between Tony and McGee.

2. Gibbs showing some concern for DiNozzo regarding whatever it is he is going through, or at least evidence of his respect for Tony. Since mid season 8 it’s hard to believe Gibbs even likes the guy. Half the time he looks at Tony like he’s crawled out from underneath a stone!

3. Gibbs calling DiNozzo “Tony”. He used to, quite a lot!

4. Tony standing up to Gibbs. A dramatic scene vis a vis the Gibbs / Franks basement scene last week would be amazing!

5. Lots of competent, serious Tony, with just a dollop of in-character smart humour.

6. Fewer head slaps – none next week – and then only when really justified, less harsh and delivered out of frustration, not with anger.

7. Tony in some serious jeopardy. The team spent a lot of time “getting lucky” in Season 10, ie, the explosion at NCIS HQ; the stunningly executed (well done sfx team!) Tiva car crash. I’d like to see one of the team, ideally Tony, getting significantly hurt sometime. No fallout = no jeopardy = unexciting!

8. Tony admitting how he really felt about Ziva. Despite her “almost” saying she loved him, he didn’t say anything in return.

9. Tony was looking for Ziva for several months, was all but hallucinating about her, now he’s back I’d like to see a little more emotion on his part.

10. Since it wasn’t addressed in episode 2, an idea of what Ziva said she was going to do: was she going to stay in Israel or maybe travel; whether she was going to stay in touch; if she gave Tony any idea of whether or not she would return not necessarily to DC but to the US.

11. The return of the DiNozzo beard!

12. And finally (and this definitely applies to the series as a whole) not leaving the big emotional moments to our “imagination”. For a good example of how to do it, see the final scenes of last night’s NCIS-LA, season 5, episode 4.