‘NCIS’ season 11 spoilers: What’s next for Michael Weatherly’s Tony?
It’s been a little while now since Tony DiNozzo has had something pretty spectacular to do on “NCIS,” at least ever since we last saw him go back to some of his past in Baltimore. (Before that, it was the first two episodes of the season trying to say goodbye to Ziva.)
But is this changing at some point in the near future? It sure looks like it, based on the comments coming out courtesy of show boss Gary Glasberg. Speaking to TVLine, it does sound like Michael Weatherly’s character is going to have a new woman in his life … but not as a love interest. Instead, we’re talking about a woman that has started to become involved with his father:
“Tony has had a year of real change and growth so far. Ziva said goodbye. Bishop said hello. Tony’s friendship with McGee got stronger and his bond with Gibbs wasn’t weakened by change, it was reinforced. And now, for a special 250th episode, Anthony DiNozzo Sr. (returning guest star Robert Wagner) will be back. And along with a riveting crime to solve, Tony will discover there’s a new mystery woman in his father’s life.”
Typically, the mysteries that Tony is forced to try to solve are those related to murders or other crimes within the military. Trying to figure out who this woman is, and whether or not her intentions with his dad are really the purest, should create another fun sort of dimension for him to play. Anytime that we get a chance to explore the characters beyond the workplace is something that we celebrate.
What do you think about this story for the 250th episode, and are there any other stories (save for Ziva coming back, since that seems unlikely for at least a little while) that you want to see? Share what you think below! Also, click here if you want to watch a preview for “Homesick,” the big holiday-themed episode of “NCIS” airing next week.
Photo: CBS
Lorraine64
December 17, 2013 @ 12:55 am
And so to my rather extensive wish list (you did ask!) of other stories I would like to see, bearing in mind that Tony is my favourite “NCIS” character so much of my wish list is Tony centric:
Tony in some serious jeopardy. The team spent a lot of time “getting lucky” in Season 10, ie, after the explosion at NCIS HQ or 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!
An episode where Gibbs and Tony go undercover together, Tony saves Gibbs life, but is seriously hurt in the process and Gibbs and Tony have to hole up together until the rest of the team find them, resulting in a proper heart to heart. They could discuss how Tony feels about women – he’s actually “lost” and probably feels responsible for losing, more women than even Gibbs! Tony told Ziva that his mother was the first woman who broke his heart – since when he’s lost in some form or other: Kate, Paula, Jeanne, Jenny, Dana Hutton and Ziva – rather surprising he’s not a complete basket case as far as women are concerned, despite rather unbelievably going to a men’s support group. Or what Tony wants to do with his life now, perhaps even touching on how Tony felt when Gibbs repossessed the team following his Margarita safari without a by your leave or any discussion with Tony. Now that really would “reinforce their bond”!
I’d like to hear more about the status of McGee’s father, last heard he had only a few months to live, and meet McGee’s mother for the first time.
And on the subject of mothers, I’d love to know more about Tony’s mother – something that would in an ideal world be included in a conversation between Tony and Senior during the 250th episode. What was her first name? How did she die? We know Tony was only eight years old and she died in hospital, that Tony was there, and he was watching “Angels With Dirty Faces” (Season 9, “Nature Of The Beast”).
Rather than another flashback to Baltimore, I’d like something in Tony’s Baltimore past to come back and threaten him in the present day, ie, Mike Macaluso, the Mafia boss Tony mentioned having put in prison in “Frame Up”. A story might run along the lines of despite the help Tony’s been getting from the aforementioned support group, he feels the need to get away from it all, so he takes some time off, and is persuaded by one of the guys in his support group to uncharacteristically spend a couple of days completely away from it all at a cabin in the middle of nowhere. No phone, no interruptions, just plenty of time to sleep and think. He agrees a week’s leave with Vance, leaves a message for Gibbs that for the first time ever he will be un-contactable and heads off. Unfortunately unbeknownst to anyone, Mike Macaluso has become ill, is not expected to live and his nephew swears revenge on Tony. The rest of the episode is concerned with Gibbs and the team tracking down clues as to Tony’s whereabouts before it’s too late. In the meantime, Tony manages to evade Mike’s nephew for most of the episode but is shot and hiding out in the woods shortly before Gibbs, McGee and Bishop find him. The episode ends on a cliffhanger with Tony being taken to hospital.
Part two starts with Tony in surgery and a few scenes of will he or will he not be okay – providing a great opportunity for some Tony/Gibbs, and Tony/McGee bonding both realising just how much they would miss Tony if he were no longer there. Senior is stuck in Hawaii, unable to fly back due to an impending storm. Meanwhile the rest of the team track down and arrest Mike’s nephew for attempted murder. This episode would also introduce a potential love interest for Tony. The nurse who takes care of him, attractive – similar age to Tony. They are cautious of starting a relationship, she has recently separated from her husband, and Tony is wary of again dating someone in the medical profession, she is about to start a three month deployment and they finally agree to meet up again on her return to the US.
I’d like an Abby centric episode featuring Abby’s quest to track down her real parents, helped by Abby’s brother, Kyle, who we met in Season 9.
A Palmer/Abby episode where the child he and Breena are considering adopting is deaf. Palmer and Breena are having second thoughts as to whether or not they have the strength to cope with the added responsibility of a child with a disability, but Abby (and also Gibbs – Gibbs and Abby used to sign all the time, though we were never told how he came by the ability), who having had deaf parents, helps them through their doubts, perhaps even having a few ‘brief’ flashbacks to when she was a child and how she felt having deaf parents.
Whilst I’m not looking for Ziva to return, I would like to learn a little more about what she’s supposed to be doing and what Tony and she discussed whilst in Israel. Far too much has been left to our imagination. Was she staying in Israel and if so why? Did she have any plans? Was she going to travel, maybe teach languages? Was she going to stay in touch – email, postcard? After searching for her for several months, surely Tony wouldn’t have left her without some promise that she wouldn’t just drop into the ether. Since episode Three “Under The Radar” when Abby asked McGee if he had been in touch and he said that he hadn’t had a reply to his text, that’s the last mention of any communication. Maybe Tony could discuss this with Senior, after all DiNozzo Snr always had a soft spot for her.
Tony’s ‘scarred’ lungs, a vital plot element in the season 5 opener “Bury Your Dead”, seem to have been conveniently forgotten, about time they made a reappearance, along with a guest appearance from Doctor Brad Pitt, aka actor Steven Eckholdt.
Any undercover centric episode would be good, and stories which “pair” up the characters. Maybe an episode with Tony and Palmer, or Tony and McGee, McGee and Abby, Tony and Abby, Tony and Gibbs, Gibbs and Ducky, Gibbs and Vance, Tony and Vance. Vance went from the character you love to hate to being everyone’s best buddy – I never felt there was an episode where he earned that relationship with the team.
An episode with a really decent chase scene – so often the perp runs and Gibbs turns up in his car, or Fornell is on the other side of the wall, or Borin pops out behind a van; and a really exciting shoot out – how many times has the team arrived at a location, bulletproof vested and guns drawn, only to find the suspect has either flown or is already dead?
And basically any storyline which shows Tony to be the strong, smart, heroic, crack shot, Senior Field Agent that he always used to be in episodes like “Missing”, “Chained”, “Bait”, “Requiem”, “Under Covers”, “Nature Of The Beast”, “SWAK”, “Truth Or Consequences”, “Angel Of Death”, etc etc.
And finally a story where we finally learn what Tony’s bargain with God was, referenced in the Season 9 episode “Engaged” Part Two.
Lorraine64
December 16, 2013 @ 10:34 pm
Excuse me “Tony’s bond with Gibbs wasn’t weakened by change, it was reinforced” what bond with Gibbs? Am I watching a different series or is this something that has been left to our imagination for about the last three or four seasons and no one told me? I can honestly say that apart from a couple of great moments in this season’s “Once A Crook” firstly where Gibbs said that if DiNozzo had wanted Anton in custody then he would be and later in the gents when he said he would “trust him anytime” I have seen no recent evidence that Gibbs and Tony have any bond at all, or indeed that Gibbs even has any respect for Tony, and whilst I loved “Once A Crook” based on the last few seasons there was actually no justification for Gibbs saying those words to Tony anyway. Sadly, over the years the terrific bond that used to exist between these two great characters has diminished, and by mid season 9 was virtually non existent. There are no indulgent smiles from Gibbs when Tony goes off on one and in this season’s “Anonymous Was A Woman” Gibbs gave Tony a head slap which was not only undeserved but looked positively concussion inducing; there hasn’t been a steak and beer moment since the season 7 episode “Flesh & Blood”; there are next to no scenes between Gibbs and Tony in Gibbs’ basement any more; in the last two seasons Tony has barely done anything to actually earn Gibbs respect, largely becoming the comic relief and until this season’s “Under The Radar” Tony hadn’t even fired a gun since episode 1 of Season 9 and in Season 11’s “Better Angels” Gibbs gave McGee point despite the fact that Tony is supposed to be Gibbs’ Senior Field Agent; Gibbs has ceased to call DiNozzo by his first name – the last “proper” time was again during “Flesh & Blood” – I note Gibbs did call him Tony in this week’s episode “Devil’s Triad”, but it was used in such a throw away manner that I almost missed it; we assume it was Gibbs who played the Halloween prank on DiNozzo – and unlike the pranks played on the rest of the team, it was the only physical prank and one which actually could have resulted in causing injury – Tony’s fall certainly looked painful and not in the least funny; Tony seems to have lost the ability to anticipate Gibbs’ needs and where once Tony would have stood up to Gibbs he now actually appears to be scared of him – this week when Bishop questioned Gibbs’ surveillance strategy, Tony and McGee looked like wimps as they cowered in the background. In fact, sadly from where I’m standing Gibbs appears to have a bond with pretty much everyone BUT DiNozzo!
JETHROluvsTONY
December 14, 2013 @ 3:50 am
I ALWAYS wanna see Tony and Gibbs get together – “…you had me at “Freeze,dirtbag!”..”
guest
December 14, 2013 @ 3:42 am
I’d go with how did Abby join NCIS. As for Tony anything that shows off his out of the box thinking to get the bad guys and maybe a Abby/Tony centred ep. I really loved in Devil’s Triad that Abby and Tony were reading Dianne texts together very earlier seasons Abby and Tony.
Lizabeth S. Tucker
December 13, 2013 @ 8:31 pm
I’d love to see the first time Tony worked at NCIS, his first meeting with Abby (who said once she didn’t like him at first) and Ducky.