What was your favorite flashback or Easter egg?
Its beena lot, is what Im saying.
So why do these intrepid government employees keep doing what they do?
Rocky Carroll on ‘NCIS’.Sonja Flemming/CBS
We open with Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) visiting his late wifes grave on her birthday.
His emotional visit is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of his son, Jared (Spence Moore II).
And theres a reason for that: father and son are estranged.
Wilmer Valderrama and Katrina Law on ‘NCIS’.Sonja Flemming/CBS
What makes NCIS so damn special?
But a softwhumpends the argument when Vance is shot in the back and collapses into Jareds arms.
He begs the team to catch the guy who shot his dad.
Katrina Law, Wilmer Valderrama, Sean Murray, Gary Cole on ‘NCIS’.Sonja Flemming/CBS
Three explosions immediately rock the cityscape in front of them.
Despite whats reported on the news, those three locations arent random.
That would be retired FBI agent Tobias Fornells (Joe Spano) garage.
Ive been saving the asses of NCIS for 20 years, he explains.
Its clearly time for Team NCIS to assemble.
(Jared takes this as his cue to disappear.)
But of course, the news of the explosions has Vance’s heart monitor beeping wildly.
Still, he appoints McGee acting NCIS director (love this for McGee!)
and shares essentially the same diagram Jared drew.
Then he asks to speak with his son.
But Jareds busy chasing down McGee to apologize that his dad pressured McGee into putting his family at risk.
Its a panicky moment that turns out to be all false alarms courtesy of a Bandium hack.
It convinces him to stick around, even spending the night in Kasies (Diona Reasonover) lab.
Good thing he did.
Thats when she signed up for shooting lessons and found Jared on Bandimatch.
Its actually a ruse to interrogate him, with Curtis taking point.
So were back to Lindsey, who cops to planting the virus on Voss phone.
And thats when Fornell puts it together.
He heard that quote more than 20 years ago on his first case with Gibbs (Mark Harmon).
As Jareds childhood memory unfolds, were treated to scenes from theNCIS-verses past.
A plague-stricken DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) in season 2s SWAK.
Tonys underwater rescue of Gibbs and Kellys best friend in season 5s Requiem.
The risk-it-all Ziva (Cote de Pablo) breakout in season 7s premiere, Truth or Consequence.
Gibbs building a tree house with a dead Marines son in the second-ever episode, Hung Out to Dry.
Palmer saving a would-be jumper in season 14s Keep Going.
The images start coming faster: Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and Sloan (Maria Bello).
Pride (Scott Bakula).
Ernie (Jason Antoon) and Tennant.
Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam (LL Cool J).
