Thoughts on NCIS’ Season 9 Finale “Till Death Do Us Part” 

Warning: Spoilers for the NCIS Season 9 finale discussed

An explosive cliffhanger kicked off what’s sure to be a painful hiatus for fans of NCIS. Season 9 came to a close with just about everyone of our favorites in danger. Harper Dearing was out of control and in his quest to get justice for his son that died during a terrorist attack while on board a Navy ship, he decided to hit NCIS where it hurts.

What he did was pretty much blow up its offices — with many employees still inside. It was up to Jonathan Cole aka Agent Casey Stratton to try to dispose of the bomb that was located inside of Vance’s SUV. Clearly, he couldn’t stop it, so the car, probably Cole himself and the NCIS headquarters went boom sending our favorite characters into peril:

• Gibbs went to save Abby who was still in her lab. My guess is she was trying to take care of her babies like the mass spectrometer before getting out of there.

• McGee looked like he took some of the brunt of the blast. He actually may be one of the ones hurt when the show returns this fall, don’t you think? He, of course, wanted to save all the info they had on Dearing. It was smart but it didn’t seem like he was that much in the rush to leave the building. To be fair, a lot of the employees (including Tony) seemed like they could have sped things up a little bit more if you ask me.

• Who knew Cole would kinda sorta redeem himself before becoming one of Dearing’s possible casualties? I liked Scott Wolf in this episode. There’s a slim chance he got away, right?

• Tony and Ziva were in the elevator when the blast went off. The elevator could have protected them but elevators can also be a very, very dangerous place.

• And in what was the most unexpected character in peril situation of them all: Ducky. He was in Florida attending Jimmy’s wedding. Palmer and Breena decided to get married early so Dr. Mallard was simply walking on the beach after the wedding when I assume he got news of what went down at NCIS headquarters. During the phone call, he either had a heart attack or some sort of a stroke. Whatever it was, something happened and our favorite medical examiner collapsed on the beach bringing an end to “Till Death Do Us Part.”

Other Thoughts

• As for Gibbs’ Season 9 love interest — earlier in the episode, Dearing really got inside Dr. Ryan’s head. He knew all he had to do was threaten her son and get her nasty ex-husband out of jail. His money gave him plenty of power and he wasn’t afraid to use it. The DOD doctor took her son and got out of town.

• By the way, I liked when Gibbs met Ryan’s son, Parker. It was a cute scene.

• I’m not sure what was going on with Vance. Just before the blast, he had told McGee to get out but then I didn’t see him again. So who knows if he was still in the building.

• And then there’s Jimmy. I hate that his NCIS family wasn’t at his wedding. But, for now, he seems to be safe and sound and happy with his new wife.

• Did you get a load of Harper Dearing’s ex-wife, Victoria? The actress who played her was Sheila Kelley, Richard Schiff‘s real-life wife. And just in case you were wondering, Schiff is the actor that plays Harper Dearing. Anyway, you’ve seen plenty of Kelley before. She was Gwen Taylor on L.A. Law back in the day; she was also on Sisters, ER, Gossip Girl and was Zoe during the final season of Lost. On the big screen, she starred in Soapdish and Singles.

Questions

So here are some questions for Season 10. Can you believe it’s going to be the show’s tenth year? Unbelievable.

• Who was seriously hurt and are any of the injuries going to affect the way they do their jobs for any amount of time? Or will any of these injuries require any of them to take time off from work?

• What is going on with Ducky? He doesn’t look good at all. Here’s to hoping David McCallum will be back with us next season. After all, he just re-signed for another couple of years.

• How long will Dearing terrorize NCIS? Is everything going to be wrapped up in the fall premiere like this show tends to do or will it go on for several Season 10 episodes?

• Will Dr. Ryan return anytime soon?

• Will the team get to celebrate Jimmy’s marriage in any form or fashion?

• Will the action pick up right away when new episodes return or will there be a jump in time?

• Will NCIS ever get another two-hour episode? I would have appreciated a two-hour finale so that’s just something I want to know.

What did you guys think of NCIS‘ Season 9 finale?