“The Stories We Leave Behind” from “NCIS” Season 21 sees the important return of Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo. After it’s discovered Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum) has passed away, the central team is in a state of grief. However, DiNozzo serves as a source of comfort to those who have been left behind, as well as to the audience potentially still reeling from the real-life death of McCallum. A lot of work undoubtedly went into crafting the emotional episode, but there was still a chance for some more lighthearted improv in one crucial moment.
Sean Murray, who plays Timothy McGee on “NCIS,” spoke with TV Insider about working on the pivotal episode, including his moment with Weatherly. “We actually did a lot of different versions of that last scene,” he explained. “The main parts we had down, but as far as once Michael and I would start doing our thing towards the end and go into the elevator, every time we did it, we were talking about something different. They would just let us ad lib.”
The moment comes after DiNozzo and Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) share a moment before McGee enters to inform them they’re going to be late. Palmer gets the emotional beat of turning off the lights while DiNozzo chats up McGee about movies. DiNozzo brings a lighter energy, showing how the NCIS team will always be there for one another, especially during times of strife like this.
Sean Murray said Michael Weatherly made the Ducky episode easier to get through
Michael Weatherly’s riffing at the end of “The Stories We Leave Behind” is far from the only “NCIS” moment that was improvised. The origin of the infamous Gibbs headslap is that it was an unscripted moment between Mark Harmon and Weatherly. Harmon just did it, and everyone rolled with it. Therefore, Weatherly’s use of improv to end the Ducky tribute episode on a somewhat lighter note perfectly aligns with the series. Sean Murray also discussed how Weatherly, in general, helped make the episode all the more palatable.
A good portion of the episode consists of flashbacks of previous scenes featuring David McCallum’s Ducky. However, ending with a more optimistic tone with Tony DiNozzo coming back into the picture helped instill a sense of hope. Murray told TV Insider, “I think that ending moment was just the perfect right amount of old school ‘NCIS’ levity that you needed. There was just a touch of it. It was a really special thing with Tony coming in and passing the bow tie off to Palmer.”
While Weatherly acting alongside Brian Dietzen got a lot of attention from fans, Murray was in the last scene, too, with the three getting into the elevator together. Even though Weatherly left the show in Season 13, there was no learning curve to get back into the swing of things, as Murray described: “As soon as [Weatherly] stepped on the stage as Tony doing his thing, it was like it warped me right back to the old Tony McGee stuff. It just reminded me how much fun it was.” It’s nice to hear the Ducky tribute episode was fun at times, as emotional as it must have been.