S21.E2

The Stories We Leave Behind

Episode aired Feb 19, 2024
TV-14

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Brian Dietzen in The Stories We Leave Behind (2024)

As NCIS mourns the loss of Ducky, the agents find comfort in working on one of his unfinished cases involving a woman whose father was dishonorably discharged from the Marines.As NCIS mourns the loss of Ducky, the agents find comfort in working on one of his unfinished cases involving a woman whose father was dishonorably discharged from the Marines.As NCIS mourns the loss of Ducky, the agents find comfort in working on one of his unfinished cases involving a woman whose father was dishonorably discharged from the Marines.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

9.6/10

1.1K

YOUR RATING

22User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
David McCallum or Ducky Easter Eggs:
When Palmer enters Ducky's house, he greets Ducky's corgi whose name is "Solo". David McCallum played Illya Kuryakin in the TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). He is partnered with Robert Vaughn who played Napoleon Solo.
At the homeless encampment, on the street in the background is a moving truck. The name on the truck is "Great Escape Van Lines". David McCallum played Ashley-Pitt "Dispersal" in the movie The Great Escape (1963), who removed debris from the clandestine tunnels under the Nazi prison camp.

Goofs
Knight says that Gibbs and Ducky knew each other twenty years. Actually, they met in 1980, established in the Season 18 episode Everything Starts Somewhere (2020), before Gibbs became an agent with NIS, the predecessor agency to NCIS.

Quotes
Jimmy Palmer: Been telling stories all week about Dr. Mallard. You know. The whole team.
Tony DiNozzo: Yeah. A lot of stories.
Jimmy Palmer: I guess that's ... That's all we have in the end, right? Is just, just the stories we leave behind.
Tony DiNozzo: I wouldn't say only that, Jimbo. We also have the lives we touch while we are here. The people we leave behind.

Crazy credits
The theme for the opening credits is rearranged as a mournful piano solo, plus a few strings. The sequence is also shortened, and McCallum's billing remains, presumably because of the considerable flashback footage.

Connections
Features NCIS: Caught on Tape (2005)

User reviews22

Review

Featured review

10/10

Great tribute to David McCallum

This was a great tribute to David McCallum without being just a clip-show. The clips that were chosen were thoughtful and worked well with each character's reminiscence of Ducky, either alone or with others.

The underlying story was okay, but it did work to give more purpose and framework to the episode as a whole and keep it from becoming just a clip-show.

I did have some tears welling up at the end as they were getting ready for the funeral (not shown) and a surprise guest showed up. Ducky will be missed. 90 years is a good, long life and David McCallum left a long list of credits and film and video for us to keep watching.