How ‘NCIS’ Said Goodbye To David McCallum (And The Surprise Guest Who Showed Up To Pay Last Respects)

NCIS on Monday offered its last appreciation to star David McCallum, who kicked the bucket September 25 at 90 years old.

A fan number one, McCallum was the final unique cast part on NCIS, in which he played a whimsical yet profoundly proficient examiner Donald "Ducky Mallard" for a long time.

As vigorously prodded in the promotions, the episode named "The Narratives We Abandon" opened with Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen, who co-composed the episode) showing up at Ducky's home to track down his tutor — wearing his monogrammed jammies — dead in his bed, with his sweet corgi looking melancholy in the hall.

"Kicking the bucket discreetly in your rest isn't the most terrible approach," remarks Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) back at the NCIS workplaces, in the wake of wrapping up a call with Scottish parliament who evidently needed to send "a heap of thorns" to respect their local child's passing.

"He carried on with an extremely lengthy, exceptionally remunerating life, which he would maintain that we should celebrate more than anything," added Chief Leon Vance (Rough Carroll).

So that is precisely exact thing the episode did — show old scenes from past seasons to recollect the person who once said "we as a whole kick the bucket two times; when our bodies give out, and again when are stories quit being told."

There was a flashback including Leroy Gibbs (Imprint Harmon) with Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo). Then, at that point, came a scene with Ducky and Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), trailed by one with Ducky and Gibbs discussing how the last option never truly shared individual stories at work.

On the whole, there must be a case of the day: the last thing Ducky was chipping away at involved a dead warrior named Danny whose name was getting spread by an aggressive councilman named Allan Berger (um, totally unrelated to, we surmise, veteran headhunter Alan Berger). The authority word was that Danny passed on in an Afghan house of ill-repute, his body filled with heroin — however his girl, Serena, thought in any case.

Ducky did as well. The group does some digging and it turns out Danny was a previous protector for Berger, who recently functioned as a project worker in Afghanistan and took cash as an afterthought from a nearby heroin activity. When Danny took steps to uncover the tricks, Berger had Danny killed.

With the case clinched and Danny's great name reestablished, the group could then continue on toward Ducky's remembrance. On the whole, a shock was coming up for Palmer, who was preparing to convey a tribute. In strolls DiNozzo, who presented to Palmer a unique gift — a tie like what his coach used to wear in the lab.

"He had an old buddy in you," DiNozzo tells Palmer. The two then, at that point, go to the commemoration, after Palmer switches the light off in Ducky's previous work area.

Weatherly hasn't showed up on CBS since his theatrics Bull finished in 2022. He left NCIS in 2016.

The episode finished with a title card that read, "In memory of our dear companion and partner David McCallum. We will miss you."