For all of our criticism of the NCIS show producers, they did right by Michael Weatherly in the show they wrote for his final appearance. Very well done. Finally the producers have admitted the power of the faithful fans of Cote de Pablo. If anything overshadowed Michael Weatherly’s departing episode, it was the dominance of a character that has not been on the set since Season 11, Episode 2 (Past, Present, and Future).

Michael Weatherly’s loss to the NCIS family will be felt in Season 14, especially after his powerful portrayal that had him rising from the ashes of despair. Tony’s grief morphed into extreme anger after receiving terrible news that Ziva was killed in Israel. In a jaw-dropping twist, Tony grows into a loving and concerned father to the daughter he never knew Ziva had after she returned to Israel.

Past clips of Ziva’s good-bye to Tony, and other scenes with her make it hard to believe so much time as elapsed since Cote left the show. Every character had their moment to send Tony off with love, including his TV father Robert Wagner. And so let us take this moment to say our good-byes Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. We could say much about the investigation to catch Kort, and how great it was to see Fornell being revived.

After such an emotional show, which Michael described as a “powder keg”, we choose to sign off this critique with our desire for each one of us to tell someone we care about that we love them. That’s our takeaway from the final episode. Tony lived for years without knowing Ziva loved him. Okay, we get it that these are TV characters. The point is, they have become family to many viewers. Let’s learn from their mistakes and foibles.

We always knew one day Tony would become Leroy Jethro Gibbs andtonight he has. Gibbs has always been the father to the team and now Tony is a father to his daughter. With the four agents remaining, Gibbs called them all together to “grab their gear”. They will all be back in the fall, we think.

Be Blessed, Diane and David Munson