Warning! Spoilers ahead for the NCIS’ 1000th episode.
The NCIS‘ 1000th episode exposes the harsh truth about the status of the team after Mark Harmon’s exit as Leroy Jethro Gibbs. CBS’ long-running procedural celebrates everything it has achieved in its more than two decades on the air with a jampacked episode that puts the agency under attack. While the accolade includes outings from spinoffs such as NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Los Angeles, as well as NCIS: Hawai’i and NCIS: Sydney, the special even happens exclusively in the mothership series, with its history re-examined, considering that their foe has ties to the show’s past.
In NCIS‘ 1000th episode titled “A Thousand Yards,” the team is faced with a mysterious perpetrator who has intimate knowledge of their previous cases. After Director Leon Vance is shot, subsequent bombings go off across the city targeting important characters who once worked with NCIS. In the end, it is revealed that the suspect is related to the sleeper agent that Gibbs’ original team apprehended in the pilot, “Yankee White.” Beyond the case, however, NCIS also manages to candidly reveal the truth about what became of the current squad after Harmon retired in season 19.
As NCIS becomes the target of a coordinated attack, it all starts with the agency’s top leader. Vance is no stranger to dicey situations, but while he survives the latest one, he is physically and mentally incapable of effectively running the organization, hence why he has to choose a temporary replacement, which is Tim McGee. As the most veteran member of the NCIS Major Case Response Team, it makes sense that he is chosen to fill in for Vance. Without any second thought, McGee steps in and does the job well in NCIS season 21, episode 7.
However, this raises questions about McGee’s true abilities as a member of the agency. If he could be acting NCIS director, then there’s no doubt that he could also have taken over Gibbs’ job when he left. Instead, CBS brought in Gary Cole’s Alden Parker to fill the spot. This isn’t to say that Cole is not good at his job. NCIS‘ continued success in the post-Gibbs era proves Parker’s effectiveness. That being said, McGee being Vance’s pick to be acting NCIS director is a reminder of an alternate reality where he could have succeeded Gibbs as the team’s leader.
Considering the hierarchy in the agency, McGee replacing Gibbs seemed like a no-brainer. That being said, NCIS hasn’t explicitly revealed whether he was officially offered the job. Regardless, the most senior agent on the team was going to decline it anyway, citing the long hours, change in role, and additional paperwork as his reasons. He also subsequently explained that he didn’t think that he could do the role justice after Gibbs set the standards. It’s difficult to argue with his convictions in the matter, and Vance understood that, so he didn’t force the idea of McGee being the next Gibbs.