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.
Tropes
- Call-Back: Among the many flower arrangements and bouquets the NCIS team receives in condolences for Ducky’s death, they get a heart-shaped bouquet of black roses from Abby that Kasie keeps in the forensics lab.
- Cathartic Chores: Jimmy repeatedly cleans Kasie's lab while mourning Ducky.
- Clip Show: Of sorts. The driving story of this episode (Ducky's passing and the team solving a case he left behind) is interspersed with many flashbacks to Ducky's best and most meaningful moments, including clips featuring several departed characters such as Gibbs, Ziva, Tony, Bishop and Jack.
- Concealing Canvas: It turns out that Ducky kept a safe behind one of the photos of him with his NCIS colleagues with all of his autopsy notes, allowing them to find the evidence they need to take down Councilman Berger.
- Corrupt Politician: Allan Berger, a city councilman running for Senate, uses his connections to get away with murder and then smears the name of the man he killed on national television, nearly preventing his victim's daughter from going to college.
- The Cameo: A certain Very Special Agent returns at the end of the episode to help Jimmy prepare for Ducky's funeral before teasing Tim and starting to ramble on about movies as if he never left. Welcome back, Anthony DiNozzo.
- Did Not Die That Way: Serena Zawadski had been told that her father died a war hero in Afghanistan until hearing that he had gone UA and died in a brothel after using drugs. It turns out that he had been investigating a corrupt private contractor (now city councilman) involved in the drug trade, and said the contractor had him killed.
- Flower Motifs: Several of the flowers sent to the NCIS D.C. office after Ducky’s death also indicate where they came from:
- The NCIS New Orleans office sends magnolias, Louisiana’s state flower.
- The Los Angeles NCIS sends roses; the greater L.A. metro area (specifically, Pasadena) is known for its Rose Bowl parades.
- The Far East NCIS office sends cherry blossoms, which not only symbolize Japan but are sometimes a symbol for the beautiful yet fleeting nature of life as well as the acceptance of that fleeting nature.
- The Sydney NCIS office sends golden wattles, Australia’s national flower.
- The Hawaii NCIS office sends plumerias, a flower significant in Hawaiian culture that is often used in ceremonies and decorations. Kasie mentions that they had bought 20 more plumeria bouquets for Ducky’s funeral that upcoming weekend.
- The Scottish Parliament initially wanted to send thistles, the national flower of Ducky’s homeland, but when the Scottish Ambassador to the U.S. reaches out to Parker, he convinces them to make donations in Ducky’s name to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation instead.
- Abby sends in her favorite flower, black roses, which she loved as a gift and loved to gift others during her time at NCIS.
- The Ghost: Abby and Gibbs don't appear, but they still make their presence felt, with the former sending a Goth-type bouquet and the latter sending a picture from Alaska.
- Homeless Hero: Jonesy, who always looked out for his friend's daughter from afar since his return from Afghanistan by sending her a few dollars along with a Christmas card every year. He finally makes himself known by leaving a voicemail reassuring the victim's daughter that her father was not a deserting drug addict. He ends up being the one to bring the Councillor down with his testimony.
- Immortality Through Memory: Ducky once said that people die twice: first when their bodies expire, and second when their stories stop being told. The Squad thus resolves to keep telling stories about him.
- Killed Off for Real: Ducky passes away in his sleep. Sadly, this is due to his actor David McCallum passing away five months before this episode is aired.
- Mistaken Identity: When Jimmy is searching through Ducky’s office to see if he had left anything out about the old case he wanted to talk about, Serena suddenly comes into the office and (thinking Jimmy is Ducky) accuses Jimmy of ghosting her despite his promises to help her clear her father’s name. To her credit, Serena does profusely apologize once Jimmy explains the real Dr. Mallard suddenly passed away recently.
- Passed in Their Sleep: Ducky peacefully dies of natural causes while asleep, with Palmer finding his body when he swings by his house to discuss an old case the following morning.
- That One Case: The team spends the episode solving an old case of Ducky's that he had been looking into again before he died.
- Satiating Sandwich: When Jonesy is brought in for questioning, Nick and Knight help open him up by offering to buy him a meal, and he asks for a sandwich.
- She Is All Grown Up: Jonesy probably hasn't seen Serena since she was a little girl and is surprised to see a picture of her as a young woman. Fortunately, his tone doesn't sound inappropriate.
- Special Edition Title: The opening credits use a slow, mournful version of the main theme.
- Talking to the Dead: Ducky’s habit of doing this with every body he autopsied is discussed when Jimmy helps convince Jonesy to reveal the truth about what really happened to his friend by asking Jonesy what Daniel would do if he could still communicate with him from beyond the grave.
- Team Shot: Ducky keeps several of these taken through the years in his office. Behind one of them is a safe where the document the team is looking for is hidden away.
- Title Drop: In the final scene, when DiNozzo is helping Jimmy prepare for the funeral:Jimmy: Been telling stories all week about Dr. Mallard. You know. The whole team.
DiNozzo: Yeah. A lot of stories.
Jimmy: I guess that's ... That's all we have in the end, right? Is just, just the stories we leave behind. - Wham Line: "Ah, Autopsy Gremlin." Tony DiNozzo is back, even if only for the funeral.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: For nearly 20 years, Jimmy has almost exclusively addressed Ducky as "Dr. Mallard". But upon getting no response from him and taking a longer look at him, he very hesitantly says "Ducky. . .?" as the realization of what's happened occurs to him.
