SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for NCIS Season 24, Episode 1.

NCIS fans watching the Season 24 premiere for the return of Tony DiNozzo will be thoroughly satisfied. Viewers tuning into “Wayward Son” for anything else will be disappointed. The CBS show delivers an uneven story that goes from being about Mateo’s son to being about Tony’s return.

As the title indicates, “Wayward Son” resolves the cliffhanger from the Season 23 finale—yet even from that first scene, it’s not about Mateo or Nick Torres, but DiNozzo, who’s revealed as the person who got shot. What follows is an episode that feels much more loosely plotted than the usual NCIS case of the week. It’s basically a series of set pieces, with both Tony and new NCIS director Gabriel Laroche (a returning Seamus Dever) going in and out to tie them all together. Nearly every one of the latter’s scenes is the same: threatening the other characters for ignoring his authority. But there’s a reason for the script overexaggerating his character: to set up a last-scene not really plot twist.

It’s meant to be shocking that Tony is appointed the next NCIS director (after Laroche is fired off-screen), but eagle-eyed fans will have noticed Michael Weatherly being added to the main credits, which automatically confirms that Tony is a main character again. And the episode playing to him sets that up. Tony’s there for so many major moments: he’s the one who gives Kasie Hines the tip on how to find a critical file, he helps McGee get Mateo out of a diner safely, and he’s the one who comes face-to-face with the bad guys at the end. “Wayward Son” ends up being a DiNozzo-centric episode.

That wouldn’t be a problem except for two things: it feels like the Mateo and McGee story gets pushed aside, except for Tony giving McGee some parenting advice. Mateo isn’t even seen at the end; McGee just mentions that he’s no longer facing murder charges. It would’ve been meaningful to see one more scene between father and son. Also, season premieres are typically meant to set the table for the whole season—the best of them give viewers an idea of what to expect for every character, not just one. Of course DiNozzo becoming director of NCIS affects everyone, but that’s the only significant takeaway from “Wayward Son.”

Acting-wise, Weatherly proves he can still play Tony in his sleep after the demise of the Tony & Ziva spinoff. He does exactly what he’s good at: lots of banter, leading up to a heartfelt moment or two. Watching him play off the deadpan humor of Gary Cole is particularly fun. The other actors don’t have as much to do, save Sean Murray playing McGee’s fatherly angst in the scene between McGee and Mateo at the diner. Dever is essentially tasked with being as loud as possible throughout the episode, thus making the audience happy to say goodbye to LaRoche a second time. That, too, would have been an interesting scene to see if time permitted.

“Wayward Son” is a solid showcase for Tony DiNozzo and the talents of Michael Weatherly. The reveal that DiNozzo was the first choice to replace Leon Vance as NCIS Director is an interesting curiosity; is that something the show will shed more light on as he starts his new job, or was it just added in for this episode? There’s a lot of potential, and NCIS is making a savvy business move in capitalizing on Tony’s popularity in the aftermath of Tony & Ziva.

But it would’ve been a better move to devote the premiere to McGee, Mateo and the current NCIS team—similar to how Parker got his own cliffhanger resolution at the start of Season 23—and then focus wholly on Tony’s debut in Episode 2, with a clean case of the week slater. Both storylines have value; they just don’t work as well when combined together, and the NCIS Season 24 premiere doesn’t reach its full potential as a result.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.