Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “Hardboiled” are ahead!
I’ve been watching NCIS ever since I stumbled upon the Season 3 episode “Bait” on the USA Network back in 2008. So I’m just five years shy of having watched the popular procedural for the entirety of its run, though I obviously went back to watch older episodes. As such, I’ve seen Sean Murray’s Timothy McGee come a long way, from starting out as a “probie” in Season 1 in a recurring capacity, to Murray now getting top billing in the opening credits and having the most appearances in NCIS franchise, surpassing the late David McCallum. And yet, now that the CBS show’s latest episode, “Hardboiled,” has finished airing on the 2024 TV schedule, I need to talk about one aspect of McGee’s life I wish NCIS would explore more in-depth: him being a father.
What Happened With McGee And Jimmy This Week
This week’s case was a twisty one. It started with the murder of the head of the Warfare and Weapons at the Office of Naval Research, who was working on the Navy’s next generation hypersonic missile, and culminated with the reveal of the components from said missile (which it turned out was a dud) being used to create a new kind of vacuum cleaner.
If you’re reading this, but haven’t seen the “Hardboiled” yet, I recommend streaming it with your Paramount+ subscription to learn how we got from Point A to B, as well as watch Nick Torres try to protect his informant and forge a connection with a private investigator who used to be in the Navy. What I want to talk about here is the side story exploring Timothy McGee and Jimmy Palmer as referees for the local kids soccer league.
We don’t actually see these men out on the field, but rather dealing with the aftermath of a controversial call they made that determined the winning team of the recent championship game. Both men received angry phone calls from parents of kids from the losing team, and while McGee started to wonder if they made the right call, Jimmy, the head ref, felt that they shouldn’t doubt their decision. However, thanks to a computer simulation Kasie put together pulling from footage taken of the game and shared online, McGee and Jimmy realized that they had indeed called the final goal of the game wrong.
Initially Jimmy wanted to keep this information a secret because he felt it they revealed they made one wrong call, then all of their future judgements would be questioned. He even did Gibbs’ trademark move of shutting down the elevator for the first time to make his point. However, eventually Jimmy relented and decided to retire from being head ref by being the scapegoat. Only, McGee had already beat him to the punch, taken the fall and resigned, as he knew being a referee meant more to Jimmy and he was tired of dealing with the angry parents.
Hey, if you’re not feeling it, get out while you can as opposed to keep doing something that makes you miserable. Besides, now he has more time to look into Gabriel LaRoche, the new NCIS Deputy Director who’s kicked his Spider senses off really hard.
NCIS Should Show McGee With His Kids
This was a fine enough subplot to follow along with in “Hardboiled”, but hearing about McGee refereeing these soccer games for kids reminded me that while we hear a lot about Tim and his wife Delilah parenting their twins, John and Morgan, we’ve never actually seen either of them onscreen with the kids. The children were born in the NCIS Season 17 episode “Voices”, which aired in November 2017. So John and Morgan would now be seven years old, and yet they’re nowhere to be seen. Hearing McGee talk about parenting is welcome, but it’s like the writing technique says, show, don’t tell. Let’s finally meet John and Morgan and see them with their adoring dad.
Now I realize this is easier said than done considering this would require bringing child actors aboard for one episode, if not several. At that age, it would be harder to direct such actors compared to if they were middle-schooled age, and it would also be difficult to fit them into whatever case is happening that week. Still, if Victoria, Jimmy Palmer’s daughter, could get an episode of her own (see Season 19’s “The Helpers), why can’t McGee’s children follow suit?
I’m not saying this needs to happen in Season 22, but if NCIS returns next year for Season 23, if not keeps going for several more years, then the writers should seriously consider spotlighting the twins at least once. They wouldn’t even need to be involved with whatever the main procedural storyline is. Frankly, I’d rather just look in on McGee looking after John and Morgan in the midst of a case, not as part of it. McGee sounds like he’s a great dad, so it’d be nice for that to actually be on display. If the scheduling works out, have Margo Harshman reprise Delilah in that episode too. Let’s see how well these two parent together. If it means we have to wait a few more years until the twins are a little older and more can be done with them, I’m ok with that so long as it results in a great story.
New episodes of NCIS air Mondays at 9 pm ET on CBS, with NCIS: Origins following right afterwards. The franchise’s other current programming includes NCIS: Sydney, which returns for Season 2 on Friday, January 31, and the upcoming Paramount+-exclusive NCIS: Tony & Ziva is also expected to premiere on the 2025 TV schedule.
