Caution: This post contains spoilers from NCIS Season 24 Episode 5, “Speechless.”Over 24 years, NCIS has introduced many family members. Team members have gotten married, or their parents and siblings have appeared. Each time, questions arise about how and when those characters could return, while others seem to disappear into the void due to actor availability and need.
NCIS has done an excellent job over the years of crafting tension as family members return. There’s usually a bigger storyline involved, whether it’s to add more personal development to a main character, or to kick-start a case. At the heart of the return is a genuine reason to bring that character back, and NCIS season 24 has just created the perfect in for one of the show’s most divisive members of the McGee family.
NCIS season 24, episode 5, “Speechless,” caught viewers up on the Mateo situation. During the NCIS season 23 finale, he had hacked into the database, and the truth came out during the NCIS season 24 premiere. While the MCRT and DiNozzo tried to give Mateo the benefit of the doubt, he was always going to have to face the consequences of his actions.
That could have written him out for good, but NCIS has found a way to craft an easy return. It even works with the initial work on McGee’s exit path on NCIS.
Mateo’s NCIS Future Explained
After Palmer told McGee to speak from the heart as a dad and not a writer, he was able to reframe his argument to help Mateo. This wasn’t to get Mateo off all charges so that he didn’t face any consequences. Instead, he had the judge look for a way to give Mateo a chance to prove that he can be a better person and that he has learned from his mistakes. He even likened it to how Torres and Parker had both overcome adversity in life, while also using his current case to support his argument.
Arguably, McGee got lucky by having a judge who had overcome a difficult childhood herself. She decided that Mateo deserved a chance to change, rather than lose 10 years of his life to the system, but there was only one way to do that: he had to join the Navy, which is exactly what Mateo agreed to do.
How Becoming A Navy Sets Up Mateo’s NCIS Return
While it will take time for Mateo to be posted anywhere, as he needs to get through boot camp first, this whole arc opens the door for his easy return to NCIS. He’s now with the organization that McGee and the rest of MCRT deal with when it comes to crimes, creating a window of development and bonding.
One thing NCIS needs to do is craft a full storyline to warrant bringing Mateo back. After all, McGee can offer side updates through conversation with his friends to share how his son is doing. The right storyline needs to be there, especially since Mateo is such a controversial decision that felt more like a jump the shark moment during NCIS season 23. The only time a return for a small update makes sense is when it involves Mateo graduating from boot camp.
The best option for a full-episode return that gets Matteo fully involved would be a situation at boot camp, whether there’s a murder or something suspicious going on with a training officer. It would open a similar storyline to SWAT season 8, when Hondo had to find out what had happened to his cousin who joined the Marines and went AWOL. When someone comes from a troubled past, eyes are naturally on them to mess up, so McGee and the MCRT could have to investigate to prove Mateo wasn’t involved, as someone attempts to frame him.
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Crafting this story could depend on where Mateo is sent for boot camp. If location doesn’t work out to allow this, NCIS has the option of waiting for Mateo to graduate and get his first posting, making it believable that the D.C. team would be assigned the case.
- Release Date
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September 23, 2003
- Showrunner
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Steven D. Binder
- Directors
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Dennis Smith, Terrence O’Hara, Tony Wharmby, James Whitmore Jr., Thomas J. Wright, Michael Zinberg, Arvin Brown, Rocky Carroll, Diana Valentine, Leslie Libman, Tawnia McKiernan, Colin Bucksey, William Webb, Bethany Rooney, Alrick Riley, Jeff Woolnough, Alan J. Levi, Lionel Coleman, Martha Mitchell, Peter Ellis, Michael Weatherly, Edward Ornelas, Stephen Cragg, Tom Wright
- Writers
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Donald P. Bellisario, Don McGill, Steven D. Binder, David J. North, Gina Lucita Monreal, Christopher J. Waild, Scott Williams, Frank Cardea, George Schenck, Jesse Stern, John C. Kelley, Jennifer Corbett, Christopher Silber, Reed Steiner, Nicole Mirante-Matthews, Jack Bernstein, Scott J. Jarrett, Matthew R. Jarrett, Kimberly-Rose Wolter, Gil Grant, Frank Military, Nell Scovell, Steven Kriozere, Brian Dietzen, Kate Torgovnick May, Jeff Vlaming, Sydney Mitchel, Katie White, Richard C. Arthur, Laurence Walsh
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Sean Murray
Timothy McGee
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Michael Weatherly
Tony DiNozzo
