Chang’s Team, Ducky’s Office, Torres Looking for Love

(Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for NCIS Season 22 Episode 3 “The Trouble with Hal”).

We still miss Ducky (and David McCallum), And NCIS reminds us how much we get to do in the last episode, starting with Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) wants to turn his office into a modern gym!

Ducky’s office has been untouched for almost a year, so Torres wants to take advantage of the space. He talked to Vance (Rocky Carroll), who advised him to start a petition to see how many people liked the idea. McGee (Sean Murray) knows Palmer (Brian Dietzen) won’t like it. While he’s training, “he might also be too sentimental about Ducky’s office to want to change it for anything,” notes McGee. Is Knight (Katrina Lowe) agree? The awkwardness surrounding Knight and Palmer’s breakup continues and she says she doesn’t know.

Just as Palmer talks about how “the only constant in life is change,” Torres uses that as his word to mention Ducky’s office. To his surprise, Palmer heard about his plan and it “sounded great.” He may not be sure many people will use it, the medical examiner continues, “but Dr. Mallard wouldn’t want his office to sit idle forever.” So what would Ducky like his office to look like? “He would want it to be anything that helps us do our jobs better.”

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But Casey (Diona Reasonover) is against change, wanting his position to remain in his memory. “I know it’s irrational,” she admits, “but Ducky was the one who brought me into NCIS, so forgive me if I might be a little sentimental.” (Torres calls her stubborn.) Palmer later finds her in Ducky’s office meditating; since Ducky gave her inner peace, his office is the perfect place for it. He is the one who makes her ask everyone what they would like, and she starts with him. He just needs a place for Ducky’s old paper folders because they’ll still come in handy. Parker (Gary Cole) wants to have lunch somewhere. McGee wants a separate work area away from his desk.

Eventually, Dr. Donald Mallard’s office becomes the Memorial, Multi-Purpose Room. Torres could be training in one corner, Parker could be eating lunch in another (as with Knight), Casey could have his own meditation corner, Ducky’s files are still there, etc. What will Ducky think? “He’s here. He loves it too,” Palmer says. It really needs a nickname, like “Duck Pond” or “Duck’s Lair” or… just “Ducky” as Palmer suggests. The only one who doesn’t see it is McGee, who is busy looking for Laroche, the shady new deputy director, at his desk.

Elsewhere in the episode, Knight tries to get Parker to talk about what he saw on the ship (Lily), but says he’s not ready to talk about it. Additionally, Torres tells Knight why he insists on the gym: after he was nearly killed during his last undercover operation, he began to think about the future. He’s training so hard because he’s trying to recover and get back into the game – the game of love. It’s been too long since he’s had a special person in his life, but if he’s going to prove himself again, he wants to prove himself at his best.

What do you think of what the team did with Ducky’s office? What’s your theory about Lily? And what do you hope to see in Torres’ (possible) new love interest? Let us know in the comments section below.

NCISMonday, 9/8c, CBS