NCIS: Season Eight ended on a very heavy note with the team after a serial killer. Levin and Franks were both killed and Erica Barret (EJ to her friends) left. In a more surprising note, Ziva (Cote de Pablo) introduces her serious boyfriend Ray Cruz (Enrique Murciano) to the team. NCIS: Season Nine picks up not too long after that with Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) in a very bad situation. DiNozzo was shot and knows he shot someone else, but there’s no body. There is, however, another NCIS badge with blood on it, but DiNozzo can’t remember a thing. Cranston (Wendy Makkena) tells him to start at the beginning and tell her everything. It all starts with Tony taking a special mission unbeknownst to the rest of the team. He was given a photo of someone that needed to be "handled." In the process, Tony gets wrapped up in more than he can handle. Luckily, the rest of the team will be there to help. Ziva is finally off of probation and is a full officer again. Ray is on assignment out of the country, though. McGee (Sean Murray) is still on the team with Tony and Ziva; Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is still in charge, which is good because I don’t think anyone else could keep this team under control! Of course, Abby (Pauley Perrette) is still doing the forensics. She is still my favorite character from any show! It seems like she’s not shown as much this season though, which disappoints me. In the morgue, Ducky (David McCallum) is still in charge, assisted by Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen).

NCIS does a really good job of mixing cases with just enough of the character’s personal information to keep it enjoyable. On the personal side, Abby accidentally finds a long-lost brother when she goes to donate a kidney. I wish they would have explored more of that than they did though! I am hoping that maybe this will be revisited next season. Ziva is going to have a tough time with her relationship, while Ducky finds a girlfriend in an episode. Palmer is getting married, so there are a few interesting things that result. I love his choice for best man! DiNozzo is really growing up, sometimes. We finally get to meet his ex-fiancee and find out the full story with that. I love Jamie Lee Curtis’ recurring role as Samantha Ryan, a specialist in psy-ops. She’s awesome. McGee isn’t really as much of a central figure this season as he has been in the past, but I love that they let McGee say that he "took an arrow in the knee" though. It’s those kind of nods to pop culture that keep the show fresh. The writers have done a wonderful job balancing Gibbs as the team leader, but also a father figure to them all at some point.

On the case side of things, there’s nothing that really over-arcs the entire season, but there are some interesting cases. DiNozzo’s dad makes a guest appearance when he gets into some serious trouble! This one might be so bad that not even the team can get him out of it. There is a very amusing case when an officer is found dead, with a superhero costume on under his uniform. This puts ideas in everyone’s heads. Abby’s costume is amusing. When a very pregnant marine shows up at Christmas, things get hectic. She’s being hunted by several different groups, one of them our own government. Can the team help pull off a true Christmas miracle? During an arson case, we will get to learn even more about DiNozzo’s past. The two-part episode called "Engaged" is particularly heart-wrenching.

There are quite a few special features on the DVD set as well. They are spread out over all of the discs so you can watch one after every few episodes. As in the previous seasons, I really like the cast roundtable. It’s quite amusing to see these people as they are in real life rather than as their characters. I also really enjoyed "Psyched Up: Jamie Lee Curtis on Set." She is an awesome actress and does a really great job in the series. While this has not been my favorite season of NCIS of them all, it is still quite good. I am hoping that next season will follow up on some of the loose ends that weren’t covered in this one. At a minimum, I am anxious to find out who did not survive the season finale!