The NCIS Franchise's 1,000th Episode Featured Some Solid Cameos, But I'm Really Impressed By How It Connected To The Main Show's First Episode

Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode "A Thousand Yards" are ahead!

NCIS may have spun out of JAG in 2003, but it launched a franchise that’s not only still going strong, it’s more arguably more popular than ever. Hawai’i and Sydney are also running alongside the flagship show, and Los Angeles and New Orleans had lengthy stays for 14 seasons and seven seasons, respectively. As such, the 1,000th episode across the entire franchise aired tonight on the 2024 TV schedule through the seventh episode of NCIS’ 21st season, titled “A Thousand Yards.” It featured some solid cameos, but I was really impressed by how this story connected to the show’s first episode, which served as a fitting away to pay tribute to the entire franchise.

“A Thousand Yards” began with NCIS director Leon Vance being shot by an unknown sniper while arguing with his son Jared while they were visiting the grave of Jackie Vance, Vance’s late wife/Jared’s mother. It soon became clear this same assailant held a grudge against the entire agency, as they bombed the crypt of late NCIS director Thomas Morrow, the office of Dr. Rachel Cranston, the late Caitlin Todd’s sister, and Tobias Fornell’s home, though fortunately Tobias wasn’t harmed and was brought to the agency. Fake threats were sent out to all the employees at the DC office, which led Nick Torres to warn Los Angeles’ Kensi Blye and Hawai’i’s Jane Tennant to watch their backs.

So who was the perpetrator of these crimes? A 27-year-old veterinary assistant named Lindsey Wexler from Bend, Oregon who pretended to date Jared online for three months so she could get close to him and learn more about his dad? Why does she hate NCIS so much? It turns out that Lindsey is the daughter of Leonard Rish, a sleeper agent who boarded Air Force One in “Yankee White,” the first NCIS episode, and tried to kill the President, but was shot by Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Tobias Fornell realized who she really was, as he was present for those events more than 20 years ago and remembered that the quote “The history of liberty is a history of resistance” was part of Leonard’s manifestos.

Devastated by her father’s death, Lindsey spent years spewing hatred of NCIS online, but it wasn’t until she met a message board user named GravitasMons, who fed her conspiracies theories (mostly about Leon Vance) and encouraged her to exact revenge. It turns out GravitasMons was really Fletcher Voss, the creator of Bandium, the app that NCIS has been using for years to be informed about crimes they need to investigate, as well as the Bandimatch dating app, which Lindsey used to find Jared. Fletcher Voss was desperate for Bandium to acquire an exclusive contract with NCIS since he was in broke and in danger of losing his company, but after Vance refused to give him a recommendation, Fletcher gaslit Lindsey into being the instrument of his own revenge.

But as it turns out, Lindsey was only using Fletcher for an even greater plot. She manipulated him into unknowingly infecting the NCIS DC office with a computer virus that messed with their lights, which was a minor nuisance at best. Rather, her real target was the new Air Force One, because Fletcher had already toured the aircraft and plugged his phone there too, thus putting malicious code in its isolated system. Fortunately, the agents discovered what she was up to and managed to stop Air Force One from taking off before a disaster happened.

Like I said earlier, what better way to honor 1,000 NCIS franchise episodes by including a plot twist tied to the very first? It was also nice to see that the end of “A Thousand Yards” included a montage of archival footage not just of NCIS fan-favorite characters like Gibbs, Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, but also folks from Los Angeles, New Orleans and Sydney. Finally, along with Lindsey’s final scheme foiled, and Vance was expected to make a full recovery and he patched things up with his son. All in all, this was a pretty cool way to celebrate this NCIS franchise milestone.

While it remains to be seen as of this writing if NCIS: Hawai’i will return for Season 4, in addition to NCIS being been renewed for Season 22 and NCIS: Sydney being renewed for Season 2, the prequel NCIS: Origins and the Tony DiNozzo/Ziva David spinoff show are also on the way, with the former set to air on CBS in the 2024-2025 TV season, and the latter set to screen exclusively to Paramount+ subscribers. So this franchise’s popularity is in no danger of dying down, and CinemaBlend will continue providing coverage on its biggest developments.