NCIS' Series Most Heartwarming End-of-Season Performance in Show History

When NCIS fans talk about the most emotional episode in the show’s 20-season run, there’s one that consistently hits a nerve: “The Arizona.”

It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t a big finale.
But it left more viewers in tears than any shootout ever could.

“You know the uniform, but you don’t know the man who wore it.”

That’s the line that started it.

Christopher Lloyd — best known for Back to the Future and Taxi — guest-starred as Joe Smith, a 95-year-old Navy veteran who claims to have survived Pearl Harbor. His last wish? To be buried with his shipmates on the sunken USS Arizona.

The problem? There’s no proof he’s telling the truth.

And NCIS isn’t in the business of honoring lies.

At first, Gibbs and McGee treat Joe like a potential con. But as they peel back the layers, the story shifts — and so does their posture. It’s no longer just about vetting a claim. It’s about honoring a legacy before it disappears forever.

Lloyd’s Performance: Quiet, Devastating, Real

Lloyd doesn’t play Joe Smith with theatrics. His performance lands like memory itself — fragile, flickering, heavy with weight. In one scene, he recounts the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it’s not the horror that hits hardest. It’s the silence between his words.

This is the kind of scene that NCIS rarely allows. And it’s the kind of performance that re-centers an entire franchise.

For Gibbs — a man defined by restraint — Joe’s grief opens a crack. He speaks about his own time in Kuwait, not as a war story, but as a confession: “I came home different. My wife… she saw it. My daughter felt it.”

“War leaves more than scars. It leaves silence, too.”

As the episode nears its end, Joe dies before his identity can be officially confirmed.

But the twist? He was telling the truth.

DNA results arrive too late, but they don’t matter to Gibbs. He already knows who Joe was. A sailor. A survivor. A man trying to be remembered the right way.

And maybe, in the process, Gibbs let himself be remembered, too.

More Than Just Another Case

What made “The Arizona” different wasn’t the guest star — it was the stillness. The emotional honesty. NCIS has built its reputation on high-stakes investigations, but this episode paused the noise and listened to a veteran’s final words.

It became less about evidence, and more about humanity.

And for Gibbs, it was personal.

Joe’s story mirrored his own. The loss of his wife and daughter — murdered in cold blood — and the retribution that followed have always haunted him. In Joe, he saw a fellow soldier carrying pain the world no longer asked about.

Why It Stays With Fans

Even in a show filled with car chases and courtroom drama, it’s episodes like this that truly resonate. The Arizona wasn’t designed to be a blockbuster — it was written as a farewell. A soft one. A real one.

It asked the question: What if the best thing you ever did... no one remembered?

And it gave Gibbs — and viewers — a reason to sit with the answer.

Did You Know?

• Christopher Lloyd’s guest performance in The Arizona sparked immediate online praise, with fans calling for Emmy recognition.
• Lloyd was 81 when he filmed the role, bringing a lifetime of acting — and gravity — to the part.
• The episode aired as the Season 17 finale due to COVID shutdowns — and ended up being one of the series' most poignant closers.