'NCIS' Season 17 Episode 13: Peter Graham's cameo pays tribute to Mallard, fans call him Ducky's doppelgänger
This article contains spoilers for Season 17 Episode 13 'Sound Off'
In this episode we see Chief Medical Examiner Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) trying to find himself a medical assistant after the retirement of the genius Dr Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum).
Being one of the most popular characters on the show and an excellent and hard act to follow, Palmer now has double the work on his hands and he is unable to keep up with the team's much needed quick pace. They solve murders after all, so we see why a new medical assistant is needed immediately.
As he runs through multiple candidates, some who don't like knee caps and others who don't seem to meet his critical standards. Ending up dismissing more candidates than he would like, Palmer comes across Christopher Crane (Peter Graham). Crane, for lack of better wording, seems to be more of a robot rather than a human.
"Bah hahaha it's like Ducky Jr. #NCIS," a fan tweeted, commenting on Crane's incessant intelligence and personality.
He seems to be a natural fit and was even deemed Ducky Jr and fans could not have been more thrilled at the joke and Graham's acting. "That's Ducky's doppelganger! lol #NCIS," tweeted an excited fan.
Some even went as far as tweeting, "I'm gonna need Ducky to take a paternity test. #ncis"
"@PeterGrahammm Even though it was for a short time, you were amazing in tonight's #NCIS! And here we all thought you could be 'related' to David McCallum's character, Ducky. ;) #bowties #britishaccent," tweeted a fan.
Sadly for Palmer, Crane opted out of the position delivering a goodbye line that not even the chief medical examiner could understand. Will Palmer ever find an assistant? "Christopher Crane enjoys a game of hard to get. Gotta go. #NCIS ##duckyjr #babyducky," tweeted Graham.
Fans were hoping Graham would stay on as Ducky Jr, with one of them tweeting, "So no Ducky 2.0. Darn. That would've been interesting to see for a while. #NCIS" as others recognized the cameo as a tribute to the actual legend himself. "He’s like a little mini Ducky! Even their voices sound similar to me and that’s precious! What a lovely tribute to Ducky! @NCIS_CBS #NCIS #Ducky," tweeted a nostalgic fan.
'NCIS' Season 17 airs on Tuesdays at 8 pm only on CBS.