WARNING: The following contains spoilers for NCIS Season 19, Episode 13, " The Helpers," which aired Feb. 28th on CBS.
For years, Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard was the person for NCIS characters to talk to whenever they found themselves with inner turmoil. The good doctor was always ready to listen and offer advice. When David McCallum reduced his screen time on the series, Ducky's deputy Jimmy Palmer (played by Brian Dietzen) stepped into his position as medical examiner. But it was also important for Palmer to fill Ducky’s position as NCIS' de facto therapist, and he's done an admirable job in that role.
First introduced as Ducky’s temporary assistant in Season 1, Palmer quickly became a regular and loved part of NCIS. He was markedly nervous and awkward to begin with, but has grown so much since his debut. While Gibbs had a touching fatherly role with the team, there’s little argument that Palmer is now the show's most heartfelt character.
Because Palmer spends most of his time in autopsy, it’s rare that he’s the focus of an NCIS episode, but it’s always a treat when that happens. His best performance came in Season 14, Episode 13, “Keep Going,” where he put himself on the ledge with a suicide jumper. During that episode, he opened up about his feelings toward Gibbs, himself and his family and all of that convinced the young man that he didn’t want to kill himself after all. However, in the latest episode "The Helpers," Palmer finally took some time to help himself.
Kasie was struggling over whether she wanted to renew her NCIS contract because of some recent traumatic experiences, but the episode had her and Palmer infected with an unknown poison -- having to be quarantined in Kasie’s lab. At first the effects were minimal, but it became clear that the poison was actually a chemical weapon with a 100 percent mortality rate. To make things worse, Palmer’s daughter Victoria was at NCIS that day -- and she could see that her dad was not doing well at all.
McGee, Knight and the Star Trek-loving Agent Parker reclaimed the stolen antidote in the nick of time, but both Palmer and Kasie really thought they were about to die. In that time, two important things happened for Palmer. He realized that he had been stuck emotionally. While secretly listening to a conversation between Victoria and Torres (who's had a tough time of his own lately), he could see that he had bottled himself up ever since his wife had died. As a result, he had unwittingly pushed Victoria away. So as the episode ended, he took his wedding ring off for the first time and decided to focus on his daughter.
More importantly, Palmer gave his daughter a heartfelt message. When he thought he might not make it, he made it clear that everyone would die eventually, so it didn’t matter when or how someone passed away. Rather, it was how they lived that was important. Drawing from Mr. Rogers, he told Victoria that there would be plenty of people to help her, and that she would also be a great helper one day. It was a great moment for Palmer as he came to terms with his own mortality and trusted that his friends would take care of his daughter. What he told his daughter is the overarching theme of NCIS -- that family will always help family, especially when times get tough.
To see more of Dr. Jimmy Palmer, watch NCIS on Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.