Serious Tony In False Witness

I decided to return to the topic of "False Witness" for one reason - to once again delve into the "serious Tony" personality that we saw on this episode.

I belong to a few of the NCIS fan sites - the CBS forum and the NCIS Wiki Fan Site.  On the NCIS Wiki Fan Site, I have noticed that several people have been commenting on the "new" Tony.  How Tony DiNozzo has finally started being a good worker and agent, how he has started to understand how his actions with others sometimes had repercussions and how Tony is finally starting to "grow up."

I have to say that, as a Tony DiNozzo fan, I find this somewhat disrespectful to the character of Tony DiNozzo.  Tony has always been a good worker and a good agent - if he were not, we can be sure that Gibbs would not have him on his team and most definitely that Tony would not be Senior Field Agent.  Tony has always been aware of other's feelings and has showed great compassion in dealing with people.  And in my opinion, when the chips are really down, it is Tony DiNozzo that is the most mature agent on Gibbs' team.

Some fans are like McGee, Ziva and especially Vance - they see only the surface of Tony DiNozzo.  They see a man who acts like a 12 or 14 year old man, who comes in late, never stays over and does not seem to care about his work when he is in the office.  They see a man who "uses" women simply because he is a playboy.  They see a man who is "mean" to his team mates because he gives them McNicknames, teases them or pulls pranks on them.  They see a man who has not "grown up" because he tends to throw paper wads at his co-workers, pull those pranks, tells those jokes or makes movie references at every turn.  These fans never try to see the entire Tony DiNozzo - they simply take him at face value and allow Tony to fool them as he does the others.

Then there are fans, like myself, who have actually taken the time to notice that there is more to Tony DiNozzo than what appears on the surface - just as Gibbs and Abby do.  As Gibbs told Senior in "Flesh and Blood," Tony likes to hide behind the face of a clown.  Gibbs (and Abby) get what makes Tony a special person - just as these fans see what makes Tony such a complicated yet wonderful character.

Tony is one of the hardest working agents at NCIS.  He has to be.  Tony is the second in command - the man that has to help lead his team, or lead them in Gibbs' absence.  I am sure that means extra work for Tony that is not often explored on NCIS.   As seen in "Bait," "Hiatus," and "Rule Number 51" to name a few, Tony has to be ready to take over at any time.  As seen in "Red Cell," it is Tony that Gibbs expects to find answers.  As seen in "An Eye For An Eye," Tony comes up with answers without having appeared to have been working at all, much to the consternation of his team mates.  As Tony told Kate, he "works smarter, not harder."  So when we saw Tony working hard on this case, it was no surprise to us - we know that Tony is always a hard working agent, even if he doesn't appear to be working at all.

Tony DiNozzo has always cared about other people.  While he does date a lot of women and has had many one night stands - that does not mean that he is using them.  A woman can spot a flirt and a playboy a mile away, so if they enter into that one night stand with their eyes wide open, they are not being used.  Tony has never shown any signs of being a man who is willing to make a commitment with any of these women, except for Jeanne.  In fact, he makes his intentions pretty well known - no hiding the fact that he is scared of commitment in any form.  Even with Jeanne, who he had actually fallen in love with, Tony showed that fear of commitment and she was very aware of it.  And with Jeanne, he was also worried about hurting her even though he knew he would be hurt himself.  I do not see that as a man who "uses" women - just one that loves women but is afraid to make a true commitment or to put his heart on the line.

Tony DiNozzo has always been one to worry about the repercussion of his actions and anyone who does not remember this must not have been watching the same NCIS that I have been.  When Jenny was killed in "Judgment Day," Tony was sure he was at fault.  It did not matter that Gibbs understood that Jenny had given Tony and Ziva an order to stay away from her and that they had followed that order, you could see in Tony's eyes that he still blamed himself.  And when Ziva tried to tell Tony that he was "crying over spilt milk," Tony told her it was not milk he had spilt and made it evident that he still blamed himself for what had happened.

When Tony and Ziva went through the Michael Rivkin mess, it was Tony that was worried about his partner even though she consistently lied to him.  It was Tony that went into a dangerous situation and could have lost his job or his life in order to try and protect his partner.  It was Tony that was thrown to the wolves by Vance and it was Tony who fought his way back out.  It was Tony that was attacked by the very partner he had tried to protect and it was Tony who was stabbed in the back by that very same partner when Ziva tried to get Gibbs to choose her over Tony.  But when Gibbs chose to leave Ziva behind, it was Tony who felt the guilt.  When everyone at NCIS thought that Ziva was dead, it was Tony who was ridden with guilt and who demanded that they seek revenge so that Saleem would never be able to do to anyone else what he had done to Ziva. In my eyes that makes Tony a man who does not think of the ramifications of what a situation will do to HIM not someone else.

Tony also blamed himself for what happened to Jeanne and while he did make a mistake, he was as hurt as she was.  Yet it was not himself that he was worried about hurting - it was her.  This does not sound like a man "who does not understand that what he does has ramifications for others," as one member of the forum put it.  Rather it sounds like a man who takes full responsibility for not only the actions that are not really his fault, but those that are as well.

As for Tony's maturity?  We all know that he can be juvenile at times.  Throwing paper wads into the trash can or at his co-workers.  Having food fights in the bullpen.  Setting up pranks like he did at the end of this episode.  Constantly making jokes, movie references or teasing his co-workers.  Yet when it comes to the serious things, Tony shows more maturity than any one else on the team - other than Gibbs.

When Gibbs was hurt in "Hiatus," Tony was just as upset as the others.  Yet it was Tony who allowed McGee to hide from the room where Gibbs had been hurt.  It was Tony who, in his own way, chastised Ziva and Abby for losing it and slapping each other.  It was Tony who was leading the team while the rest of the team showed childish behavior.

When Kate was killed, Tony was more affected by her death than any of the others, except for Gibbs.  Kate was his partner and he had worked with her longer.  It was he and Gibbs who actually saw Kate get shot.  It was Tony who had her blood splattered all over his face.  And while Tony did lose it for a few moments at first with McGee, it was Tony that let Abby yell at him to get it out of her system before holding her as she cried and then saving her life.  It was Tony who stood beside McGee when he went to see Kate.  It was Tony who told McGee - through "talking" to Kate that it took a lot of courage for him to come down to autopsy, thus making McGee feel better.  It was Tony who kept on poking at Gibbs until he once again became his "old self." 

 When fans bother to look beyond the "face of a clown," that Tony DiNozzo projects they see all these things. They know that Tony DiNozzo is a great senior field agent deserving of the title, a compassionate and caring man who does think about the repercussion of his actions, and a man who, while being a child at heart can also be a very responsible and mature person when it comes to his work or his life.

The real Tony DiNozzo fans were not surprised by anything that happened in "False Witness."  Instead, we just saw what life would be like with a totally serious Tony DiNozzo.  And I have to say, I think life at NCIS would be very, very boring without him.  Do I like the "idiot Tony" that some writers have written?  Definitely not.  But the Tony we saw through Seasons 1 - 5, and intermittently in the other seasons?  I like him very, very much and there is nothing that I would want to change about him.