NCIS Season Finale 2008

Well, the previews didn't lie. For weeks now, we've been told in previews and commercials -- not to mention numerous stories in the press -- that one of the principals would die on the finale of NCIS. The producers delivered; someone died.

In one way, the death of Jenny Shephard, NCIS director, is the least painful loss, and also the most obvious. If you had Lauren Holly in the NCIS pool, you're the winner. For most of the episodes since the return from the strike, viewers have known that Ducky had determined that the director was sick. Jethro knew it; so did Jenny. But Jenny didn't know that Jethro knew. (Can you follow that?) Anyway, what it means in the big picture is that before tonight's two-hour finale, Jenny Shephard was the most likely candidate to bite the dust.

Fortunately, the way the show chose to kill her off was pretty creative. It was kick-ass, if you ask me. Instead of wasting away from a disease that was never identified -- but would have resulted in severe pain and loss of motor skills according to Ducky -- she went out guns blazing. And kind of like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, you don't see her getting riddled with bullets.