'NCIS' recap: Special Agent Tony DiNozzo says farewell

DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) tells Gibbs (Mark Harmon) he's leaving the service on 'NCIS' (Sonja Flemming/CBS)

The Season 13 finale of "NCIS" was all about saying goodbye to Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, with original cast member Michael Weatherly departing the role.

The multi-episode story arc rejoins the international manhunt for Trent Kort just minutes after the team saw footage of a mortar attack on the farmhouse where Ziva David was staying. It turns out that Kort was responsible.

When news breaks that a survivor was found, DiNozzo tells Gibbs he has to go to Israel and he heads out. But before he leaves for the airport, McGee and Abby show up at his apartment with the news that Director Vance heard from Mossad: Ziva is dead.

McGee returns to the office and says Tony made one request: Do what Ziva would do. Find Trent Kort and kill him.

That night, DiNozzo is back at work, imagining Ziva across from him at her old desk (cue flashback footage). DiNozzo lashes out when Gibbs tells him DiNozzo can't work the case because Ziva was more than an agent to him. DiNozzo points out that she was like a daughter to Gibbs and a sister to McGee and Abby. Gibbs tells DiNozzo to go home for the night or he's gone for good.

At an MTAC meeting with Interpol, FBI agent Tess Monroe comes up with the idea that Kort is still in D.C. and contracted the hit on the farmhouse remotely. By tracking money transfers, they discover that Kort hired a Palestinian to do the job.  Monroe is correct; Kort is still in D.C. and the hunt is on.

McGee reminds Gibbs of a question he posed when McGee was hired: What happens when the best agents in the world want to accomplish something? Gibbs replies, "They get it done." McGee says, "For Fornell and Ziva, we'll get it done."

The next morning, DiNozzo gets called in by Vance. Mossad Director Elbaz is also there. DiNozzo takes a nasty attitude with her, not understanding why she isn't back in Israel searching for answers. Elbaz says she is there for a much more important reason, before dropping a bombshell.

The survivor of the farmhouse attack was Tali, Ziva's daughter -- and DiNozzo is her father.

Jimmy Palmer drops by to baby proof DiNozzo's apartment and asks if DiNozzo is coming back to work. DiNozzo doesn't understand the question. Palmer explains that DiNozzo might be having second thoughts about having such a dangerous job now that he is a single dad.

Meanwhile, Abby pinpoints several possible locations for Kort based on dirt he left behind at Gibbs' house the night he shot Fornell. MI6 agent Reeves suggests they pump Jacob Scott – the man Kort framed -- for more information. He might know something he doesn't know he knows.

Scott provides investigators with a name: Edgar. With the info from Scott and Abby, the team figures out that Dr. Edgar Polk at the Pryor Nuclear Research Facility is Kort's next target. But by the time they arrive, Polk has already been kidnapped.

It turns out Monroe can read lips, so from the surveillance video, she figures out where they are going: Polk's son's house in Chesapeake City. McGee texts DiNozzo the address so he can be there for the take down.

They encounter Kort as he runs out of the house, which he set on fire. Surrounded, Kort tells DiNozzo that he had no idea Ziva was in the farmhouse. It wasn't personal; it was business. Kort goes for a gun and all six agents shoot him.

That night, Gibbs is in the basement working on his boat when DiNozzo drops by. He reminds Gibbs that a few months ago he asked Tony if he still wanted to be an agent. Now, DiNozzo knows the answer. Gibbs says DiNozzo has known for a while, but now he has a daughter to think of.

DiNozzo said when McGee texted him the address in Chesapeake City, his first thought wasn't about wanting Kort dead, but about taking care of Tali. The girl has lost everything except him. DiNozzo has never been anybody's everything before, so he's done now. He is taking Tali to Israel to look for answers, and then to Paris because Ziva loved Paris. Gibbs hugs him and tells him to take care of himself and his family.

DiNozzo makes one last stop at the office to say goodbye. Abby tells DiNozzo how much Ziva loved him. DiNozzo wishes Bishop well, and tells McGee he is now the very special agent.