NCIS Season Eight

Midway through Season 8, Gibbs (Mark Harmon, above) began a new woodworking project in his basement.

- 

It wasn't until the finale, "Pyramid," that viewers realized it was a casket for his beloved mentor, gravel-voiced fan-favorite Mike Franks (Muse Watson). Of course, Gibbs had assumed it would be Franks' terminal cancer that put him in it, not the Port-to-Port Killer, who stabbed Mike outside Gibbs' home in the previous hour, "Swan Song." Gibbs had called Mike in to consult on the twisty case, which ultimately revealed Lt. Jonas Cobb (chilling guest star Kerr Smith) had been turned into a stone-cold assassin by Operation Frankenstein, a joint mistake between the Navy and the CIA. Going rogue, Cobb targeted servicemen around the globe, knowing his spree would end with him face-to-face with t