NCIS season 17: Reasons to explore Gibbs and Sloane further
Close to the end of season 16, it started to get a little bit more clear that Maria Bello’s character did have feelings for Mark Harmon’s all-important NCIS agent, but having these feelings is one thing. Finding a way to express them is another. It’s obviously challenging any time these feelings manifest themselves when you work with someone, and it’s probably a million times harder when that person you’re having these feelings for is Gibbs. He is not exactly the most open person in the world, and getting to know him is at times like getting to know a person who can’t speak or someone so far off the grid you can’t communicate with them. He just has so many walls up at trying to break any of them down can prove difficult, even for somebody with history in psychology like Sloane has.
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So, moving into season 17, how can the writers really explore this relationship? I’m very curious about it because it does feel like there are several storytelling possibilities here. First and foremost, though, they’re going to have to resolve whatever is going on with Ziva and why she decided to come back to speak with Gibbs in the first place. That is going to be inevitably a distraction (hopefully an entertaining and thrilling one) to everything else that’s going on, and it’s neither the time nor place for Sloane to open up while this storyline is front and center.
However, on the other side of this, don’t you think something could happen? Gibbs is starting to learn more and more about opening up and being there for other people; meanwhile, he’s also learning that it’s okay to let people be there for him in turn. If he starts to exhibit this behavior more around the workplace, that could cause Sloan to be more open to express herself around him. It’s a signal, and that’s important for any relationship.
Even if that openness happens, there is another major hurdle that the two would need to jump over — yet another long-established rule from Gibbs that you’re not meant to date your co-worker. Any die-hard fan knows this, especially those who have followed relationships like the one with Tony and Ziva for so many years. That rule is one of the things that blocked the two of them from having much of a public relationship for their time together on the show; if Gibbs were to actually change that now, it would be an enormous deal. It’s hard to even write the word ENORMOUS enormously enough to signify just how crazy it would be.
Yet, Gibbs breaking this rule would be a tremendous sign of his growth as a character. It would perfectly represent how far he has come from the person he was in the earlier days of the series, and it will also show what Sloane ultimately means to him if she becomes someone who he’s willing to break a rule for.
Of course, for everyone out there who is just assuming that Gibbs only likes redheads because of his ex-wives, remember some of his other dating history and other elements of him that have been brought to the forefront — take Hollis Mann, for example. Just because he has married redheads doesn’t mean that he has no interest in anyone else at all. There’s room for something for Gibbs and Sloane, but it’s really a matter of time, feelings, and figuring out the right story to tell to bring it to the surface. Hopefully, NCIS is around for long enough that they can really dive in and explore this in the best possible way.
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Are you still rooting for something big to happen when it comes to Gibbs and Sloane on NCIS season 17? Be sure to share right now in the comments, and check back soon for some more news. (Photo: CBS.)
This article was written by Jessica Carter and you can follow her on Twitter here.