NCIS season 16: How long could Bishop keep Ziva’s secret?
In a lot of ways, that is the angle that makes the most sense. Ziva is in the character who has been gone from the series and, in turn, Ziva is the character most viewers are eager to see back on the series someday. We’ve written about why it is important for NCIS to bring the character back before the end of this season, but admittedly, it is up to CBS in order to figure out if they want to do that or not. (It’s also up to whether or not it works within Cote’s schedule.)
There is also still another important wrinkle to all of this that we have not discussed all that much — where Ellie Bishop ultimately fits within all of this. She is the person now holding the secret in regards to Ziva being alive and, for now, she seems intent on keeping it under wraps. She has faced a number of different opportunities in which she could have spilled the beans, but opted instead not to. She has kept the cards close to the vest, though there was a brief comment from her in “Once Upon a Tim” that suggested that it is weighing on her.
If someone like McGee or Gibbs were to have discovered the news about her being out there, maybe they would process it differently than Ellie does. We imagine her emotional position is, at the moment, quite difficult. Think about it this way — she never met Ziva and is surrounded by people who loved her. She is now holding this news that they would be happy to hear, but she cannot bear herself to say it. She wants to do right by Ziva since she is the one who worked so hard in order to find the truth in the first place.
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Can she keep this secret forever?
If the operations of the NCIS office continue to go the way in which they are now, it may be easy for her to shield her colleagues from the truth. She can always mask the secret by just burying herself into other work; there is always another case to think about, and that leaves very little time for reflection and contemplation.
Where we imagine the true struggle lying is in the event another case comes up from Ziva’s past; or, just having to be around the rest of the team if they are talking about her. The more Ziva becomes a subject of conversation, the harder it will be. We’ve also suggested that seeing Tony’s father on the next new episode (airing soon) could be problematic for Bishop, but if she finds it hard keeping a secret from Senior, wouldn’t she also struggle with it in the context of Gibbs or McGee? They know Ziva so much better than Tony, Sr. ever did. Most of his information about her is probably coming from stories his son has told him over the years.
In the end…
We do think that Bishop wants to keep the secret about Ziva, and she will try to hold onto it for as long as she possibly can. Eventually, though, do not be surprised if there is a moment where the rubber meets the road and it actually becomes helpful to get that information out there.
How long do you think Bishop should keep the secret on Ziva, and is there a tangible reason to get the info out there? Share below. (Photo: CBS.)