Is NCIS new tonight? Our expectations on Gibbs, Ziva, and villains
Originally, you were going to see the new episode entitled “Bears and Cubs” tonight, one that was meant to both give you the return of Anthony DiNozzo Senior and one that also would introduce Jimmy Palmer’s father-in-law. As it turns out, the father-in-law is connected to a new case, and Palmer’s going to have to make some difficult decisions! (You can read more about that over at the link here.) This sounds like a fun story, but CBS mysteriously decided to push their Tuesday lineup back tonight. That means no new NCIS, and also no new FBI or NCIS: New Orleans, either. Sigh.
These shows will be coming back on Tuesday, March 12. Even as of last week, there was a lot of confusion given that CBS’ press site still had some of these shows listed as airing tonight.
So what are we expecting from this upcoming episode next week? We thought we’d map out a few different ideas for you below…
Ziva – We know that this is the most enticing story that NCIS has going on right now, even though we are also aware that it’s really only been featured in one episode so far in “She” (and that moment where Bishop talked about not liking secrets during “Once Upon a Tim”).
Speaking of which … check out our thoughts about “She” in our most recent video at the bottom of this article! On the other side of watching it, remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more news on the show and also keep your eyes glued to our NCIS franchise playlist for other discussions coming up.
Is it unlikely that “Bears and Cubs” will offer up substantial clues on Ziva’s whereabouts and her future? At the moment it feels that way. While we are seeing someone else very important to Tony in this episode in Senior, there are regularly people important to Tony on this show like Gibbs, McGee, and Palmer! If Bishop was really tempted to drop the secret, she’s already had opportunities to do that with people who are both close to Tony and also cared about Ziva! Senior’s arrival is likely coincidental and has little to do with the Ziva story — though we do remain confident it will be addressed again eventually. Why bring it up otherwise?
Gibbs – This episode is going to put him in a spot where he tests Palmer’s loyalty. Who is Jimmy going to side with when his father-in-law asks him to do something untoward in the case or Gibbs and keeping everything above board? If Palmer slips up, Gibbs has gotta determine how hard he wants to throw down the hammer on him. We hope he’d be sympathetic. We like to imagine that he knows Jimmy well enough to know that he would never hurt NCIS intentionally. He’s one of its biggest champions and also a super-nice dude. (Palmer’s high up on the list of characters we feel like we would really get along with in real life.)
Of course, we’d also like this episode to contain a few Gibbs/Sloane moments (Slibbs if you will) — there is a part of us that thinks the two should get together, but if you were to say the writers are moving Bishop and Torres forward at a crawl, there are tortoises that move faster than whatever is going on here! We have had some nice moments (and even one where we thought they were contemplating a kiss at his house!), but the line hasn’t been crossed.
Can we get a great villain? – Whether it be in “Bears and Cubs” or some other point down the line, it’d be much appreciated to be introduced to some sort of adversary who we’re going to have in our mind for the rest of the season. Great heroes need great villains, and NCIS needs more people for us to shake our fist at whenever terrible stuff goes down. We do have what ever is going on with that Vance, Sloan and the CIA story, but the mentions of it have been so few and far between that we honestly forget it’s even happening anymore.
Are you bummed that there is no new episode of NCIS on the air tonight?
What would you like to see over the course of “Bears and Cubs,” let alone the remainder of the season? Be sure to share in the comments! (Photo: CBS.)