‘NCIS’: Is It Time for Bishop & Torres to Break Rule 12? (POLL)

Wilmer Valderrama Emily Wickersham NCIS Bishop Torres Double Date
Monty Brinton/CBS

According to Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), never date a co-worker (Rule #12). And while NCIS Season 1 saw Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and forensic scientist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) together, and everyone knows about the will they/won’t they of it all with Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), we haven’t seen teammates date in 17 seasons. Could that change in Season 18? Should it?

The CBS procedural has clearly set up Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) to be Tiva 2.0, with the most obvious hint at their romance coming when they ended up on a double date in the Season 17 episode “No Vacancy” (pictured above). Unsurprisingly, neither one of their respective relationships lasted after that.

That’s not the only trope we’ve seen with the two. We’ve also had instances like the undercover-as-a-couple episode (“High Tide”) and the playing-a-couple-as-other-characters-in-a-story episode (“Ephemera”). Chances are, whether or not Bishop and Torres do ultimately get together, we’ll at least get a couple more teases this coming season.

Valderrama didn’t know what was coming up for other characters when he recently spoke with TV Insider, but he did say, “I certainly don’t think that we will do something the show has seen before, and we’re definitely trying to work on doing something different.” If that becomes true for the potential relationship between his and Wickersham’s characters, we could very well see a romance between teammates for the first time on NCIS.

But should they get together? Both have quite a lot to figure out — Bishop is training with ex-CIA instructor (and Ziva’s ex-landlord) Odette (Elayn J. Taylor), and Valderrama has teased that Season 18 will delve into Torres’ past and family. Now probably isn’t the best time. Plus, the beginning of the season is jumping back in time to the mission that took Gibbs away during Episode 8 of last year, “Musical Chairs.” Therefore, it may be some time into Season 18 that we catch up to present day again.

Once the show does explore those aforementioned aspects of their lives in the current timeline, that will be when it becomes feasible to see these two together. But until then, we won’t be holding our breaths.

What do you think? Vote in our poll below.

NCIS, Season 18, Fall 2020, CBS