Did the New ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Romance Just Give Carter a Reason to Stay?
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 7, Episode 11 of NCIS: New Orleans, “Stashed.”]
There’s a new team romance in the NCIS franchise, over on New Orleans: Hannah Khoury (Necar Zadegan) and Quentin Carter (Charles Michael Davis). And it might just be what gets the latter to break pattern and put down some roots.
The March 28 episode was bookended with the two having a flirty discussion about fancy coffee and an innuendo-laden conversation about drinks. And as the photo below from the next episode, April 4’s “Once Upon a Time,” “drinks” did mean drinks.
It all began with Tammy Gregorio (Vanessa Ferlito) using her skills as a profiler on her teammates and noticing that it was more than just, as Sebastian Lund (Rob Kerkovich) thought, “fancy people bonding over fancy coffee.” When Tammy tried to speak with Hannah, however, the latter denied anything was happening. Hannah did, however, come to Carter’s defense when it came to Tammy’s profile of him: He’s reserved, not aloof.
Meanwhile, Carter defended his “pattern” of staying somewhere for a year to 18 months and then moving on to Sebastian, who figured they’d be saying goodbye to him soon. “Did you ever stop to think there may have been no reason for me to stay?” Carter asked of his past posts.
Alright, #NCISNOLA fam… what’s their ship name? Give us your best name below and we’ll see you next week for a NEW episode! pic.twitter.com/sDn13vsaUr
— NCIS: New Orleans (@NCISNewOrleans) March 29, 2021
By the end of the episode, it seemed he found a reason to do so now: Hannah. The two declined to join the others at their boss Dwayne Pride’s (Scott Bakula) bar. Pride thought they were just working, CCH Pounder’s Dr. Loretta Wade corrected him: “You’ve seen how they are with each other.”
But everything we’ve seen thus far of the two had nothing on their final conversation. (Did it remind anyone else just a bit of NCIS: Los Angeles‘ Kensi, played by Daniela Ruah, and Deeks, played by Eric Christian Olsen, on their not-date date from Season 5’s “Recovery”?)
After he suggested they grab a drink, just the two of them, she asked, “What will we do at this drink that we wouldn’t do at Pride’s bar?”
“Oh, I’m sure we can think of something,” he said. “I guess I’m a little thirsty,” she replied.
CBS
And with that, Carter very well may have a “reason to stay” in New Orleans. That’s not too surprising; of course a new character with a history of moving around would find a “home” when he joins an established team. (In fact, Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo had a history of staying at different police departments for about two years before he settled at the agency on NCIS.)
And we can’t help but think that this being the final season of NCIS: New Orleans comes into play as well. Would this potential romance have been drawn out otherwise? Probably. Carter’s future in New Orleans would then likely be determined by Davis’ availability and status on the show. Maybe he would have moved on, or maybe he would have decided to stay and his and Hannah’s flirtation would be drawn out in a season(s)-long will-they-won’t-they. Instead, chances are there won’t be much (if any) drama for that relationship before the procedural signs off on May 23. And that fits for the relationship that’s been building between the two of them. It’s easy and fun.
What do you think of the NCIS franchise’s new couple?
NCIS: New Orleans, Sundays, 10/9c, CBS
