NCIS is still going strong in its sixteenth season, and a recent episode proved that the show has not run out of intriguing new layers to add to its characters. In the February 12 episode of NCIS, called "She," Sloane dropped a bombshell on viewers when she revealed that she'd once had a daughter that she gave up for adoption. The reveal wasn't addressed in the episode that followed, but NCIS producers tease that there's more to come regarding this particular story:
NCIS has always been, at its core, a show about its characters. With that in mind, it’s a good bet you haven’t heard the last of this storyline.
The NCIS producers' comments to TVLine didn't give away the how, when, or why about when the show would delve further into the story of Sloane's adopted daughter, but they do indicate that answers will come someday. The daughter that she gave up for adoption is clearly not something that Sloane likes to talk about, and she only brought what happened up when she was trying to reassure a young girl.
After a 9-year-old girl was discovered in a storage unit (with connections to a case previously worked on by Ziva), she wasn't the easiest nut for any of the agents to crack. In an attempt to bond with the little girl, Sloane confessed that she'd had a baby girl "a long time ago," and she was "perfect."
Sloane went on to tearfully explain that she only got to hold the baby girl one time, but it was enough for her to love her very much. In fact, Sloane said that she loved her so much that she "had to send her away." While the confession took an emotional toll on Sloane, it did work to open the child up and get her talking a bit more.
Unfortunately, NCIS did not give away more details about what went down in Sloane's past. Given that she gave up her daughter "a long time ago," I have to wonder if it was simply a case of a woman who got pregnant when she was too young to know how to care for a baby, and gave up the child rather than try to raise her. Was this merely a situation of a young woman not ready to be a mom?
Or is it more complicated than that? Sloane hasn't given away a ton about her past prior to when she became a POW. Perhaps she was in a situation in which it would have been dangerous for her to try and raise an infant. Maybe she wasn't young and unprepared so much as she was old enough and smart enough to know that her circumstances at the time weren't ideal for a baby.
Only time will tell. Sloane's reveal might have been the biggest event of any other episode, but it just so happened to occur in the same episode that revisited Ziva and even revealed that she might be alive after all. (Is somebody going to call Tony?!) Ziva, whose fans have had every reason to believe dead for years now, was a favorite during her time on the show, so her likely survival was big news.
Hopefully the wait won't be too dreadfully long. NCIS actually hasn't been renewed for Season 17 yet, but the odds are pretty solid that CBS won't let the show die any time soon. Mark Harmon weighed in on when NCIS should end, and his words weren't exactly discouraging for viewers who aren't ready to say goodbye. For now, new episodes of Season 16 air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, and swing by our midseason TV premiere schedule for more of what you can watch and when you can watch it.
