'NCIS' Season 18 Episode 5: Are Eleanor Bishop and Nick Torres together? They have Tobias Fornell to thank
'NCIS' adores putting its main characters in life-threatening situations just to squeeze out all the emotions others might feel about them when their colleague's life is in danger. The show has done that in the past with Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) and just last season with Nick Torres(Wilmer Valderrama). The latter being taken to the hospital after being shot on duty looked like a plot development done purely to show just how strongly colleague Eleanor Bishop (Emily Wickersham) feels about him. In Season 18, Episode 5 sees the roles reversed with Eleanor facing the life or death risk when a mission surrounding Tobias Fornell's infamous drug kingpin goes awry. Shots are fired and a blown-up plane later, as Bishop comes into the view, it's obvious she hasn't only just made it out alive, but also probably become an official thing with Torres. And they have Fornell (Joe Spano) to thank for that.
In Episode 5 of Season 18, titled 'Head of the Snake', "Gibbs and Fornell's crusade to find the head of the drug ring responsible for Fornell's daughter Emily's overdose comes to a climax; Gibbs and Vance finally let the team in on a case that has dangerous implications." The case of course is that of Mr. Blurryface aka Meriweather who uses several disguises and aliases to frequently fly in and out of the country from Russia. The reason? He is sending modified opioid pills in the name of regular ones in the market and these pills are charged to straight-up kill the people consuming them.
With Fornell's vendetta reigning high, there's no way they would have ever let this suspect go and it didn't matter to Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) if he had to shoot or put his team members' lives at risk for the cause. His close, old-time friend's enemy was going down by hook or by crook and there was no stopping that. Except for Torres's many grunts and sighs and frustrated agony over Bishop being taken by the bad guys on the plane that was eventually blown to smithereens. Much like the viewers, Torres too initially assumed Bishop was on the plane at the time of its explosion mid-air, but when she finally walks out unscathed with a few minor injuries, Torres can barely contain himself anymore.
All of that frustration and agony pile into a giant relief and Torres dashes to greet Bishop who practically runs to him and crashes in his arms soon as she makes out alive. Touching as the moment was, there was no spoken admission of love, but Fornell telling Torres 'go get your girl' right before Bishop comes out alive is indication enough that we are on the right path. The next Episode 6 '1mm' also teases more of the Bishop-Torres romance build-up, when "Following a tip about smuggled weapons, Bishop and Torres engage in a shootout in a former sheriff's residence that's now a historical site, only to find themselves locked in abandoned jail cells there." Perfect set up for an all NCIS romance, right? No bond tighter than the bond over stakeouts.
'NCIS' season 18 airs on Tuesdays at 9 pm only on CBS.