NCIS might be the single most popular crime drama in television history and one of the few spin-off series to ever have a larger audience than the original. After 17 seasons on the air, NCIS has produced two spin-offs of its own and numerous awards for its ever-changing take on the genre.
Its star-studded cast has included such well-known names as Mark Harmon, Wilmer Valderrama, and Jennifer Esposito. While it might not be something that fans want to hear, none of their favorite characters are without sin. Some of their mistakes are what make them interesting and have made them who they are in the show. So let’s count down the worst sins each main character has committed.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Gibbs has spent much of his life in service of protecting the United States. A former Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, Gibbs served in various conflicts around the world, most notably in Desert Storm, before becoming an NCIS agent.
Gibbs experienced personal tragedy after witnessing the death of a fellow Marine at the hands of a Mexican drug lord. He agreed to testify if his family was under protection by the United States Government. Sadly, the cartel still managed to get to them, killing his wife and daughter.
Anthony DiNozzo
DiNozzo is known for his sexual appetite and extremely inappropriate comments towards his female coworkers. Comments that would make him unemployable in a real-world setting. Yet, somehow, Dinozzo managed to create for himself a nice career as a Senior Field Agent for NCIS.
Without a doubt, the creepiest thing he has ever done is holding in his possession a wet t-shirt contest picture of Caitlin Todd. It is never clarified exactly what he sought to gain by holding the picture for ransom, but it is implied he is using it as a form of blackmail against her.
Caitlin Todd
Caitlin Todd isn’t the picture-perfect candidate that one would think of for someone who was in the Secret Service. Especially when taking into consideration that an NCIS Field Agent has potentially damaging or embarrassing photos of her that she might not want to be leaked out.
Yet, after college, she managed to find a place in the United States Secret Service as a special agent. Though, she compromised her position when she became romantically involved with another agent. Before getting caught and fired for breaking the rules, she quit and started a career as an NCIS Agent.
Abby Sciuto
For a character that has been around from the beginning, probably the worst thing that Sciuto has done is not progressing as a character, as she has remained the “goth girl” for close to two decades and that is pretty much all she is known for.
That said, there was one time she locked up NCIS Medical Assistant Jimmy Palmer and his future father-in-law, Ed Slater in a back room because Slater dared to make a comment about her tattoo. Though, that didn’t stop Palmer from still making her his best woman at his wedding.
Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard
Mallard is probably one of the oddest characters on NCIS as the chief medical examiner. He has a bad habit of talking to the dead and showing an unnecessary reverential treatment to people’s names when speaking to them. While serving overseas in Afghanistan, Ducky comes across a CIA interrogation program that was run by Marcin Jerek, a man known to torture his prisoners to death.
Unable to save some of those being interrogated, he, instead gave some of the prisoners a lethal injection of morphine to save them from being brutally tortured. An action he has regretted since.
Timothy Mcgee
Special Agent Timothy Mcgee hid a secret from his colleagues, a secret that later proved deadly. Throughout his time as a Special Agent for NCIS, Mcgee has been writing fictionalized accounts of their adventures in a book series titled Deep Six. In the episode “Cover Story” a killer has taken the accounts he has written about in his book and recreated them.
Causing the team to rely on Mcgee for information on who the next victim would be. While it wasn’t directly his fault, without him writing the book series, the people murdered would still be alive.
Jenny Shepard
Jenny Shepard is the former partner and lover of Leroy Gibbs. Shepard’s father was a United States Army colonel that was assassinated by the arms dealer René Benoit. After the assassination, Shepard became obsessed with taking revenge on Benoit, so much so, that she was willing to end her relationship with Gibbs, a man she truly loved, to work her way up in rank to accomplish this goal.
After gaining the rank of NCIS Director, Shepard gets her revenge when she murders a defenseless Benoit. This deceitful act proved to be the final straw between Gibbs and Shepard.
Leon Vance
Leon Vance was a former boxer turned lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Vance managed to work his way up to Assistant Director of the NCIS before taking over the role as Director after the death of Jenny Shepard. Vance’s close relationship with Eli David, the head of Mossad has caused a rift between Vance and Gibbs, as Gibbs believes Vance is selling out information on his team to his friend.
To this accusation, Vance states his own by claiming that Ziva is a plant by Mossad and Gibbs’ relationship with her was undermining national security.
Jimmy Palmer
Jimmy Palmer is the assistant medical examiner under Ducky Mallard. Palmer has a father-son relationship with Mallard who he calls his mentor. He even names his daughter after Ducky’s mother. Palmer is known for his strange ramblings that have little to nothing to do with what he was asked.
He also has a pension for speaking to the dead, similar to that of Mallard. In season 15, the team accidentally learns that Palmer hasn’t exactly been truthful about how he passed his Medical Examiner test, as he left out that it took him three tries to pass.
Clayton Reeves
Clayton Reeves spent his career as an M16 Intelligence Officer undercover. During that time he witnessed many terrible acts, along with having to do his fair share of unforgivable sins as a means of keeping his cover.
As an undercover agent, he knows how to hide things but makes the mistake of hiding that he is in recovery after spending the past few years being a raging alcoholic. It isn’t the fact that he was an alcoholic that was his greatest sin but, the fact, he didn’t tell his team this, opening himself up to being blackmailed.
