Warning! The following contains spoilers for the NCIS episode "Sleeping Dogs." Stream the episode with a Paramount+ subscription, and read at your own risk!
I expected some surprises when NCIS revealed Tony DiNozzo was the new director amid the 2026 TV schedule and beyond. However, I didn't expect any surprises to gross me out. After the latest episode, I felt my stomach churn when I learned where Jimmy Palmer was keeping the cakes for the multitude of birthday parties in the office, and I thought it was wild the show didn't make a bigger deal of it.
Apparently, Jimmy wasn't trying to take over Parker's role as the "sweets guy," but he attempted to bring back "office birthdays." Unfortunately, the effort quickly spiraled out of control, and when Tony found him in the morgue, he also found a litany of cakes stuffed in one of the mortuary cabinets. Take a look:
Tony told Jimmy that stashing the cakes in the cabinet was "all kinds of wrong" and even made a couple of references to The Great British Bake Off. I expected there to be more conversations about Jimmy storing birthday cakes right next to deceased bodies, but surprisingly, that didn't happen.
NCIS went in another direction, focusing more on Jimmy accidentally starting a fire by lighting birthday candles, rather than the entire office finding out they're eating cakes that have been chilled right next to murder victims. I felt like I was going to be sick, and that says a lot, given I know the show isn't real. On that note, though, I could only imagine how those characters felt!
I will cut the series some slack, as it had bigger fish to fry when Nick Torres thought an old contact was tied up in a murder. The episode ended with that friend being exonerated, and with Torres accepting an offer to do a side gig for the CIA. I certainly didn't expect that twist, and I'm wondering what this means for a potential relationship with Knight.
As for Jimmy, I don't think we can expect him to continue his pursuit of celebrating office birthdays. I do expect him to whip out a birthday cake for Ziva, however, should she drop by the office to check up on her husband. There's still no word on when Cote de Pablo will show up, but I can't help but think the NCIS producers have a plan for it. Let's just hope if she does ever receive a cake moving forward, it'll be stored properly.
Until then, I'm hooked on tuning into NCIS Tuesdays on CBS. With so much happening on the series and spinoffs, it will be interesting to watch how this action escalates once the crossovers start happening.
