To say that things have been awkward between exes medical examiner Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) and Special Agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) since she returned to D.C. after a brief time at Camp Pendleton is an understatement. But the conversation they’ve been putting off is coming in the November 4 episode of NCIS.
In “Sticks & Stones,” after receiving intelligence on deadly threats to multiple locations that could lead to a catastrophic war, NCIS is called in to try to neutralize the danger. So when better for the two to finally talk? Below, Dietzen and Law talk about playing the awkwardness this season, that conversation, and more.
How was it playing the awkward moments between your characters over these first episodes of the season? It wasn’t just your characters—everyone else started getting involved.
Katrina Law: Brian and I have such a great working relationship that anytime we get a scene together, we know it’s going to be so much fun. So the fact that we get to put awkward on top of it after having years of a great relationship was just amazing. And nobody does awkward quite as well as Knight in Shining Palmer.
Brian Dietzen: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was interesting because they came to us, and they said there’s going to be some relationship troubles and there’s ups and downs within relationships and a breakup and all that. And I think both of us were maybe a little wary, like, well, we want to still have scenes together because we love our stuff together, but they assured us, you’ll still have scenes together, but it’s going to be this extra level on top of it that’s going to make it a bit interesting and maybe difficult at times. So we’re like, all right, let’s do this thing.
They have been avoiding having this conversation that they need to, since Knight has been back. Who’s dreading that conversation more?
Dietzen: I’m going to go with the 50-50 split here.
Law: Yeah, I think it’s pretty even. I think one of the best parts about them avoiding the entire conversation is that Jimmy is the communicator of the entire series and is the person who is great about reading people’s emotions and getting people to talk, and the fact that he hasn’t, I think, speaks volumes as to how much the two of them are wanting to avoid this entire topic.
Set up what forces them to have this conversation. And how long do you think it would’ve taken for them to have it without this?
Dietzen: I think anything short of the destruction of the entire world, they would’ve avoided it. [Laughs] So when the destruction of the planet comes into play with the potential nuclear war, we’re like, you know what we should do before we all blow up? We should talk about some feelings and where we stand. And then even with that, I would argue there’s still stuff that’s left unsaid. They’re like, yeah, wait, we’ll get to that later.
Law: If Jess could have found a way to crawl out of the bus mid-conversation, I think she would’ve done it. [Both laugh]
Katrina, at the beginning of the season, you said that Knight opens the door for them to get back together and Palmer has a reaction that breaks her heart a little. So Brian, what can you tease about where Palmer’s head and heart are when it comes to a possible future together?
Dietzen: Jimmy loves Jess, and it’s kind of like you think that for anyone who’s been in love, that’s not the beginning, middle, and end of it. There’s other things that come into it, especially when you have a daughter and you’re trying to protect her heart as well. And when things are in flux, I think there’s part of Jimmy that will always be the papa bear to his kiddo and also to his own heart as well, having lost his wife, and wants to make sure that if we’re going to move forward, it’s going to be more of a permanent thing and I don’t have to think about you going off again at some point. And I think that maybe he’s putting up some guards to protect himself, and I think that’s somewhat reasonable and very human.
I like what’s been done with Ducky’s office. How often are we going to see anyone in there?
Dietzen: Well, the cool thing is that on our set, we have standing sets, like the bullpen, the autopsy, Kasie’s [Diona Reasonover] lab, the director’s [Rocky Carroll] office. And for a long time we had a standing set that we weren’t using anymore, which was Gibbs’ [Mark Harmon] basement. And considering no one from our team lives in Gibbs’ house, that offered up some real estate to have a standing set where we could have new scenes come in. And so now that set is permanently there, so our writers kind of have that at their disposal to write new scenes in there whenever they’d like. And I think it’s pretty great. It offers a little more informal setting where two of the agents might be able to meet up there and talk while not kind of on the record in front of everyone. Or Kasie might meet up with Jess or Torres [Wilmer Valderrama] or something like that on more of a maybe personal basis as opposed t