The Detail About Abby Sciuto's Family Life That Was Never Disclosed On NCIS
Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) seems like an open book when anyone first encounters her on "NCIS." Cheerful, bright, dedicated to her work, and quick in the draw, Abby knows how to get results and does so with a smile on her face.
We do know a little bit about her family background — she mentions several uncles during her time on the show, and we manage to meet two of her siblings during her 15 seasons on the show. She talks about several uncles, including her bar-owning Uncle Teddy, Horace "The Haggler," and Larry, who wears fanny packs and knee-high socks. We even know that her grandmother was an Olympic silver medalist in swimming.
But we also learn something very important about Abby's family background that never meets a proper resolution, despite every other detail that emerges about her character. What was this mysterious fact about Abby's history that CBS never ended up disclosing? It's a small detail that can hit close to home for many of her "NCIS" fans.
How did Abby's parents die?
This one's all relative.
While we do meet Abby's brothers — biological brother Kyle and adoptive brother Luca — we never find out how and why her parents are died, only the fact that they are gone. For a show centered around crime, it's surprising that this one facet of her life is never brought up nor picked apart. Perhaps they met with natural demises, and Abby has come to terms with their absence over time. Either way, it's a detail about her family background that's never discussed on the show.
We don't learn very much about her parents during the show's run, aside from her mother's name: Gloria. Many other details, including her father's name and her life as a child with two parents, never come to light during any of Abby's monologues on "NCIS." Though Abby seems to have had a happy childhood, those things might have impacted her reactions to the slings and arrows of life. For instance, we know she was adopted and that both of her parents are deaf. This is why Abby has mastered sign language by the time we meet her in the show.
It's a frustrating production choice that likely has a number of fans sighing 'if only.'