Out of all the nightmares Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) has to face, it’s pretty hard to top an ultra-dangerous leader of a Mexican drug cartel who has both the power and the motivation to go after everyone Gibbs holds dear. To underline just how dangerous Paloma Reynosa (Jacqueline Obradors of “NYPD Blue” fame) is, Season 7 actually ends when the drug kingpin steps inside Gibbs’ father’s (Ralph Waite) shop, making viewers to wait until Season 8 to see how things unfold.
Paloma is the highly powerful head of Reynosa Cartel, and she has it out for Gibbs in the most personal way possible: Gibbs killed his father, Pedro Hernandez (Thomas Rosales Jr.), in retaliation to Pedro killing Gibbs’ family. What’s more, she threatens Gibbs’ legendary integrity by trying to force him to work for her — the daughter of the man who upended his life.
In all fairness, as the beginning of “NCIS” Season 8 shows, Paloma’s danger level somewhat decreases when she actually makes a personal appearance instead of using her cartel army — or her brother, Alejandro Rivera (Marco Sanchez) — to do her bidding. In fact, fans on Reddit have voted Paloma and Alejandro the far and away most terrifying antagonists of the season.
In the end, however, there can be only one, and that’s pretty easily Paloma. Combine her level of personal animosity against Gibbs with the fact that she’s wielding the might of an entire powerful cartel, and she’s quite handily the single most dangerous villain in “NCIS” Season 7. In fact, you might be hard-pressed to point out a more powerful antagonist in the entire series.