Fatima finally got to go on a top-secret mission and probably wished she didn't.

That's because she quickly became a jihadist's captive on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 11 Episode 16.

Fatima has been a great addition to the OSP team since she was introduced on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 10 Episode 14.

Tough, smart, and sassy, the Muslim agent has helped out the parent squad over nine episodes in the past two seasons, traveling up from the farm team at NCIS: San Diego, where the intriguing characters go to wait.

Even though she's a series regular. You figure it out.

I do get it. There's only so much screen time to go around. And the older a series get, the less money there is budgeted to spend on talent each episode.

But let's say Linda Hunt finally says enough.

Callen reluctantly gets kicked upstairs to operations manager.

First, that wouldn't be the crises many are predicting. While the positions aren't directly analogous, Gibbs and Pride both go into the field, every episode, on NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans, respectively.

Who's to say Callen must be chained to his desk, especially if the ever-capable Nell were to become his administrative second-in-command?

In this scenario, Fatima becomes the OSP's probie, to steal an NCIS term. She could be in the field, she could be in Ops, wherever she is needed. She's versatile and capable enough.

Also, Sam wants to mentor a young agent in his image. Why not Fatima? They've worked well together in the past.

Can a Muslim protagonist work in Trump's America?

Dick Wolf has made it work with O.A. on FBI, another CBS series. Granted, he's not wearing a hijab. But Fatima is a supporting, not a lead, character, which would mean less exposure to those troubled by religious diversity on their procedurals.

Fatima certainly proved herself worthy of a slot on the big team this episode, holding her own under the worst of conditions.

Her special skill set got her embedded in a mission unfortunately based on deliberately faulty intel.

Then all those special operators left without her amid the chaos caused by the ambush.

So she was alone, a female in enemy fatigues, right in the middle of jihadist country.

No way things didn't go south for her.

She made exactly the right call which Hetty had predicted. The only trouble was that she was bound to run into unfriendlies, and sure enough, she did.

The jihadist shooting her in the kevlar when she was surrendering was excessive. But that also emphasized what a mess into which she had strayed.

Fatima even had a great cover story, pretending to be a CNN reporter and appealing to Cobra's vanity. Anyone who nicknamed himself about GI Joe's archenemy Cobra had plenty of that to spare.

When that gambit failed and Cobra threatened to kill her online if he didn't receive a half-million-dollar ransom, she even tried to fight her way out, despite being lost and outnumbered.

After that, she still tried to keep Cobra off-balance with her constant commentary, because frankly, that was all she had left with which to attack him.

Fatima had done everything she could to keep alive and fighting. Fortunately, she had her teammates, and a couple of very reluctant CIA agents, working to rescue her.

Callen nailed it when he said that Sabatino always shows up where there's trouble. So was it any surprise when he greeted Sam and Callen with a healthy dose of sarcasm?

Sabatino has the right frame of mind for his line of work, not willingly sticking his neck out for anybody and making no emotional investments.

He was content to shuttle around Sam and Callen while happily pointing out the error of their ways.

But at least he knew a guy. All those CIA officers must know a guy.

Wouldn't it have been fun to have been a fly on the wall with Offset of the Migos, who played Kadri, met rap god LL Cool J?

Rap into acting has certainly proven a viable career path: Will Smith, Ice T, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah.

It would have been great to have gotten more of Kadri.

But he filled his role, as he was the only person who could get inside of Cobra's hideout tunnel.

And he did a great job of blowing stuff up.

We got to see Hetty for a second episode in a row, which is always a bonus. Maybe we'll see more of her the last third of the season?

You could tell Hetty was kicking herself for Fatima finding herself in such a tight spot. Unfortunately, that's the nature of the job. An agent can get lent out to another agency at any time.

The home team was underutilized.

Kensi and Deeks were antsy for a reason, as they didn't feel they were doing much to find Fatima. It was amusing to watch them wrestle with the idea that their child might want to follow in their footsteps.

It was good to see Frank Wallace again, although he too was largely wasted, dropping off documents and engaging in shop talk with Kensi and Deeks.

Nell did most of the heavy lifting, finding the ransom video and then posting the parents' response. Otherwise, Sam and Callen might still be tramping around Sinai.

At least they were able to rescue Fatima in fairly good shape. Here's hoping we get to see her again this season.