To be quite honest, after watching this episode of “NCIS,” I was not at all sure what to write. I must have sat still, staring at my screen for a few minutes. It left me confused for a number of reasons and also, I hate to say, disappointed.
I was dreading this episode because it would be the last episode with Cote de Pablo, who plays Ziva David. I knew that Ziva’s ‘goodbye episode’ was going to be about her and Tony, and so I knew that it was going to be very emotional. Especially for those who have been fans of their relationship for the eight years that Ziva was around.
However, I’d let myself feel reassured by what Gary Glasberg has been telling us; the scenes with Tony and Ziva were going to be really beautiful and heartbreaking, and it would be everything that the fans had hoped for. Was it beautiful? Yes. Was it heartbreaking? Yes. Was it everything that I, as a fan, had hoped for? Definitely not. And if you ask me if the storyline makes sense, well … no, not completely.
Firstly, I want to say that I can’t blame Glasberg and the other writers. I know they had scripts for season 11 finished and then had maybe about a week to change everything and come up with this after Cote’s sudden departure (for which I don’t blame her either). I am sure they did their best, and they did a pretty good job, but I am still disappointed.
Even when I try to look at this as objectively as possible, I feel that this was by no means enough. And not only because we were promised two final episodes with Ziva and ended up seeing her for about half an episode. Ok, so we finally got a kiss. We also got an indirect “I love you.” But basically, that’s it.
Of course, it was beautiful to see how much Tony cares about Ziva, but there’s nothing new there. We barely got anything more than what we’ve been getting since halfway through season nine. I would love to hear how others feel about this. For me, it was certainly not everything I’d hoped for, and I think it was mostly the performances of Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo that still made it very beautiful and memorable.
I was going to say it was their great acting, but I felt that wasn’t right, because the emotion we saw in that last scene was not acting, that was real, which made me cry ten times harder.
The bit about Ziva no longer wanting to be an agent was alright. I felt that it was in character because we’d seen her falling apart before, doubting that she could continue to live this kind of life. First comes to mind the end of season eight, when Ziva was very emotional after Mike Franks died and literally said to Tony that she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.
The part where she wants to stay in Israel, however, I did not understand. She says that Gibbs taught her to follow her heart. I’m pretty sure that her heart is with Tony and with her family in D.C. Naturally, she will always be tied to Israel, since she was born there, has memories there, and her relatives are buried there, but she has nothing left to live for in that country. It would have made more sense to me if she’d just come back to D.C. and found another job.
Now, on to the case. Still not solved. I said in my recap last week that we’d have to wait one more week to see how it all works out, but it turns out I was wrong. I’m not going to say anything like that now because for all I know, it might take until January.
It seems to me like little progress was made with the investigation. Captain Wayne tells Gibbs that he was not contacted from Arizona, but from Florida. Next, Gibbs is ambushed by a guy who also receives orders through texts and was being paid to kill Gibbs. Thank goodness he did not succeed.
McGee is able to trace the texts to Mendes, who turns out to be a bad guy. A terrorist on the board of an anti- terrorist organization. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
It’s confusing that Mendes was apparently the one giving orders to people like Captain Wayne and Vernon Dale, the guy who attacked Gibbs in this episode, while Parsa is supposed to be the man in charge. I also remember that Mendes was on one of the pictures in that barn in Arizona. The people on those pictures were targets. So unless Mendes put his own picture up there, something is going on with this too.
The team is also looking for Henry Coldwell, the man who shot at Tony in last week’s episode. Abby found his fingerprints in May and now, in October, he still hasn’t been found. Coldwell has either found a great place to hide or he’s dead.
Oh, one last thing. Last week, after seeing the picture of the man who is supposedly Parsa, I thought it might be Adam. I no longer think that.
Still a lot to find out. I’m excited to see this case solved! As for Ziva, who else will be counting the days until she, hopefully, comes back?
Your thoughts on this episode of “NCIS”? Leave comments below.
NCIS Recap: Past, Present, and Future – 11×2 http://t.co/0WZC6rWrao
I agree and feel Ziva’s farewell was disappointing but I also know that one of the fun parts of having a non-canon ship is that you can always imagine the most perfect way for them to finally be together. I feel like the kiss would have been better while they were in the olive garden burying the new will. I feel like the kiss would have been great in that scene because it is her starting over and she should get to start over by showing the one she loves how much she loves him. I’m not completely saying the goodbye kiss was a bad decision I just wouldn’t have made that the only kiss.
Hi Sarah,
I agree with you. I also think it would have been better had Tony and Ziva also kissed in the olive garden. It felt like the right moment for it to happen.
I also agree that it’s good that fans can use their owm imagination. I’m sure there will be some great fanfics! However, I think it would still be good for the show if Ziva came back. Perhaps as a regular guest appearance. Just to have her back in the U.S. and have Tony and her together, i.m.o. would be better for the show. I think a lot of people don’t like the way things were left and it will always keep bothering them, which is a shame.
Listened to the DVD commentary. Michael Weatherly comments seem very interesting regarding Cote’s departure. “Cote is still very much a part of my world”.
First off, I think Ziva had to stay in Israel because that’s where all of her pain really started. And second, because, well, she’s no longer on the show. If she had come back with Tony, we as fans would expect to see her pop every once in awhile. Cote de Pablo said herself though that the beauty of Ziva not dying is that if she decided to, she could eventually come back onto the show. If she did, then she could return to DC. Second of all, Mendes is the money man with the insider information. That’s where his power comes from. Parsa probably has the power over his terrorist cell, and then only he deals directly with Mendes. Having Mendes’ photo up in the barn was a sure fire way to make sure he could get insight into NCIS’ investigation and relay that info back to Parsa. Mendes would have taken every precaution to make sure his connection was never discovered, so I don’t think his picture has any deeper potential than that.
These are just my opinions!
Hi Abby 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
You’re probably right about Mendes. We’ll see how this all turns out. It’s nice to have such intricate cases, isn’t it? Though they do have to be careful not to make a mess of it and lose the connections with all that happened last season with Bodnar.
As to the ‘Ziva stuff’, of course they had to come up with something, quickly. And her going back to Israel for a while is not even so bad. I can see why she might need to go there, ‘revisit her past’, come to terms with it all. What I don’t really get is why she would feel like she needs to go there for an indefinate period of time (while she doesn’t have a lot of people left there … Is there anyone besides Schmeil?) and break off all contact with her family and friends in the U.S. Maybe she will keep in touch now, but that’s not what she intended to do before Tony found her.
Well, it’s a good thing at least that, the way this was written, I would expect her to come back at some point. Maybe not to NCIS, but to D.C. at least. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!