NCIS: Tony & Ziva Episodes 1-3, titled “No Country Is Safe,” “No Friend of Mine,” and “Cover Story,” are the perfect comeback for these two characters, not because we find them at a particularly good place—but because the show is both filling in the blanks, and setting up the promise of more. This isn’t about where Tony and Ziva are now, but where they could be by the end of this adventure.
But where they are now is still … somewhere that feels very much them. At first, I struggled with the idea that they wouldn’t be together after all this time. Sure, I understood the TV logic in waiting to get them together on-screen, but I wasn’t sure if the show could explain the two just not giving it a try, even for Tali’s sake, in a way that I would buy. But NCIS: Tony & Ziva’s first three episodes do a great job of showing us what happened after the reunion and how they got to where they are now.
Not because they didn’t try. Not because they didn’t love each other. No, those things we would have easily clocked as wrong and out of character. Instead, Tony and Ziva are here, co-parenting Tali but not together, because there’s inescapably a lot of pain and trauma between them, individual and shared. There’s a mountain of trust issues. And that’s something they have to unpack before they can move forward as we would want them to.
So, let’s unpack “No Country Is Safe,” “No Friend of Mine,” and “Cover Story” as NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1 gives us back an older, wiser Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, even if they still don’t have everything figured out.
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Ziva’s Mental Health
Perhaps my favorite thing about the first three episodes is the focus on Ziva’s mental health, and the proof that she has been putting in the work for years to get better. Let’s be honest, if this woman said she didn’t need a psychologist, I’d be concerned for her. After everything we’ve seen her go through—not to mention what we haven’t seen in the last few years, of course, she needs help!
All in all, it’s a very powerful message because being in therapy, needing and asking for a mental health professional to step in doesn’t make us in any way weaker. In fact, it can sometimes be the only thing that can help us become the very best version of ourselves. And Ziva is trying to be that. For Tali. And yes, for Tony.
But it isn’t just about how mature a decision that is; it’s about what it means about Ziva as a character. The person we first met, the one who was trained to survive it all, to be tough no matter what, to never show fear or even love, could have never gotten here without a decision. And it’s not just the decision to get help, it’s the decision to stop being the person who keeps herself at arm’s length. To be a person who feels, who loves, and yes, who can therefore be hurt. But one that’s feeling everything. And, I’m so, so proud of Ziva. She isn’t there yet, but this is the journey I always wanted for her.
Related: Here’s what we want to see in NCIS: Tony & Ziva
Who is This Tony DiNozzo?
NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1 Episodes 1-3 show us a different Tony DiNozzo, too. That’s to be expected; it’s been a while. He’s changed; there was no way he wouldn’t have. He’s a father now, and he got a crash course on being that, then had to figure out how to be everything for Tali, only to find out he wasn’t. Ziva was alive. And then she came back, but she wasn’t doing well. And if we’re being honest, neither was Tony. It’s just that he hid it better.
In so many ways, he always has. And that means that as Ziva is actively dealing with her issues, Tony is still, in many ways, hiding from them. From the betrayal he surely feels about not being told about Tali. From the fear that since they’re not really “a family,” the two people he loves the most could disappear from his life without him being able to do anything about it.
But for Tony, there’s also another fear. One that’s always been there. The fear of not being enough. Tony DiNozzo has always struggled with the idea that he isn’t good enough. And Ziva not telling him about Tali, then leaving her with him when she “died,” and then coming back will surely have exacerbated that. Except he hasn’t dealt with it. Not so deep down, all Tony wants is to be able to trust that Ziva will stay and that she loves him, just as he is. But can he ever?
Related: Are NCIS and NCIS: Tony & Ziva crossing over?
When Exactly *Will* They?
This has never been your typical will-they/won’t they. Instead, this is a show about how two people who were always meant to be together finally get to a place where they can be. How does that look? Well, NCIS: Tony & Ziva isn’t the kind of introspective, sit-on-your-couch and talk about your feelings kind of show, so some running around trying to escape bad guys was needed. But the rest? The rest is all about human emotion.
Ziva loves Tony. Tony loves Ziva. And what’s more important than that, they both still want to be together. They want to be a family. That’s the thing Ziva has been working towards. That’s the thing Tony is holding onto, deep down. But what’s keeping them isn’t just the baggage between them that they have not dealt with, or even the trust issues; it’s a more basic human emotion: fear.
You know that thing about how the thing you love the most is often the thing you fear the most? There’s nothing scarier than the possibility of losing, truly losing, the person you consider your other half. Sometimes, it feels better to not truly have them, but to know you’ll always have access to a part of them, than to risk it all and get burned. Especially for two people who have been burned before, repeatedly.
But I have faith that this journey isn’t just about running from bad guys, but running towards something. And for Tony and Ziva, that something has always been each other.
MORE: The NCIS: Tony & Ziva spinoff was shot in Budapest
The Supporting Cast
Before the show even premiered, I said that one of the things NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1 really had to do to be not just a nostalgia play, but a show that had a chance to go on for multiple seasons, was to create interesting supporting characters. Not just that, characters that could exist in the world of Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, and, through their interactions with them, make us see a different side of them.
Only three episodes in, NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1 has already succeeded in this regard, particularly with Claudette, Boris, and Fruzsi. The first one was kind of a given. Amita Suman was outstanding in Shadow and Bone, and though this is a very different role, it’s not surprising to see her work so well as part of Tony’s team, aka work family. Perhaps, more surprisingly, though, is how good Maximilian Osinski and Anne-Marie Waldeck are at a couple that is, half the time, comedic relief, and the other a mirror to the relationship Tony and Ziva have, or think they have.
It’s fun to be back with Tony and Ziva; we won’t deny that. What’s perhaps even better is that the show is good enough to make us believe we won’t just have to say goodbye after one season. No, this has got the makings of a long-running show, as long as the stars are in. Imagine that?
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Tony & Ziva Episodes 1-3? Share with us in the comments below!
New episodes of NCIS: Tony & Ziva will release on Thursdays on Paramount+.
I totally agree with you and everything you have said about Tony, Ziva and the chance for this to be a long running show. And I love your writing!