After last week’s break from the central mystery, NCIS: Tony & Ziva jump back into Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva’s (Cote de Pablo) efforts to clear their names after the theft at Interpol. Except this time, we get more backstory to the spin-off’s two main villains: rogue Interpol agent Martine (Nassima Benchicou) and even more rogue Interpol Secretary General Jonah (Julian Ovenden). Episode 7, “Dark Mirror,” picks up immediately after the attack on Tali (Isla Gie) and Sophie (Lara Rossi) in the safe house during the previous episode, and with them safe, Tony and Ziva’s next goal is to find out why the villains are targeting the private defense contractor Reigning Fire. This episode shifts perspectives from the main group and the villains, and even though the flashbacks can get confusing, we can eventually piece together their true motives.
‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’ Reveal Jonah and Martine’s Tragic Backstories
Back in 2014, Jonah and Martine met for the first time at Reigning Fire’s annual weapon convention, hosted by the heartless leader of the company, Aaron Graves (Sean Pertwee). Chemistry and romance blossom between then, and they return year after year, innocently increasing their relationship. But in 2016, Martine has to leave abruptly when she sees someone she needs to silence, fatally. But Jonah walks in on her killing the target and, to her and our surprise, helps her bury the body. To top off their twisted relationship, this “bonding” experience led to a hot and heavy night next in a jeep near the freshly dug grave — how fitting.
Throughout the episode, we slowly get more details around their backstories through flashbacks and conversations, made more compelling by Benchicou’s and Ovenden’s evolving performances. Martine was a secret agent who was recruited to the agency at 16-years-old by her ruthless father. One particular mission for Reigning Fire involved the death of a group of children, and it was inevitably buried, igniting Martine’s vendetta against the company and Graves. This is also likely why she wouldn’t allow Jonah to target Tali, having a soft spot for children due to her experiences. On the other hand, Jonah’s past involves his family trying to escape a war-torn country, when his coder brother hacked them seats onto a charter plane. On the way to the airport, they ran into Reigning Fire mercenaries who killed his brother using a grenade, an event that stuck with Jonah forever.
Their backstories, however conventional they may be, inevitably earns some sympathy from us. After the fight of 2016, the pair spent every year trying to gather more evidence against Reigning Fire to launch an investigation into them and take them down. However, by 2023, Interpol still refused to take on their countless pieces of evidence. If Reigning Fire was the primary contractor for the government, why would they want to take them down? That becomes their turning point, where the activists turn into single-minded pursuers for revenge, willing to cross nearly any boundary to get it. And, of course, inspired by Jonah’s brother’s coding abilities, soon thereafter, 9.4 was created.
Tony & Ziva Finally Talk About Their Feelings in Episode 7
In the current timeline, Tony and Ziva finally allow Tali to be more involved in the story by permitting her to stay in Milan, but this is immediately undermined when they realize they need to return to Paris. The hacking crew, Boris (Maximilian Osinski) and Claudette (Amita Suman), suspect the villains will be going to the annual weapons conference in Paris, which is when we get Boris’ classic line: “Revenge… a dish best served Parisian.” Unable to go to their own apartments, they decide to stay in Ziva’s therapist’s (Terence Maynard) apartment, but only his boyfriend Archie (James Lance), who also happens to be a child psychologist, is there.
They set up shop, and Ziva leaves the apartment to shoot an old-fashioned bullet bug (we are grateful for the break from high-tech) into Martine, Jonah, and Dejan’s (Velibor Topić) apartment. While Ziva manages to successfully shoot the bullet into the apartment, she is on the phone with Sophie discussing her love life, or rather, the fact that Tali says she doesn’t want her parents to date again. Meanwhile, in the apartment, Tony is talking to Archie about… wait for it… his emotions… with full honesty. Turns out, all Tony needed was a child psychologist and his “play” methods to get in touch with his feelings, and it was the perfect way the spin-off could address this.
Their individual therapies are disrupted by Jonah, who has a warrant to search the apartment. Tony manages to hide and warns Ziva to stay away while Archie distracts Jonah. When he inevitably leaves, Archie tentatively suggests that Jonah is a “dark empath,” someone who puts their needs above anyone else’s and has a strong affinity with connecting to people to be able to manipulate them. The implication here is that Jonah may just be using Martine; even if he may believe he is in love with her, he would immediately bulldoze over her the second their goals diverge.
And, of course, comes the next jaw-dropping Tiva milestone in the spin-off: Tony and Ziva talk about their feelings. With actual words. They properly acknowledge that they have grown since five years ago and want to be together again. Naturally, they also cement this sentiment with a steamy night together. But the atmosphere instantly shatters when Tali calls the next morning and proceeds to casually tell them she doesn’t believe they should be together because of their differences. As usual, Tiva’s relationship is filled with complications.
Will Tony & Ziva Get Martine on Their Side at the End of Episode 7?
On the other side of the street, Jonah and Martine are doing everything they can to convince Dejan to penetrate Reigning Fire’s firewall so they can take the company and Graves down. Since Dejan built the firewall, he is quintessential in breaking it down, an act that would signal to the world that Reigning Fire is vulnerable. So, when Jonah and Martine kill Graves, the company’s reputation and stability will be in shambles. Aside from telling him about their tragic backstories, Martine also reveals she has been communicating with his son while impersonating him. They promise to reunite the two if Dejan helps.
While Jonah is raiding Dr. Lang’s apartment, Martine and Dejan also have a private conversation where the latter warns her that Jonah is just as ruthless and cruel as Graves. The statement clearly affects her, as, towards the end of the episode, she questions Jonah about his motives slightly but doesn’t push it. The energy between them has clearly shifted, and, because of the planted bug, Tony and Ziva are aware of this. In the closing scenes of Episode 7, they take advantage of the rift in the villains’ relationship as Ziva covertly corners Martine in the market and shows her the video of Tali being attacked. The seeds of doubt have been planted, and it seems like the tide of the espionage adventure is slowly turning to Tony and Ziva’s favor.
New episodes of NCIS: Tony & Ziva premiere every Thursday on Paramount+.
