NCIS: Tony & Ziva has debuted as a hit on Paramount+, but the show makes it clear Cote de Pablo’s Ziva is never going back to the flagship NCIS series where the character originated.
The premiere of the NCIS spinoff included the first three episodes, and NCIS: Tony & Ziva has remained in the Paramount+ top 10 TV shows ever since. It’s also earned praise through review aggregator sites like Rotten Tomatoes. There’s no question that the combination of nostalgia for fan-favorite characters and the action-thriller storyline is working.
Since Cote de Pablo and her NCIS: Tony & Ziva costar Michael Weatherly left the original NCIS series, however, there has been interest in seeing them return there. Episode 2 of the spinoff minces no words when it comes to Ziva being in any kind of law enforcement environment, like NCIS, again.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva Reveals Ziva Opens A Language School
Episode 2 “No Friend Of Mine” Flashes Back To Ziva’s Decision
The first episode of NCIS: Tony & Ziva shows Ziva working at a language school before her daughter’s life is threatened, and she literally runs across Paris to help Tali (Isla Gie). It’s the next episode that reveals that Ziva does not just work at the school, or even run it, but that she founded it.
In NCIS: Tony & Ziva episode 2, “No Friend Of Mine,” the story flashes back to Tali’s seventh birthday party, where Ziva is still uncomfortable in her daughter’s life. She is trying to ease her way back into the lives of Tony and Tali, and it’s hard for her to see that the two have had a whole life without her for over four years.
Part of that life involves Tony having become friends with Interpol agent Henry Rayner-Hunt (James D’Arcy). Henry puts in a good word for Tony with Interpol, backing his friend’s new cybersecurity venture. When Henry broaches the idea of Ziva joining Tony’s business, she is quick to say no.
Ziva first tells Henry about her desire to open a language school in Paris, saying she is “all done chasing bad guys, thank you.” When Henry tries to push her on the idea of working with Tony again, Ziva’s demeanor completely changes as she snaps, “I’d say to take the hint, but I’m not f***ing hinting.”
Ziva is still deep in the throes of the trauma of spending four years living on the run and fighting to survive on a daily basis. She was taught to be a soldier and an assassin from a young age, and went right from working for Mossad and her father to working as an investigator for NCIS.
Ziva opening a language school and following her dream is her way of putting that part of her life behind her and starting over.
Ziva Is Moving On From Her Trauma
Ziva’s Therapy In NCIS: Tony & Ziva Is Working For Her
Ziva is committed to working through the trauma she has experienced in her life, and NCIS: Tony & Ziva has, so far, been able to show that in both the present day and the flashbacks. Though she begins her reunion with Tony and Tali by staying with them, flinching at every noise, and drawing her gun at loud noises, she makes progress.
Ziva finds a therapist, she gets her own apartment, she opens her language school, and she and Tony work out a co-parenting situation that works for them, but one with a contingency plan if anyone goes after their daughter.
She is exceedingly proud of herself when a car backfires behind her and she does not react at all, knowing what the noise is when other people duck and prepare for danger. Ziva is putting in the work, and it looks to be working.
Though Ziva is moving on from the trauma of her past, she also knows how the darker parts of the world work, and she is prepared to run across town and brawl with a complete stranger to keep her daughter safe. She has guns hidden in panic rooms and is the first to suggest that Tony’s friend might be their enemy.
Ziva might be actively working through her trauma, but she is also prepared for it to resurface, which is part of the reason she does not need to return to NCIS again.
NCIS Does Not Need Another Ziva Return
The Current NCIS Team Can Stand On Its Own
Ever since Ziva first left NCIS in season 11, fans have been clamoring for her return. While she has been back for an arc that fleshed out her faked death and her life on the run, Cote de Pablo has not returned as Ziva on NCIS since then.
It makes perfect sense that Ziva would not reappear on NCIS at this point. Her story arc was given closure there, allowing her to finally break free from her family history with Mossad and put an end to her life on the run. Her NCIS story is done.
It’s also true that the majority of the characters that she had a connection to, like her supervising NCIS Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon), are not with NCIS anymore. If writers wanted to reunite Ziva with former NCIS coworkers, it would make more sense for it to happen on NCIS: Tony & Ziva.
Ziva has no connection to the current iteration of the team at the center of NCIS other than Tim McGee (Sean Murray). She would not be called back on a case, and she would not reach out to anyone else there.
The current NCIS team also needs to be allowed to stand on its own on the flagship series instead of relying on the nostalgia associated with the era of the show that saw Gibbs lead Tony, Ziva, and McGee as a team. Bringing back Ziva would only pull the focus from the new main characters.
When Ziva decides “not to hint” with Henry about her connection to working in any kind of law enforcement again, the character is not just putting her foot down, but telling the audience that her time with NCIS is over. NCIS: Tony & Ziva is a new chapter of her life, and the old one is closed.
