NCIS
Reunion
Original Air Date: Sept 29, 2009
Angelique – Associate Staff Writer
angelique@thetwocentscorp.com
The last episode was action packed, and we all saw Ziva’s return to NCIS. But between that episode and the start of this one some time has passed and Ziva has not been in contact with any of the team members. Which is kind of understandable, she has a lot to deal with after all being caught by terrorist and tortured is bad enough but to find out that your own father basically left you to die. That is quite the thing to overcome.
Tony and McGee are talking about Ziva’s absence at the office, they find out that they both haven’t spoken to Ziva. The agent who took Ziva’s place when she was gone is handing in her resignation because she is very irritated and annoyed with Tony and McGee’s behavior. Tony and McGee don’t really mind after all if Ziva’s old desk isn’t occupied by someone else it will be easier for her to come back.
Gibbs bounces the decision of reinstating Ziva in his team back to Vance by telling Ziva that he already informed Vance that she would be stepping by. Ziva however knows that Gibbs is not completely truthful, nevertheless she goes to Vance who asks her if she has talked to Eli David about being reinstated at NCIS. Ziva says that she hasn’t talked to her father, which in her case is understandable. Vance tells her that he can’t just reinstate her first of all because she is a Mossad liaison officer and she has to liaise with Mossad to be reinstated in that position. And secondly because she is damaged goods and he has to figure out how damaged. He wants her to start with a psych evaluation but tells her at the same time that he promises nothing.
No matter how you put it in my opinion there was one star which rose above all the others in this episode and that was Ziva. The emotions she portrayed especially when talking to each of her friends individually were portrayed so well. This episode shows exactly why they are such a strong team, they need each other.
My absolute favorite scene of this episode must be the one where Abby demands Ziva to come down to the lab. One second she is mad at Ziva for not believing in Tony and the next she realizes the position that Ziva was in when she found Michael Rivkin dead on her living room floor with Tony, who shot him. Mad at Ziva because she told Gibbs that she didn’t trust Tony but then understanding what it must have felt like for Ziva. And then eventually enveloping her in a hug telling her how worried she was. This scene is why we love Abby, the rambling bolt of emotions all trying to get the upper hand at once perfectly portrayed by Pauley Perrette.
Talking to McGee must have been the easiest part, he is always well behaved and loyal. He would not make things hard for her knowing how hard it must be to talk to her. Of course McGee initiated the conversation by sitting down next to her when he saw her sitting in the park. She is open and honest with him even though she doesn’t go into details. McGee gently asks her why she is avoiding Tony if the past is in the past.
Tony and Ziva, they have a very complicated past something which will always stay between them but they have to get past it if they want to work together again. They need to move past it to be each others partners again and learn to trust each other again. Ziva made a huge step in the right direction by revealing her feelings to Tony. It was kind of lame that Tony walked away when he got an epiphany during their conversation which let them to finding their suspect. But at the same time it was very Tony-like.
Talking to Tony must have been hard, but emotionally speaking talking to Gibbs must have been even harder. During that last conversation with him she reveals probably one of her biggest secrets. She did have a direct order from her father to kill Ari to gain the trust of Gibbs. But when she actually shot him she did that not because of the order but to protect Gibbs. She also reveals that she is basically alone, since her father is all but dead to her. And it tears her apart that the man who she sees as her father is accusing her of betrayal. That is what swings Gibbs around and Ziva is reinstated. The team is whole again.
And on that note I would like to end my review. I know that I didn’t talk about the case at all but in this particular episode the individual team members are what counts. And those scenes are what caught my attention. I guess that with that lat scene now that Ziva has regained Gibbs trust she has regained the trust of a lot of people who wondered her loyalty to NCIS. On one hand I never doubted her but on the other hand you can never know what TPTB throw at you next. Gibbs’ trust is what we needed to see and we got it.
I am already looking forward to see the next episode where the team can kick ass and show of their crime fighting skills. Are you with me?
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