NCIS: Tony & Ziva season 1 episode 7 revealed a lot more than the Reigning Fire expo plans.
We took a deeper look into Jonah and Martine’s evil scheme and relationship. Jonah revealed they were avenging his family’s deaths, even though he didn’t feel love towards his brother, except that his brother taught him to code. Revealing the true intentions behind wanting to end Aaron Graves only unraveled more narratistic traits from Jonah.
After untangling his lies, Tony and Ziva realized Jonah was also lying to Martine. They risked their cover to show Martine the video of Tali being hurt by Jonah’s men, even though Jonah had said yes to backing off from hurting Tali. The episode ends with Martine confused and looking for Ziva, who disappeared into the shadows.
As they're uncovering the truth about Jonah and Martine, Tony and Ziva confess their romantic feelings to each other. The mood is quickly soured by their daughter's feelings about them being more than just co-parents. She’d rather they stayed apart, which is a gut punch to her parents. Now, Tony and Ziva are in a sticky situation where they’ve addressed their feelings, but are hiding it from their daughter. I’m hoping they still find their way back together by the end of the season, even though I understand why their romantic feelings backfire on Tali’s well-being when they constantly fight.
NCIS Tony & Ziva season 1 episode 8 reveals TIVA wedding chaos
The episode starts with a flashback of Tony and Ziva in November 2020 talking about their wedding. They aren’t in agreement that small meant all of NCIS and their Paris coworkers. Ziva wanted just Tali and an officiant. Tony starts disagreeing, sending Ziva into a panic where her hands starts shaking. I’m beginning to understand more and more why they work best as professionals and co-parents over romantic partners. They fight a lot less when they aren’t a couple.
In present day and as they are preparing to clear a path to the server room, they come to the conclusion they’ve changed. In hindsight, it’s been five years, and maybe they’ve both grown as people. Regardless, they will always work great together in a profession and co-parent duo.
A separate scene from November 2020 with Tony and Henry confirms that he and Ziva had different visions for their wedding day. Where he wanted everyone around them, she didn’t. Large crowds make her nervous. It seems that Tony is struggling to express his feelings to her, which makes sense given Tali's perspective on her parents’ romantic side. Even Henry recognizes that Tony needs people around him due to his past; Ziva only needs the family they’ve created, which makes her feel safe. Those doubts between them seem to have ended the course to the altar.
As Tony confides in his best friend, Ziva talks these out with Dr. Lang. They conclude that Ziva is still discovering triggers that cause panic attacks. Although she feels safe with Tony, him being set in what he wanted and no listening to her took her back to being alone and on the run with no agency. Tony had everyone’s support in the past at NCIS, whereas Ziva was alone, and the damage crept into their impending wedding, causing a rift between them.
Field Agents Activated
Tony and Ziva are on a video call with Claudette and Boris discussing whether or not they should break into the Reigning Fire expo to stop Jonah from killing Aaron Graves. Claudette makes a good point that it’s not their job to stop a psychopath. But, Tony and Ziva moves forward, saying they have an idea to clear their names. The Reigning Fire drone was overhead when Jonah killed Henry, so that footage nails him. Claudette doubts the plan as Jonah runs his own mission. Yet, Tony and Ziva insist that Martine was surprised by the video of Tali planting a seed of doubt. If they’re fighting, they’ll be distracted. Whatever chaos they stir up gives them cover.
Boris has a big problem: Jonah definitely erased the drone’s memory, but Claudette hopes the main programming wasn’t wiped clean. They may be able to get audio if they can get into the Reigning Fire’s servers and piece together evidence of Henry’s final moments.
Le Corail Convention Centre is hosting the expo, which is run by someone who attended college with Claudette, a woman she once competed against to be the best. They end the call by confirming that remote work is over, and they need their tech team, Claudette and Boris, back in the field in Paris.
Despite how scary it sounds for Tony and Ziva to walk into an armed convention center, they agree they owe it to Henry. They may be fugitives, but their friend deserves justice. Although they commit to only worrying about one ambitious mission at a time, I can’t help but wonder what will happen to them if their mission fails. If they fail to expose Jonah and end this framing against them, what will happen? They’re entering a convention center where the host believes they attempted to blow him up. It’s a dangerous mission, but it’s not their first, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Martine loses trust in Jonah
As predicted by Tony, the scene flashes to Martine and Jonah watching the video Ziva sent her, while Martine yells at him for using a child as collateral. Jonah disagrees that Tali doesn’t look like collateral to him. He crossed a line and broke a promise to her. Even villains dislike being crossed by the few people they trust to help with their evil plans. He tries and fails to persuade her that he was trying to protect her. He throws it in her face that Tony and Ziva are trying to split them apart, but Martine stands firm with the fact that he still lied to her.
She questions how she can trust him again. But, of course, Jonah looks deep into her eyes and tells them they’re close to succeeding. Tomorrow, they’ll kill Graves, destroy Reigning Fire, and justice will be served.
Reigning Fire Expo Day
Tony loves a good uncover look, and this mission is no different. He took extra care to blend into the government buyers, despite his somewhat unconventional appearance: large dark shades, a mustache, and dark clothing. At least Ziva looks normal, even with her blonde bob wig. I love how when they are walking in, they’re debating whether Tony looks like Magnum PI or not. Claudette isn’t having any of it as she huffs and rolls her eyes at the craziness. To make it even better, Tony’s uncover name is J. P. Rainer as he scans into the convention center. The mission has begun.
As they are scanning in, the security guard looks at an iPad that has images of fugitives. Tony and Ziva are very clearly shown in the camera footage from a few episodes ago. Tony takes off his shades and starts chatting up the security guard to distract him. But the guard doesn’t seem to vibe with Tony’s conversation. Luckily, with Ziva's help, the guard agrees to let Tony through after learning he likes to watch the History Channel, proving that bad conversations can turn good with one common topic.
Upon walking into the Expo, they discover they are up against not only Freda’s (anti-Claudette) security, but Reigning Fire’s as well. Boris starts panicking that the way to the server room is also blocked, making him want to retreat and bail. Tony compares him to someone he used to call “probie.” Saying that he, not naming McGee, needed to relax just like Boris needs to. I love that they keep mentioning the NCIS team; it feels like home.
Cloning Freda’s keycard
While Tony and Ziva are clearing a path to the server room, Claudette and Boris split off in search of key cards to grant them access to the server room. Claudette feels nauseous about talking to Freda so they can clone her key card. Boris talks her down, saying she shouldn’t worry about what her old college mate thinks of her. They walk up to her, completing this part of the mission, as Freda is surprised to see Claudette. Boris becomes defensive when Freda tells Claudette that she had the grades but lacked the code level to succeed in the real world. Claudette takes it with grace and apologizes with a hug that ends with them successfully cloning Freda’s key card.
Tony and Ziva easily clear a path to the server room by leading Freda’s security to believe the Reigning Fire security soldiers are running tours in the off-limits area backstage. Clever move. Now they need to enter the server room, retrieve the data, and then leave. But Boris is worried there are more guards inside. Ziva assures him she’s beaten up anyone who comes for Boris while he works.
Two plans, one expo
Jonah and Martine arrive at the convention and scan in, looking determined and stone-cold. They kiss and part ways, with Jonah heading towards Aaron Graves. He likes his corporation and all that, but ends up calling in by the wrong name before walking off. Jonah watches Graves retreating with disgust that could slice anyone in half.
Meanwhile, Martine and Lazar are on their own mission in the tunnels away from the convention. Martine sweet talks a security guard in French and knocks him out. They enter the server room just as Ziva and Boris come around the corner, discussing their straightforward mission to obtain evidence of Jonah killing Henry. This leaves them with no safe way to access the server room and retrieve the drone data.
Tony suggests the best next thing, since Jonah crashed their plans, they’ll find out his. There’s a drone in the expo, maybe they can tap into the data for that, but it’s risky business being out in the open. Tony’s disguise can only do so much. Claudette moves in to connect a mini computer to the drone to get the data, while Tony distracts the guards. Hopefully, Ziva and Boris can take down Martine and Lazar. The distraction may have been good for a minute with Freda yelling at a Reigning Fire security solider, but then the lights go out. Spotlights come on, and Aaron Graves walks out onto the stage, but Tony tells Claudette to keep going. They must complete the mission, if only to bring justice for Henry.
Mission failing
Two teams of hacker and fighter approach each other in the server room as Lazar types on one of the machines. While Boris is marveling over Lazar’s hacking skills, Ziva is trying to create a distraction to separate Martine and Lazar. Boris unplugs servers, and Lazar instantly notices, sending Martine into agent mode as she holds up her gun. The fight scenes are vastly different and honestly fitting to whom each of the team members is.
Boris is still blown away by meeting Lazar, even after hitting him in the head and knocking him out. Ziva fights Martine and learns how deeply Jonah has corrupted her. Boris is defeated by Lazar, changing his 9.4 creation, and says that the changed data has already affected everything on display at the Expo. This can lead to a global take-down of all of Reigning Fire’s weapons, which I assume is Jonah’s plan as he watches it unfold, as Aaron Graves shows off his newest weapon on stage.
Freda interrupts Claudette’s process, causing Tony to take the device and walk away as she distracts the boss of the convention center. Another uncomfortable moment for Claudette as Tony tries to follow the prompts on the screen to save their mission. Everything is against them completing it. While she’s talking to Freda, keywords prompt Tony to use the device to retrieve the data. He successfully extracts the audio, but at a cost to his emotions as the scene replays for the viewers as he remembers having to choose between Tali and Henry. My heart is broken all over again.
Chaos breaks out
Boris finds out that Lazar was targeting every Reigning Fire Security solider in the building. Tony is watching Jonah, who’s on his phone with the surveillance photos that the guards had at the entrance, except they are updated to Tony’s disguise. Graves isn't on the kill list, but Claudette, Boris, Tony, and Ziva are. Martine looks as confused and alarmed as Boris and Ziva. Martine has the upper hand, takes 9.4, but doesn’t kill Ziva or Boris when she has the chance. I think that means she didn’t know that Jonah was going after them. She only knew about the mission to kill Graves. Jonah has control of the Expo tech, and things take a turn for the worse when the pup robot tech starts shooting.
Tony hides behind a table, Ziva leaves the server room and heads towards him. Freda and Claudette sit in a vehicle in the convention center as chaos erupts around them. Tony wants her to stay where she is, as it is tracking all of them with surveillance. Not even Graves can stop his weapon. An electronic surge shuts down all the tech, including the killer pup and their evidence for Henry.
Jonah double crosses everyone
Jonah’s plans work as he gets Graves alone, acting like he can keep him safe. Ziva has a panic attack as she makes her way through the chaos, and Tony finds her as she calms down; they then make a plan to find the team. Tony goes on the hunt for Graves and Jonah, but not before Jonah lies to Graves that Tony and Ziva are working with Lazar. Tells him they’re the ones who broke him out of prison to hack Graves’ network. That lying, narcissistic man. To no surprise at all, Jonah turns his back on Martine when she tries to go with him and Graves to finish the plan, as he takes 9.4 from her pocket. She goes back to Lazar, and he confirms that he tried to warn her about Jonah's double-crossing her, as he is incapable of seeing even his partner as his equal. She points her gun at him as she tells him the EMP didn’t reach the server room’s data.
Claudette and Ziva quickly exit the Expo in search of Tony. Unfortunately, he can’t be tracked due to the EMP wipe of all devices in the convention center. With their evidence gone, Tony missing, and agents about to swarm their location, their fate hangs in the balance.
NCIS: Tony and Ziva airs on Paramount+ on Thursdays.