She got him. And Ziva and Vance finally got their "Revenge."
Ziva had no time for cutesy romance this week on NCIS, and in fact was beyond exasperated at Tony's childish behavior concerning his car insurance woes. She pushed herself past the pain of the car accident, working herself out mercilessly at the gym.
When Tony was moaning about being kicked out of McGee's car, she saw it as another opportunity to train by loaning him her car while she jogged back and forth to work.
To the great relief of everyone, Tony and Ziva got out of the car crash with just a few scrapes and painful bruises. And, contrary to my own prediction, the accident scene was directly the fault of Ilan Bodnar, who had targeted them for the sole purpose of retrieving the uncut diamonds they had taken from his brother.
As she emptied her gun at the fleeing spy, Ziva was able to obtain a partial plate, which allowed a gang of NCIS agents to storm the house of the getaway car driver. The latter proved to be something of an enigma, having completely changed his appearance: his facial bone structure had been altered, his fingerprints had been removed and he had even had his teeth replaced with implants. Ducky's determination to identify the man won out when he found a serial number associated with one of the parts used to reconstruct the man's jaw.
The main evidence that turned the case was a piece of paper found in the man's pocket with the cryptic words "See Reisiger 19" written on it. Palmer's handy translator app determined that the English translation (from Afrikaans) was "Sea Voyager." This was the name of a ship and the "19" referred to its pier number.
While Tony and Gibbs rushed to give the news to Vance, Ziva slipped away, set to settle the score with Bodnar, on her own terms. After doing her firestarter thing as a diversion, she slipped aboard the Sea Voyager, found Bodnar and, in hand-to-hand battle, ended up flipping him over the side of the ship to the dock where he died.
Once again, the writers for NCIS have done a tremendous job. They kept us guessing all the way through.
I was sure Bodnar would end up not being responsible for the deaths of Eli David and Arash Kazmi - and I was only half right. I'm still not sure he was merely after power in wanting Eli dead: he told Ziva that Eli was taking Mossad and Israel in a dangerous direction and that he was "selling us out to Iran" and had to be stopped. I think he was a patriot but that he was wrong-headed and stubborn.
Probably in a few ways he was like Ziva: willing to go to any lengths to reach his goals. And she was willing to bypass the authority of NCIS (and, ultimately, Homeland Security) by going after him herself, meting out her revenge.
Strange, though, that after deciding on this rogue plan of action she refused to shoot him when he was unarmed. How many of us were shouting at the TV set "SHOOT HIM ALREADY!" But no - she had to go at him and get into a knock-down drag out fight. One for which she was at least marginally prepared.
Another oddity had to do with Vance and Ziva. After Tom Morrow read Vance the riot act once again and told him to make sure NCIS stayed at arm's length regarding Bodnar, the former had a discussion with the team and then stopped by Ziva's desk:
You and I have to let Homeland handle this. Understood? | permalink
And there was a pregnant pause as they gazed at each other, hinting at a meaning other than what he actually said. This was confirmed a while later when he told Gibbs that NCIS was supposed to lay off:
Gibbs: So do we? Lay off?
Vance: The man killed my wife, Gibbs. | permalink
Clearly Vance wanted Bodnar dead - and he was completely on board with Ziva doing it.
Tony proved his value as comic relief guy in this episode with his demands of McGee regarding a car ride and in getting Abby to pretend to be his administrative assistant when the insurance company called. He didn't expect her to commit so fully to the role and you could see the worry in his face as she began to raise her voice at them.
I laughed when McGee was face to face with Tony in the elevator and this happened:
McGee: If you don't like my rules you can find someone else to drive you in.
Tony: All I wanted was to stop for coffee. I was willing to treat.
McGee: No one eats or drinks in my car.
Tony: Well I guess sex is out of the question. | permalink
All in all, this was a great episode. The final scene was just about as perfect as it gets. Ziva, battered and bruised, walking into Vance's office. Vance struggling with his warring emotions over his concern for her, and his need to know if Bodnar was dead:
Vance: Are you all right? Is it over?
Ziva: It's over. | permalink
Some final notes:
- This episode was all about revenge being completed. And it wasn't diluted by the pending consequences that are sure to come down on them in the two remaining NCIS Season 10 episodes.
- Next week's episode will feature Colin Hanks, who will be playing DoD Investigator Richard Parsons.
- I have no idea whether McGee's information about Central Park is true and whether the seasons are impacted because of the heat from buildings and the subway system. I like to think it's right. If not, it's a great plot gimmick.
- As always, be sure to check out this week's NCIS quotes.
What did you think of this episode? Did you expect the Bodnar story to come to such a complete end (I mean, minus the legal aftermath)? Did you see any weak points with the plot?