The first season of NCIS: Tony and Ziva concluded with an intense finale, seeing Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David finally clear their names after being framed for terrorism and theft. The episode, titled Full Circle, reached its climax as the pair, with help from their allies, rescued their daughter Tali and put a stop to the villain Jonah Markham’s plans.
The Final Confrontation with Jonah Markham
The finale picked up immediately after the events of the previous episode, with Tali being held hostage by Jonah Markham. He used their daughter as leverage to force Tony and Ziva to help him access the secrets of the Reigning Fire weapon system. To save Tali, the couple had to work with Martine, Jonah’s former partner who had helped frame them.
The plan involved splitting into teams. Tony and Ziva confronted Jonah directly at Aaron Graves’s compound to distract him. Meanwhile, Martine and Ziva’s bodyguard, Sophie, located and rescued Tali from the location where she was being held. In a clever twist, their tech expert Boris and his counterpart Claudette hacked into Jonah’s own device, the 9.4. They reprogrammed it so that when Jonah used it to control Reigning Fire’s military drones, the system would instead identify him as the target.
A Family’s Fight for Survival
During a tense argument while escaping the compound, Ziva expressed her belief that the only way to ensure their family’s long-term safety was to kill Jonah. Tony, however, prioritized their immediate unity, insisting they could survive as a family on the run. This moment highlighted the different perspectives shaped by their past traumas.
The couple’s resourcefulness was on full display when they deciphered the access code for Graves’s secret vault by counting art installations in his garden. This allowed them to return to the vault and play along with Jonah’s demands. The situation escalated when Jonah’s guards captured their allies, but Tali and Boris managed to evade capture and made their way to the compound to help.
Jonah Markham’s Defeat and Death
With the vault open, Jonah revealed his ultimate goal: to use Reigning Fire’s weaponry to dominate warlords around the world, believing he could force global peace. Martine pointed out the fatal flaw in his plan, telling him he would simply become the very thing he sought to destroy.
When Jonah inserted the hacked 9.4 device into the system, the drones immediately turned on him. A chaotic chase ensued through underground tunnels, with Tony and Ziva forced to fire at the drones to protect Tali, who was in the same vehicle as Jonah. Boris then revealed that 9.4 had to be removed from the system to prevent Tali and Tony from being caught in the crossfire. The device was disconnected just in time, and Jonah was cornered and arrested by Martine.
While Jonah was initially taken alive, he was later found dead in his prison cell. The death was reported as a suicide, but the episode strongly suggested that Martine orchestrated his death. She knew the details of how he died before the news was officially broken to her.
A New Beginning for Tony and Ziva
With the threat eliminated and their names cleared, Tony and Ziva could finally focus on their family and their future. In a heartfelt scene, they told Tali they had decided to start dating again. Their daughter, who had previously been uninterested in the idea, gave her approval but advised them to take things slowly this time.
In a touching moment, Ziva gave Tony a framed photo of Tali with her late uncle, Henry. This gift symbolized a step toward healing and building a new life together after their long ordeal.
Where Other Characters Were Left
The finale also provided closure for several supporting characters. Martine was promoted to the new Secretary General of Interpol after reporting that she had been on an undercover mission to expose Jonah. Boris suffered a personal setback when it was revealed that his new wife, Fruzsi, was a con artist who had stolen all of his money and disappeared. Tony and Claudette offered him a job at their security company. The couple Claudette and Sophie decided to move in together, going public with their relationship.
Showrunner John McNamara explained the decision to end the season on a stable note for the couple, stating that the thriller elements of the plot were ultimately a tool to bring Tony and Ziva together. He noted that an alternate, darker cliffhanger ending was filmed but ultimately replaced because it “felt wrong somehow.” He wanted to give the characters and the audience a rest after the exhausting events of the season.
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