NCIS characters Tony and Ziva might be getting their own series, but their relationship starts long before their Paris spinoff. Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) worked together at NCIS, meeting on the flagship series in season 3.
Their road might have been rocky, but Tony and Ziva’s relationship is certainly one that is fun to watch develop.
Seasons 1 And 2: Tony And Ziva Have Not Met Yet
Tony’s Laid-back Personality Is Established
Ziva does not appear in the first two seasons of NCIS. Instead, these seasons are devoted to establishing the main team of the series and creating the dynamics among the agents that work with Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon).
It’s these first two seasons that establish Tony as the most laid-back member of the team. Tony is there with the jokes and the pop culture references while everyone else is laser-focused on the cases in front of them.
These seasons allow Tony to be the comic relief for the otherwise heavy series. Tony is not simply relegated to comedic relief though, allowed to have his own serious moments, which help to set up the dramatic cliff-hanger ending of his partner’s murder and his initial mistrust of Ziva in season 3.
During this time, Ziva is a Mossad agent, which is established fairly early in the next season.
Season 3: Tony And Ziva Have A Rocky First Meeting
Ziva Has To Earn Tony’s Trust
When Ziva is introduced in season 3, it is almost immediately after the team has laid Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) to rest. In fact, the season 3 premiere is one of the essential NCIS episodes to understanding her original dynamic with Tony. Ziva is brought in as a consultant of sorts to help hunt down Caitlin’s killer.
Tony is distrusting of her at first and is suspicious when it’s revealed that Ziva is actually the sister of the man who killed Agent Todd. Despite his initial mistrust and even hostility toward Ziva, it does not take long for him to soften toward her and begin bantering with her about her English skills.
Their chemistry is especially highlighted when the two go undercover together as a married pair of assassins. The two are under surveillance by other government organizations, and they have everyone around them fooled. It provides the first hint that there is more to the developing relationship between them than fans might have thought.
Season 4: Tony’s Trust In Ziva Is Firmly Cemented
Tony And Ziva Believe In One Another
When Ziva is accused of an assassination, she goes on the run, seeking Gibbs for help. Tony refuses to hear a bad word about Ziva, convinced that she is not a traitor, no matter how many other agents are suspicious of her or how many people question them.
That care goes both ways. Ziva starts to worry about Tony, clocking that his behavior changes this season, and even that he starts getting a lot of calls from a hospital. It’s eventually revealed that Tony has started dating a doctor – as part of an undercover operation. That storyline bleeds into season 5.
Season 5: Ziva’s Jealousy Is Highlighted When Tony Goes Undercover
Ziva And Tony Have Relationships With Other People
The two are firmly partners in this season, but the potential for any romantic feelings between the two is pushed aside in favor of the job and their other relationships.
Ziva is the only team member to notice that Tony’s behavior continues to be out of character for him. The truth is that his undercover operation is weighing on him, but Ziva only initially sees it as him dating someone and starts to get jealous.
When the long-running undercover assignment does not end the way anyone expects, Gibbs’ team is placed under a microscope. Acting Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carrol) opts to split them up at the end of the season, making Tony an agent afloat and terminating Ziva’s position with the team.
Season 6: Tony And Ziva Take One Step Forward And Two Steps Back
Ziva Moves Forward With A New Relationship
Season 6 of NCIS is a frustrating one for fans of Tony and Ziva. Just as it seems like the two of them make progress toward admitting their feelings for one another, things get in the way.
The season kicks off with the team split up and Tony keeping a picture of Ziva in his bunk on the Navy ship where he is assigned. While that fact is not brought up again in the season, the two do get to know one another a little better.
Ziva begins to develop an appreciation for some of Tony’s more childish habits after he enters an air guitar contest. She also disobeys direct orders and takes on other agents during wargame exercises that are being used to ferret out a mole in order to protect him.
It seems like they might never be able to make progress when Ziva cannot trust Tony in the aftermath.
Season 7: Tony Proves He Is Always There For Ziva
Season 7 Also Proves They Have More Than Just Chemistry
Season 7 kicks off in a big way with the episode “Truth Or Consequences.” Tony and McGee (Sean Murray) go on a mission to rescue Ziva after she is presumed lost at sea. In reality, she is kidnapped, held prisoner, and tortured between seasons 6 and 7.
While it’s a horrible position for Ziva, it gets Tony to admit his feelings for her in a roundabout way.
When Tony and McGee are also captured, Tony tells Ziva under the influence of truth serum that he “couldn’t live without” her. Tony proves that he has Ziva’s back after she was so hesitant to trust him following the end of season 6, and the two begin a path to a working relationship again.
Ziva even officially becomes a probationary agent for NCIS, earning all of the teasing about being the latest “probie” on the team.
The season 7 episode “Jet Lag” is the one many NCIS fans pinpoint as the tipping point for Tony and Ziva. The two, on assignment in Paris, both lie about sleeping on the couch in their shared hotel room. While just what happened is never explained, the implication is enough to hint that this is where everything changed.
Season 8: Tony And Ziva See Other People
Romance Is Set Aside To Focus On Cases
Season 8 is not a particularly eventful one for Tony and Ziva. While Tony attempts a few different relationships, they are short-lived, and it’s easy to see his heart isn’t in them.
Ziva, on the other hand, has a more long-term relationship. That relationship crumbles when she finds out the man is actually a CIA agent, highlighting Ziva’s own trust issues after everything she has been through.
Though it might not seem like a lot of progress for the pair, it does allow each of them to grow separately after spending so much time making sure they got to know and trust one another over the past five seasons.
Season 9: NCIS Pulls Back On Tony Ziva’s Relationship Even More
Ziva Still Makes Her Feelings For Tony Clear
It’s the season finale that reminds the audience just how close Tony and Ziva still are despite all of the bumps in their relationship. In NCIS season 9, episode 24, a terrorist threat becomes reality for NCIS.
Even when Ziva knows that an explosion is coming, she refuses to leave the NCIS building without Tony. Ziva has to know that Tony is safe before she is willing to do anything else. It’s a powerful reminder that Ziva is willing to die for Tony, just as he put his life on the line for her before.
Season 10: Ziva And Tony Almost Admit Their Feelings Multiple Times
Season 10 Pushes The Duo Together In Tragedy
Though Ziva and Tony are still not in a relationship after seven years of will-they-won’t-they, season 10 makes their relationship feel truly inevitable. The season has some of the most romantic Tony and Ziva moments in all of NCIS.
Tony starts to pay attention to the little things in Ziva’s life, like her obsessive attempt to get opera tickets. He ends up gifting her a CD of opera music when he finds out that opera is only important to Ziva because it was important to her late sister.
When Ziva’s father dies, it’s Tony who is there every step of the way. He offers Ziva a place to stay at his own apartment when there is concern that she may be targeted as well. He sees her off when she flies her father home. He is also her partner on assignments to get justice for her father, despite the possibility of them being emotionally compromised.
While working in Berlin, the two dance together, hold hands, and seem on the verge of finally admitting the depth of their feelings together. Unfortunately, they are interrupted when in a massive car accident, and NCIS seems poised to pull them apart again.
Season 11: Ziva And Tony Admit Their Feelings For The First Time
Ziva Leaves NCIS
Ziva only appears in the first two episodes of season 11 because she opts to leave NCIS. Tony follows Ziva to Israel to talk things out with her, and the two finally admit how they feel without outside influences or interruptions.
Unfortunately for Tony, Ziva decides to remain in Israel, while he returns to his job at NCIS. The two share a kiss goodbye on the tarmac ahead of Tony’s flight out, and it’s definitely more bitter than sweet for the audience since the separation means the pairing never becomes an official couple on screen.
Seasons 12 And 13: Ziva Is Presumed Dead
Tony Finds Out He Is A Father
Season 12 does not feature Ziva at all. What is going on with her remains a mystery until season 13, but that means Tony’s focus is on his work for the two seasons without her character. He is the senior agent who welcomes new team members.
Tony, however, does leave NCIS himself at the end of season 13. Ziva is presumed dead after an explosion rocks the David family home in Israel. The only known survivor of the explosion is Tali, Ziva’s daughter, and Tony leaves NCIS to raise Tali in Paris, France.
This provides a huge reveal that Tony fathered Ziva’s daughter, presumably the last time the audience saw them together. Again, it’s a more bitter than sweet moment for the audience since the forward momentum on the relationship between the characters is also at the expense of a departure.
Seasons 14 – 16: Tony’s Life Is Largely A Mystery
NCIS Focuses On Its Newer Agents
Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) is the keeper of Ziva’s secrets during these seasons, finding evidence that the former NCIS agent is alive, but not telling anyone. It’s an interesting way to remind the audience of fan-favorite characters without actually having to utilize the actors in the series – until Ziva makes a brief return.
Season 17: Ziva’s Life On The Run Is Revealed
Ziva Confides In Old Allies
Season 17 reveals that Ziva has been living on the run, running her own investigation into who tried to kill her, in order to keep her family safe. Ziva has spent this time without her daughter and remaining out of touch from Tony, hoping that it will protect him.
NCIS takes a very real approach to Ziva despite the seemingly over-the-top story idea. She is scared and even anxious about reuniting with Tony and Tali. After years apart from them, she is not sure what to expect. Her anxiety hints that their reunion would likely not have gone smoothly at first.
Since NCIS season 17, neither Tony nor Ziva have made significant stops by NCIS, but they are returning in a new spin-off series, still set in Paris, where Tony planned to raise their daughter. NCIS: Tony & Ziva is set to fill in the gaps in their relationship timeline for the audience.
