First appearing in Season 3, episode 1, “Kill Ari Part 1,” Ziva David, played by Cote de Pablo, makes a major entrance in the procedural crime drama “NCIS” as the controlled former Israeli Mossad agent. In the season premiere, Ziva arrives as Agent Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is trying to kill Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin), the man who murders Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) at the end of Season 1. The whole team is wary of Ziva as she appears to be protecting Ari, who unbeknownst to them is her half-brother.
As fans of “NCIS” know, Ziva eventually becomes a key part of the team, growing close to Gibbs and the others and even having a daughter with Tony (Michael Weatherly). At first glance, Ziva seems cold and distant, but considering her tough childhood and all she’s seen as a Mossad agent, no one can blame her. She has a hard time trusting new people, and she puts a lot of effort into keeping work disciplined and impersonal. But over the course of her time with Gibbs’s dependable and compassionate team, Ziva opens up more, revealing her strange sense of humor and sharing more about herself with the others.
But even with the team’s normally welcoming nature, it takes a few episodes for them to trust Ziva. So what’s the one thing that Ziva does that finally proves her loyalty to Gibbs and his team?
The NCIS team doesn’t trust Ziva after Ari’s death
CBS
When Ziva first shows up, Director of NCIS Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly) vouches for her trustworthiness, telling Gibbs about Ziva saving her life earlier on a mission in Cairo. But of course, Gibbs has to decide for himself whether or not Ziva is worth his trust, and their relationship doesn’t really start off well.
After Kate’s death, Gibbs has an intense vendetta against Ari. Then here comes Ziva, who attempts to help Ari escape with falsified documents, and you can understand why Gibbs wouldn’t want to work with her. But when Ari confesses to Kate’s death and other crimes in front of her and Gibbs, proving to Ziva that he’s too far gone, she does the right thing and shoots her half-brother before he can do the same to Gibbs. It’s probably the most difficult thing she ever has to do, and it haunts her for years after.
Honestly, you’d think that would be enough to prove her ability and allegiance, but no, not for the NCIS team. It isn’t until Ziva plays a key part in a case and saves another team member’s life that they finally accept her.
Ziva finally earns their trust when she saves Ducky’s life
CBS
Although she’s the one who pulls the trigger that ends his life, Ziva accompanies Ari’s body back to Tel Aviv to be put to rest. Afterwards, she is assigned to be a liaison officer with Gibbs’s team at the NCIS, which the group isn’t too happy about.
In the fourth episode of Season 3, “Silver War,” Ziva works on her first case with the team, investigating the mystery of a Marine who dies after being buried alive. Tracking the crime to a Civil War reenactment group, the team finds a map that leads to a cache of Civil War weapons worth over a million dollars. When a man steals the map from Ziva and McGee (Sean Murray), Ziva is able to recreate the map from memory, which amazes McGee. Then Ziva and Ducky (David McCallum) follow the map with the help of a forensic anthropologist named Dr. Burns (Barbara Nevin), and they come upon two men unearthing a coffin that holds the historical weapons. Intending to wait for Gibbs to arrive and arrest them, Ziva and Ducky are surprised by Burns’s betrayal. While she has Ducky at gunpoint, she tells Ziva to put her gun down, which she does. But before Burns can stop her, Ziva throws her knife at the woman, hitting her heart and saving Ducky’s life.
With this act, Gibbs, Tony, and all of the others finally welcome her as a member of the NCIS team. While her skill as an agent has always been obvious, it isn’t until Ziva proves her care and effort to always protect the team that they all accept her as one of their own.
