NCIS: Tony And Ziva Episode 9 Recap: What Happened To Tali?

The penultimate episode of NCIS: Tony and Ziva sees rogue Interpol chief Jonah Markham setting the final stage of his plan in motion, as his true motive behind partnering up with Aaron Graves comes to light. Previously, luring Tony, Ziva, Claudette, and Boris to the Reigning Firearms Expo, Markham took control over Aaron Graves’ weapon tech with Lazar’s help and launched an attack on the quartet. Instead of taking down Graves like he had planned with Martine, Jonah betrays her, frames Tony and Ziva for the attack, and helps Graves to escape. Martine plans to kill Lazar, assuming he would betray her like Jonah as well, but her final decision remains unknown. Tony decides to follow Markham and Graves on his own, while Ziva and the rest of the team plan to track him down before Tony gets himself in trouble.

Spoilers Ahead

What Is Jonah Markham’s Endgame?

In the aftermath of the expo mayhem, Graves has decided to lay low in his private compound on the Spanish island Isla Zafira and has brought Jonah along with him. Graves takes great joy in showing around the compound where he has put some of his best killing machines on display, and Jonah is visibly uncomfortable as he is reminded how these very same weapons were used by the Reigning Fire militia to exterminate his family during the Balkan wars. Jonah has convinced Graves that Tony and Ziva orchestrated the expo attack with Lazar’s help and they are trying to hunt him down;Graves entrusts him with his resources on the island to take down the former NCIS agents in time. Graves’ lair, from where he accesses surveillance of the entire island, is located around the underground tunnel network spread across the island, which was built by Nazis. Graves introduces Jonah to his security chief, Ruben, and takes him to the lair to show his unbreachable safe, which even Lazar and his hacker associates can’t breach. Inside the safe is the proverbial nerve center, which is connected with global weapon servers of Reigning Fire, which means, in the wrong hands, this can cause a world war of sorts. The access to the safe is a code that only Graves knows. Jonah’s plan is to take control of this nerve center to attain power to dictate terms in global warfare.

Does Tony Survive the Compound Bombing?

Ziva recalls an old method to communicate with Tony through a cinephile blog, and using that, she is able to call him. Tony, who has tailed Jonah and Graves to Isla Zafira, reveals the location to the team and also mentions there is still a chance to clear their names and expose Jonah if they can get their hands on 9.4, as the AI drive will have its memory backed up, which can reveal the identity of the true culprit. Tony sets up a meeting with Ziva and co. in a rendezvous location on the island; however, the team finds themselves targeted by Jonah’s goon, thanks to expansive surveillance of Reigning Fire covering almost the entirety of the island. Ziva is able to fend off the attackers, and Boris helps the team to hide their tracks by manipulating the electronic ID of Reigning Fire surveillance. Claudette speculates Graves has been planning something significant after learning that the Nazi-era tunnel network where Graves has set base aligns with the power grid network of the island—which implies Graves has something at his disposal that draws an immense amount of energy, and Markham wants to obtain it for himself. Things take a bad turnwhen Ziva’s text message doesn’t reach Tony, and Markham lures him inside the compound by sending a fake message about Ziva being abducted by his men. 

On the other hand, Martine calls Jonah to reveal that she is still willing to trust him after all this and reveals that she has killed Lazar and obtained his laptop, which can help him bypassing the Reigning Fire server. Martine reveals she is going to pay him a visit and hand him the laptop. Reaching Isla Zafira, Martine reaches Ziva and offers to join hands, as, knowing Jonah’s goals have changed, she is willing to forget about their past alliance and seek help from Ziva to face a common enemy. Claudette finds out Tony is inside Graves’ private compound, which ends their meeting as Ziva rushes to rescue Tony.

Trespassing through the compound and entering the main building, Tony directly speaks with Graves through surveillance and reveals Jonah’s motive to get revenge against Graves for his family, who were killed by Reigning Fire troops in Balkan wars. Jonah accepts the truth and reveals Graves’ chief of security, Ruben, is in cahoots with him as well, given he too had lost his grandparents in Bogota, who were killed by Reigning Fire mercs. Having Graves cornered, Jonah asks for the access code to the safe, revealing that he now has complete control over his island’s surveillance and other systems, given that he let Ruben use 9.4 on them. Graves calls bluff, but Jonah shows just how serious he is by remotely blowing up the building where Tony is present at the moment. Ziva, Boris, and Claudette rush into the underground tunnels to reach Tony after witnessing the fierce explosion, and strangely enough, they are able to find Tony, who sustained almost no injuries at all. 

Why Did Tony and Ziva Break Off Their Marriage?

In this episode’s customary flashback segment, viewers get to learn why things completely fell apart between Tony and Ziva back when Ziva returned to her family. Tony planned a grand old destination wedding in Barbados and remained so busy taking care of the planning, that on the day of the wedding he lost track of Tali. To not bother Ziva too much about it, Tony chose to keep it a secret from her while trying to find their daughter with assistance from Claudette and Sophie. Ziva eventually learned about this and had a tense argument with Tony about it, which brought out all the ugliness both of them tried to hide from each other. Tony acknowledged he couldn’t trust Ziva, as despite knowing that she had her reason to abandon her family, there is a part of him who considers that she has a long way to go to assume the role of Tali’s mother. Ziva, on the other hand, wanted to keep her family together, and that’s the only reason she agreed to the marriage despite knowing she is not prepared to let go of her trauma and burdens. Tali was found in the resort gardens, but after this incident there was no way Tony and Ziva could ignore the obvious problems and continue with the marriage ceremony. It is only now that both of them have worked on each other and have mended their broken bond. 

What Happened to Tali?

Martine meets Jonah in Graves’ lair, hands him over Lazar’s laptop, and tries one last time to convince him to let go of the maddening pursuit of assuming power, to no avail. In his desperation to force Graves to give up the access code to his safe, Jonah threatens him with the life of his son, much to Martine’s disgust, who fails to make Jonah see reason. Martine escapes after shooting Graves to death, thereby ensuring Jonah never gets to access the code and get his hands on the safe. In reality, contrary to what the last episode hinted at, she didn’t kill Lazar and instead joined hands with him to take down Jonah. 

Much to Tali’s dismay, Ziva had asked Sophie to take her to Barbados to her parents to stay off-grid until they are able to finish the mission. Jonah orchestrated an emergency landing of the flight they boarded, and the duo arrived on Isla Zafira as a result. Sophie had already assessed the possibility of Jona having his men stationed for them at the airport, and accordingly, she takes down multiple assailants on her own who try to ambush Tali. However, Jonah has doubled down in his efforts to have Tali captured, as he uses Reigning Fire drones to overwhelm Sophie and kidnaps Tali at the end. Sophie shares the troubling news with Tony and Ziva, who prepare to rescue their daughter from Jonah’s clutches. The ending conveys the first season has come a full circle, Tony and Ziva became fugitives while trying to protect their daughter, and once again, as the final showdown is about to happen between them and Jonah, Tali’s fate once again hangs in balance. 

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