page_title: Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David
section_title: Michael Rivkin and captivity in Somalia
hierarchical_section_title: Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David / Development / Michael Rivkin and captivity in Somalia
caption_attribution_description: I've cropped my friend and myself out of these photos because I look like a dork and I figured she would not want to be on Flickr publicly (She doesn't look dorky at all in these photos). That's part of my blue shirt you can see.
context_page_description: Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David are fictional characters from the American police procedural drama NCIS. Tony, an original character, is portrayed by Michael Weatherly, and Ziva, who first appeared in the third season, is portrayed by Cote de Pablo. Frequently referred to by the portmanteau "Tiva", the characters' flirtation and the idea of them eventually beginning a relationship became a subject of interest among viewers, and by 2010, TV Guide reported that "many fans have become obsessed with the romantic tension". Focus and media coverage on the pair escalated over the years, particularly after NCIS became the most watched television series in America during its tenth season.
  The characters were initially scripted as having a "cat and mouse" relationship, something that continues into the later seasons. The pairing develops at a slow pace throughout the series and is dealt a number of obstacles. This includes Tony's "commitment phobias", Ziva's trust issues, a series of other love interests, and Ziva being taken captive and presumed dead between Seasons 6 and 7 after a serious breakdown in their relationship.
context_section_description: Season 6 focuses more on Ziva and Tony, but leaves their relationship undefined. Gibbs manages to have Ziva and McGee transferred back to the team in the premiere, but Tony is still acting as agent afloat on the USS Seahawk. In the following episode, Ziva accompanies Gibbs onto the Seahawk as part of a murder investigation and notices that Tony has pictures of her in a bikini pinned up in his room. After the investigation is closed, his deployment is ended prematurely and he is allowed to return to the team in the conclusion of the episode.
  As the season progresses, Ziva seems to have become involved with someone while in Israel but refuses to discuss it. In "Nine Lives", after she plans a visit to Israel, Tony looks through her desk and finds a picture of an unidentified man (Merik Tadros). Before she leaves, he tells her to have a good trip ("Nisiya Tova") in Hebrew, demonstrating that he had at least made some effort to learn that phrase. In "Cloak", Ziva disobeys Gibbs' orders to not engage during a war game, attacking the guards to defend Tony. Later they both say that they are "tired of pretending": Tony about the politics in the hunt for the mole within the team, which required the team to withhold information from each other, and Ziva for reasons undisclosed.
  Producers and writers for NCIS were initially divided over how to proceed with Tadros' character. In January 2009, some were suggesting possibly making him a relative of Ziva, an idea Cote de Pablo opposed. It was also proposed that Ziva would "stop toying with [Tony] completely" which would "drive him even more insane". De Pablo relayed, "We're going to play around with the idea that it could possibly be real love, and see how [he] deals with it." In March, executive producer Shane Brennan stated, "You've got what you might want to call a triangle. It's a triangle with very, very pointy ends. Someone's going to get hurt." He continued, "Something tragic will happen to Tony. Something tragic will happen to Ziva as well."
  This comes to a head when Tadros appeared again portraying Mossad Officer Michael Rivkin in the "Legend" two-part, which also served as a backdoor pilot for the show's spin-off, NCIS: Los Angeles. He arrives in the United States during the NCIS team's hunt for members of a terrorist sleeper cell. Working independently, he draws ire from the agency when he kills suspects rather than bringing them in for questioning. Tony begins to doubt Ziva's loyalty to NCIS when she continues to defend Rivkin, and it becomes apparent by the end of Part II that she is involved in a relationship with him as the two are seen lying together in bed in the last few seconds of "Legend Part 2".
  More details were released in the days preceding the finale. Michael Weatherly disclosed, "The way this season is ending, and what's gonna happen with Ziva and Tony and Rivkin, it's pretty massive and explosive, and it's gonna span four episodes." De Pablo added, "We could not be farther away from kissing. I'm telling you, it's not 'I hate you' [kissing sound] anger; it's 'I want to kill you' anger. Like, 'I want to shoot you in the head, but instead I'm gonna put my gun on your knee' anger….He does something to her that is almost unforgivable. However, the reason he does it is because he truly believes it's going to help her. Little does he know that he almost kills her." When asked how the storyline would affect Tony and Ziva's interactions, Tadros replied, "I think that love can hurt and heal. In this case, we'll have opportunity to see both of those things take place. I don't want to say too much, but... I think it will only make their connection stronger, as they learn a lot more about each other."
  Viewers speculated that Ziva's romance with Rivkin was "arranged" and something that she was "trapped" in. Tadros responded:
  Well, with the underworld of espionage, you would never really know. They could easily have been paired and had to be in love and then had to learn to love each other.... The way I've always approached it is that Rivkin loves Ziva. They've always wanted
caption: 1The team tracks the sale of "Caf-Pow!" to locate the camp where Ziva is held hostage in the Season 7 premiere.
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