‘NCIS’ season 13 finale: Should Cote de Pablo have appeared?
You’ve made it through the entirety of the “NCIS” finale now, and with that, you know the entirety of what happened, for better and for worst. Obviously, there are some pretty big spoilers ahead, so read on with caution.
It may not be an easy pill to swallow, but the truth seems to be now that Ziva is in fact gone from this world. The show really did not make much of an effort to have us think that Cote de Pablo’s character survived the explosion; instead, they wrote the episode in a way that revealed that she and Tony had a child named Talia, who Tony discovered in the aftermath. He now has a further purpose to his life, and it seems like his time with the team is done.
Was this the right way to write out the character? It’s hard to say because of the logistics involved here. We know that this was not the original idea for the finale. At one point, the writers at least presented an idea to Cote to see if she would return; however, she recently revealed that she turned down the offer, not feeling like the story really did the Ziva character justice. With that, obviously the show went in a different direction. They wanted to honor the Tony / Ziva relationship in some way, and maybe they felt that this was the best way to do that without having Cote show up.
We’re probably going to never know what the plan was before all of this, so for now let’s just ask the question: Do you wish Cote had appeared, and what sort of story did you want for Ziva? Share below, and head over here for more on the finale.
Also, sign up at this link to secure some more TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)
NinjaCom
May 18, 2016 @ 6:10 pm
Genuinely shocked. As a HUGE Ziva/Tiva fan I lost interest in NCIS when Cote left but kept up to date with S11 onwards in the hope that the writing would improve. Tuned into Twitter (we’re a few episodes behind in the UK) to find Ziva to be dead. Killed off-screen. WHAT. A. JOKE. I’m still a mixture of anger at the writers, denial and tears. Still in shock. What on earth do you achieve by killing off Ziva, apart from enraging and losing even more loyal fans? Yes it gives her character closure, but that could have been achieved through Ziva telling Tony about Tali and then having them live together as a family.
What was Gibbs’ reaction (or lack of) – like he didn’t even care? He took her badge and ID to the remembrance wall but no tears, feelings, anything? I know he is a stoic character and doesn’t show much emotion, but as Tony rightly pointed out, she was like a daughter to Gibbs! Even Vance managed to shed a tear (love you Rocky).
MW nailed that episode acting-wise, I cried every time that Tony did. I am glad that we know that Tiva slept together in PPF and that they have a daughter (who is so cute). Why couldn’t they let them have a happy ending and be a family? I know that Ziva “never depended on happy endings” but with all the loss and rubbish she put up with in her life, she deserved happiness. I get that Cote didn’t want to go back (can you blame her?) but this script was the writers way of displacing their anger about Cote onto Ziva. There were other ways of including Ziva (and Tali) without Cote appearing or Ziva dying!
SO disrespectful to kill off Ziva, if you wanted to anger fans and lose viewers, you’ve succeeded! Just because Cote decided to leave as the scripts were awful (she was right, S11-13 were dire). Cote stood up for herself, her fans and her character, got SO SO MUCH RESPECT FOR HER. Cannot wait to see Prototype – The Dovekeepers and The 33 were incredible and I hope that Prototype gets the green light, viewers and success that it and Cote deserve.
Side note – to the amazing women who have met Cote in person, thank you for letting Cote know how loved she is and how much her fans support her and her decision to leave. Thank you girls for keeping Mote alive. The cookbook was beautiful and I’m so glad to have been able to sign her birthday card. Oh and Muse Watson’s comments on Twitter are so true, love him! As he said, we are “beyond agree or disagree”, we have reached pure “idiocy”.
COUNT ME OUT as a viewer and as a fan.
Marion Perkins
May 18, 2016 @ 4:13 pm
Why couldn’t Tony go back to Israel to see Ziva in hospital then find out about daughter? Then Tony and Ziva raise their daughter together in Israel and live happily ever after!!!!!
liz laughlin
May 18, 2016 @ 5:04 am
The promos said that there would be a big cast of guest stars. Besides Orli and Senior, where was the big cast of guest stars? Is Glasberg losing his mind? As far as the Ziva thing, I told a friend what was going to happen and voila, I got it right this time. I didn’t need the box of kleenex. The only thing that got to me was when Tali pointed at the picture and said “Abba.” Now Tony gets to be the father that he never had. In fact, that is what I told my friend. I thought the scene where they all emptied their weapons into Trent Kort was a bit much.
Dee Dee Loge
May 18, 2016 @ 3:06 am
Well, it was a shocker! I loved Kate but I truly loved Ziva and Tony! They were funny and brash and fought but you always new there was love. So maybe in the end the show truly let us see how much in their beautiful little girl!