Ziva David captivity storyline
| "Ziva David captivity storyline" | |
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Tony (left) and McGee (right) rescue Ziva (center) in the seventh season premiere
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| Episode no. | Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Dennis Smith, Tony Wharmby, Thomas J. Wright, Leslie Libman, and James Whitmore, Jr. |
| Written by | Shane Brennan, Jesse Stern, David North, Frank Cardea, George Schenck, and Steve Binder |
The Ziva David captivity storyline refers to a series of episodes from the American police procedural drama NCIS surrounding the imprisonment of protagonist Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) in a Somali terrorist training camp and its aftermath. Originally created by then-executive producer Shane Brennan, the story arc first aired in 2009 during the sixth season of the show and continued into the seventh season. Episodes followed the events that originally led to Ziva's being taken hostage by an Islamic terrorist, the collapse of her relationship with the NCIS team, her captivity and eventual rescue, and the ramifications.
Elements of prisoner abuse and torture were used for the storyline, though most of the violence perpetrated against the character takes place off screen; producers avoided depicting explicit torture scenes like those commonly associated with the TV series 24.
The portrayal of Ziva's divided loyalties to the United States and Israel during this period attracted attention from several Jewish critics and columnists, who discussed its implications. Specifically, the actions of Ziva's father, Eli David (Michael Nouri), drew widespread debate, and his seeming nonchalant attitude towards his daughter's abuse garnered much criticism for the character. Within the series, it led to her decision to resign from Mossad and apply to become an NCIS agent and an American citizen.
The character of Ziva David was introduced by series creator Donald P. Bellisario in 2005 during the third season of NCIS, which follows a team of government agents who work for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Chilean-American actress Cote de Pablo was cast to portray the character, who underwent a number of revisions before ultimately being scripted as an Israeli Mossad officer assigned as a liaison to the NCIS team. She is portrayed as having a vibrant personality despite her background as an assassin and being "an extremely skilled interrogator, nearly impossible to break".
Initially rejected by most of the other characters, she is eventually accepted as a member of the NCIS team and as a surrogate daughter figure to team leader Gibbs (Mark Harmon). She also serves as a foil for Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, a former Baltimore homicide cop and "wannabe playboy" played by Michael Weatherly. Early on, producers began to toy with the idea of pairing them romantically but avoided going through with the relationship by dealing them a number of obstacles, namely difficult circumstances and other love interests.
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