Truth or Consequences

"Truth or Consequences" is the first episode of the seventh season of the American police procedural drama NCIS, and the 139th episode overall. It originally aired on CBS in the United States on September 22, 2009. The episode is written by Jesse Stern and directed by Dennis Smith, and was seen live by 20.61 million viewers. "Truth or Consequences" follows "Aliyah", the sixth season finale, and carries the plot surrounding Ziva's captivity. In the closing moments of season 6, she was shown to be held hostage in a prison camp in Somalia and tortured nearly beyond recognition. The majority of the episode is told in a series of flashbacks that cover the four months in which Ziva was missing, focusing on the team attempting to replace her as Tony searches for her whereabouts. The episode ends with Tony along with Gibbs and McGee heading to Somalia to rescue her, bringing her back to DC. Plot The episode opens depicting terrorist Saleem Ulman (Omid Abtahi) interrogating a captive in the dusty room of a prison camp in Somalia. The camera angle shifts to show that the captive is NCIS Agent Tony DiNozzo, who stubbornly refuses to give up any information. Unfamiliar with NCIS and Tony's mission, Saleem administers a truth serum and questions Tony extensively about the inner workings of the agency, how he was able to find his base of operations and why he traveled so far in his quest. Unable to keep quiet due to the serum's effects, Tony begins to recap the three months at NCIS since Ziva disappeared. It is shown through flashbacks that the NCIS team began working a drug case in May after Ziva's departure and that they had not received any word of her. After a few weeks, wishing to move on, Tony and McGee approached Gibbs about searching for a replacement on the team. Gibbs delegated the task of selecting the replacement to them and again confronted Vance, still hoping that Ziva would return eventually. Vance admits that Ziva's father, Mossad Director Eli David, had not mentioned her to him and suspected that she was back in the field.