NCIS dropped some intel on Ziva and Tony — and then dropped a bombshell

NCIS this week filled in some blanks on Ziva and Tony’s relationship, before sending at least a few jaws to the floor with a mother of a twist.

Setting the stage for Ziva’s latest encore was the “one thing” she needed to tend to before reuniting with her family, and that was making sure that Adam Eshel was OK. For in flashbacks, we saw how Adam helped Ziva by whisking Tali to safety in the immediate wake of the attack on Eli’s farmhouse, and then years later came to her with a fake passport that would get her to the States, where he would funnel intel on Sahar’s network.

Alas, Adam is not OK in the present day. He’s missing. A photo on a flash drive eventually leads Ziva and Gibbs to the wobbly abandoned warehouse where Adam is being held. Ziva and Gibbs gun down his captor, but Adam is in rough shape. But before help can be alerted, Ziva and Gibbs plummet through weak floor to the level below, and there is no easy way back up. To distract Ziva from acting brashly, Gibbs inquires about Tali, and Ziva details the first time she rendezvoused with Tony and their daughter, in Cairo — so yes, he knows Ziva is alive, and has (briefly!) been with her. But since then, they have had minimal contact, while Ziva aimed to neutralize the Sahar threat.

Oh, speaking of Sahar — turns out that the lady killed at the start of the season was a fake, a decoy. Before expiring from his torture wounds, Adam gasped that “you know Sarah.” But we later realize his message wasn’t to Ziva, but Gibbs. And it was regarding Phineas’ mother, Sarah!

Mind. Blown. (Though let’s face it, she always seemed a bit “off.”)

Longer story short, Ziva tracks down The Real Sarah at the wobbly warehouse, but winds up getting bested and pinned down by a massive pipe-type thing. Sahar then taunts Ziva by sharing that Adam, delirious, blabbed that Ziva has a secret daughter. And just as Ziva, by killing Ari, thwarted Sahar’s legacy, Sahar will end Ziva’s. Except she won’t, because Gibbs is about to put a bullet between her eyes.

In the aftermath, Ziva reveals to Gibbs that she did slip word to Tony to get Tali into hiding, and that once he and Tali are safe and settled, he will reach out. Meanwhile, coming off an exchange they had earlier in the episode, Odette tells Bishop that she sees promise in her, and offers some “specialized training”….