"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.
Tony and McGee interviewed several women as prospective replacements, none of which worked out for various reasons, eventually concluding that no woman could replace Ziva. In the present, when Saleem questions why they are not looking for her, Tony reveals that NCIS is under the impression that Ziva is dead. He further relates that in the months prior, he, McGee, and Abby, concerned that something might have gone wrong, had tracked down her last known whereabouts. They discovered that, while on a mission to take out Saleem in Northern Africa, a ship she had boarded had gone down in a storm and that there were reportedly no survivors. Saleem again questions the reason for his presence in Somalia, and Tony replies that he traveled to Northern Africa to seek vengeance on the parties responsible. It is then shown that Vance had given Tony, McGee, and Gibbs permission to travel to the region on the guise of searching for information. However, Tony and McGee were quickly taken prisoner by Saleem.
Saleem then demands that Tony reveal the identities of all NCIS agents in the region, and threatens to kill a hostage if he does not speak. To Tony's surprise, the hostage is Ziva, who has been severely abused whilst in captivity. Shocked and horrified to see him, she asks why they are there; Tony replies that he could not live without her. When he admits that he and McGee deliberately allowed themselves to be captured, she brokenly responds that they should not have put their lives and wellbeing at stake for her, urging them to tell Saleem what he wants to hear and try to save themselves.
Saleem returns, prepared to kill whichever party still refuses to speak. Ziva pleads with him to kill her and spare Tony and McGee, insisting that they are more valuable hostages. However, just as Saleem is about to execute Ziva, Tony cryptically tells Saleem that he has "thirty seconds to live" and refers to the fact that Gibbs was once a Marine sniper. Gibbs had been lying in wait the entire time, and just then takes a sniper shot, killing Saleem instantly before taking out the other guards watching over Ziva, Tony and McGee while American troops storm the compound, killing the rest of Saleem's men, and allowing them to escape. After they all return to the office, everyone stands up and welcomes the team back with a huge round of applause.