text: berlin ( ncis ) " berlin " is the 21st episode of the tenth season of the american police procedural drama ncis , and the 231st episode overall . it originally aired on cbs in the united states on april 23 , 2013 . the episode is written by scott williams and gina monreal and directed by terrence o 'hara , and was seen live by 17 . 33 million viewers . the episode advances a storyline focusing on the murder of significant secondary characters in the series and the romance between main characters tony and ziva . it carries the storyline surrounding the deaths of ziva 's father , mossad director eli david , and vance 's wife , jackie , who were both killed off in the january episode " shabbat shalom " . ziva continues to pursue revenge against eli 's killer , ilan bodnar , and vance continues to endorse her actions despite orders from homeland security to rein them in . " berlin " introduced the new mossad director , orli elbaz , portrayed by marina sirtis . several actors reprised their roles from previous episodes , including gabi as young ziva , ben morrison as young eli , and oded fehr as ilan bodnar . the installment was generally well - received , with the ratings being up from the previous week and critics giving it favorable reviews . the network and producers advertised the reported development of ziva 's relationship with tony within the episode . particularly , a scene in which the characters dance together while in berlin was heavily promoted and received favorable commentary from reviewers . background ncis follows a team of government agents who work for the naval criminal investigative service . the main cast includes mark harmon as team leader leroy jethro gibbs , michael weatherly as senior agent anthony " tony " , cote de pablo as mossad liaison officer turned ncis agent ziva david , pauley as forensic specialist abby sciuto , sean murray as special agent timothy mcgee , david mccallum as autopsy technician donald " ducky " mallard , rocky carroll as ncis director leon vance , and brian as medical assistant jimmy palmer . executive producer gary glasberg began discussing the possibility of killing off ziva 's father and vance 's wife in the spring of 2012 . he approached rocky carroll and cote de pablo about the potential storyline , as well as paula newsome and michael nouri , who portray jackie vance and eli david respectively . de pablo was interested in the idea , seeing the ramifications of it as something that had not been explored with her character before , and carroll agreed that the death of vance 's wife would dynamically change his role in the series . glasberg reported that newsome and nouri were understandably unhappy about their characters ' deaths , but agreed to " give it everything they could " . the plot twist , initially advertised as a " huge ziva story " that would " rock vance 's world " , culminated in eli and jackie being shot to death in a house attack in the 11th episode of the season , " shabbat shalom " . the killings set the course for the rest of the season , and , in the following episode , " shiva " , it is revealed that eli 's protégé , ilan bodnar , had orchestrated the attack . ziva begins to seek revenge with vance 's support , covertly attempting to track bodnar 's location after he escapes arrest and goes into hiding . in the episode directly prior to " berlin " , tony confronts her about her behavior , prompting her to approach gibbs about going to rome to apprehend bodnar , where he is believed to be located . gibbs agrees and instructs her to take tony with her . plot as the episode opens , mossad officer amir mantel ( dove meir ) is shot dead at point blank range in an american parking garage . at ncis headquarters , ziva cancels plans to pursue eli david 's killer , ilan bodnar ( oded fehr ) , in rome , having come to the conclusion that he will relocate to berlin shortly . before she and tony depart , the new mossad director , orli elbaz ( marina sirtis ) , arrives in hopes of collaborating with the agency in the search for bodnar . ziva congratulates her for her promotion and declines an offer to put her in contact with mossad operatives in rome . elbaz informs gibbs and director vance that five mossad officers went rogue following eli 's assassination in support of bodnar 's attempted coup d 'état . she explains that mantel had been investigating the situation when he was killed , and vance hesitantly grants her request for cooperation among the agencies . beginning on the airplane to berlin , flashbacks are interlaced throughout the episode , illustrating the tensions caused by eli 's frequent absence during ziva 's adolescence and the disintegration of rivka ( ) and eli david 's marriage . also while on the plane , ziva explains her rationale for changing their destination : her father had told her to convert all funds to diamonds with a dealer in berlin should she ever need to go into hiding . she assumes that he would have given bodnar , who he viewed as a son , the same advice . she and tony meet up with her israeli friend , adam eshel ( damon ) , who gives them information on bodnar 's whereabouts and intentions . bodnar contacts ziva on the computer , urging her to walk away . they are able to track his location but are unable to apprehend him as he disappears into a crowd . later , they learn that he is planning to pick up the diamonds from an ally ( willem van der ) at a night club . while waiting to intercept him , tony dances with ziva both to help her get a better view of the area and to calm her agitated state of mind . bodnar seems to appear , but when ziva approaches him , she is stunned to see that it is ilan 's brother , ( goldberg ) . meanwhile , gibbs and vance order mcgee to hack into the mossad database , discovering that all five operatives elbaz had claimed were rogue are still listed as active members and that mantel was the only traitor . when confronted , elbaz at first deflects , but when informed that " bodnar " has been arrested in berlin , admits that she had believed that he never left the united states . realizing shortly after that it is who is in custody , she explains that she had hoped that the other agencies ' search in rome would cause ilan to let his guard down . vance and homeland senior division chief tom morrow ( alan dale ) , while angry about her deception , decide to look the other way . as ziva and tony drive home from the airport , she divulges the reason for her resentment of the new director : orli elbaz was the reason for her parents ' divorce . she discloses that she had always believed that it was a political strategy on elbaz 's part in attempt to advance her rank in mossad , though she now thinks that it is possible that elbaz had loved eli . when she adds that she believes that she would be a different person were it not for elbaz , tony expresses thankfulness that things occurred the way they did . the episode ends with a cliffhanger when an unknown vehicle crashes into their car , leaving their fates unclear . production writing " berlin " was written by scott williams and gina monreal . the episode marked the return of ilan bodnar , the " disgraced mossad deputy director " last seen when he fled from both ncis and mossad after the deaths of eli david and jackie vance . following the two - part episode arc in january surrounding the killings and the immediate aftermath , show runner gary glasberg decided to pull away from the storyline for a few months to focus on the typical police procedural work that the ncis team is normally shown doing . the writers returned to the plot in " chasing ghosts " , the episode before " berlin " by revealing that ziva had been searching for bodnar on her despite being told not to , intending to kill him as revenge . glasberg previewed ziva 's state of mind and divulged , " people are going to see a ziva david that they haven 't seen in a long time . there is a strength and a resolute determination . " a few days after the episode aired , williams and monreal stated : since we last saw ilan bodnar ... , we 've striven to whet your appetite with a few choice ingredients . 1 . ziva 's determination for revenge . 2 . tony 's watchful eye over his favorite israeli , and ... 3 . the sparks that fly when 1 and 2 combine . yep , the path of vengeance brings tony and ziva together in ways we can only hint at in other episodes . so when our fearless leader , gary glasberg , teamed us up with orders to add another chapter to this tiva [ tony and ziva ] saga , we jumped at the challenge . and that was before we realized we 'd get to write flashbacks , and a dance , and a hotel room , and diamonds , and the new mossad director , and berlin , and a car crash . truth is , start to finish , this episode was a blast . and it all started with tiva … casting " berlin " marked the first appearance of eli david 's killer , ilan bodnar , played by oded fehr , since the january episode " shiva " . gabi reprised her role as young ziva for flashbacks threaded throughout the episode , and ben morrison acted alongside her as young eli . on march 25 , 2013 , the casting of marina sirtis as orli elbaz , the new director of mossad , was announced . sirtis , who formerly portrayed the main character deanna troi in the star trek enterprise , indicated that she enjoyed working with mark harmon and said that he welcomed her to the set by bringing her breakfast on the first day of filming . " there is a lot of history between ziva and orli , " glasberg hinted before the episode aired . he added that the characters ' relationship would be tense and complex ; their background and the reasoning behind ziva 's animosity towards the new mossad director would be explained in the final scenes . sirtis described her character 's relationship with ziva as electric , explaining that she saw orli as a to ziva 's intensity and drive for vengeance . their history , she believed , is " kind of mind - blowing " ; it provides an explanation for subplots introduced earlier in the episode . she clarified that director elbaz would not be a " shrinking flower " : " she 's kickass . she 's strong . she 's manipulative . she uses every weapon in her female arsenal . these parts for middle - aged women in hollywood do not come along very often . i 'm thrilled that the producers of the show were brave enough to cast a woman in this role . they 're prepared to take risks . it 's a big gamble . " filming before the episode aired , a photograph depicting tony and ziva dancing while in germany was released and promoted , and glasberg commented , " this is a very personal moment of vulnerability where her guard goes down and she lets herself melt into his arms . i think it 's a moment that our tiva fans will truly enjoy . " cote de pablo relayed that there had been a dispute between the director , terrence o 'hara , and the actors during filming about how the scene should be choreographed . both sides thought that it needed to be very intimate , but the director thought that the moment should be drawn out more while de pablo and michael weatherly wanted to keep it brief . furthermore , the latter two believed that simply looking at each other would be sufficient to convey the message to the audience . eventually , de pablo approached o 'hara and said , " listen , if there was any more time of staring into each other 's eyes , it would be like , cut to a hotel room . " in an interview , she explained that she and weatherly played the characters as being at a more vulnerable level than is typical for the show . she likened tony to a " man teddy bear " in the episode ; in the tony - ziva dynamic , he is normally portrayed as being the more juvenile of the two while ziva is more mature and worldly . in " berlin " , their roles are largely reversed as more of " the little girl in ziva " is shown and as tony takes charge of the situation while they are dancing . de pablo said that she found this reversal in their interactions to be an interesting change . producers avery drewe and richie owens coordinated the visual effects during the final scene of the episode and were only able to do one take during filming . stunt driver steve kelso drove the suv when it crashed into tony 's car , reportedly driving at 50 miles per hour , though bloggers indicated that they thought that the car looked more like it was going 80 miles per hour . reception ratings " berlin " was seen by 17 . 33 million live viewers at its april 23 , 2013 broadcast , with a 2 . 8 / 8 share among adults aged 18 to 49 . a rating point represents one percent of the total number of television sets in american households , and a share means the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program . in total viewers , " berlin " was the highest rated show on the night it aired . the spin - off ncis : los angeles drew second and was seen by 14 . 22 million viewers . berlin had higher ratings and attracted more adults aged 18 – 49 than the previous episode , " chasing ghosts " . critical reviews buddytv marked " berlin " as number 9 on its list of " the 10 best ' tiva ' episodes " , and entertainment weekly contributor sandra gonzalez remarked that the episode had " some of the best ' tiva ' moments of all time " . tvline reviewers matt webb mitovich and michael ausiello commented that the episode gave tiva fans " the best of times ... [ and ] the worst of times " , and that there were both light and dark moments for the couple , " including ' diamond shopping , ' dancing ( punctuated by a meaningful eli flashback ) and , yes , hand - holding . " douglas wolfe from tv fanatic gave the episode 4 . 8 / 5 and said that he did not think the episode could have been executed better . wolfe emphasized ziva 's back story with her father and speculated that many of her choices were based upon events that her family experienced , including her father 's repeated absences and the breakup of her parents ' marriage due to eli 's indiscretions with a young orli elbaz , which also explained ziva 's resentment of elbaz . wolfe was touched by ziva 's dance with tony , and her flashback to dancing with her father as a child while he tells her , " my ziva . one day you will dance with a man who deserves your love " . in a tv fanatic round table , steve marsi added , " what an emotionally loaded quote from the eli flashback , followed by the much - anticipated present - day dance . " he went on to say that sirtis did well as the new mossad director and that " counselor deanna troi was nothing but a faint memory " . michelle from tv equals praised the storyline and agreed that marina sirtis performed well in the role , saying that she found orli to be a more likeable character than eli david . " berlin " ended with tony and ziva being in what appeared to be a severe car crash , so viewers speculated about the extent of the damage done and focused on the fact that ziva 's portrayer had not yet renewed her contract for the show at the time . tv guide called the car crash in the closing moments of the episode as its " best cliffhanger " of the week .