Directed by Dennis Smith
Written by Jesse Stern
Tony and McGee travel to Somalia to rescue Ziva, who is being held captive by a terrorist group.
Tropes in this episode:
- Blah, Blah, Blah: How Tony hears McGee's Techno Babble during his Heroic BSoD."Blah blah blah, computer stuff, blah."
- Boom, Headshot!: Saleem gets shot by Gibbs near the end of the episode. He barely has a chance to put on a Flat "What" / Oh, Crap! look before Gibbs' sniper round pierces the window and nails him. He's dead before his body even hits the floor and the sound of the shot is heard. The look on his lifeless face the last time we see it, one of You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!.
- One of his men that was guarding the room comes in the moment he hears the Allied troops storm the compound and begin slaughtering all of Saleem's terrorists, and he gets dropped by another sniper round from Gibbs. The second one that tries to stop Ziva, Tony, and Tim from escaping gets No Kill like Overkill when Gibbs shoots him dead with his pistol.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Tony for most of the episode. He starts off by telling Saleem that he's about to die and then quipping that the truth serum must already be working.Tony: You're going to be dead soon, you know. Truth or not.
- Cue later at the end of the episode when he tells Saleem he only has thirty seconds left to live. Saleem thinks he's lying, but when reminded of the truth serum he injected into Tony, then he starts sweating, before Gibbs gives him a fatal Boom, Headshot!.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Tony and McGee are subjected to this. Ziva has been subjected to this for months after her capture.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Tony off-handedly mentions that "Sahara" is the Arabic word for "desert", meaning that "Sahara Desert" means "Desert Desert"."A lotta sand."
- The Glasses Come Off: Discussed by Tony when talking to a prospective new agent who wears glasses and a Prim and Proper Bun, which he suggests Letting Her Hair Down.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Saleem tells Tony that caffeine is his drug of choice and that it keeps him sharp. Team Gibbs is able to find Saleem's camp because it is unusual, to say the least, for a remote location in the Somali desert to be receiving large shipments of Caf-Pow! Saleem is not pleased when he finds this out.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Tony has one after being told the Damocles went down along with presumably Ziva; he ends up in a fog for awhile afterwards.
- Ziva, from the time NCIS finds her in Somalia to the time she returns to D.C.
- Impairment Shot: From Tony's perspective as the Truth Serum takes effect.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Tony and McGee talk about how unflappable the aforementioned candidate is—just before she leaves Gibbs' office weeping profusely.Gibbs: Strike one.
- Interrogation Flashback: (Very) Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo is tortured by a terrorist leader, as the man sought information about what NCIS was and how it was related to the death of several of the terrorist's agents. The terrorist's questions and a Truth Serum lead DiNozzo to explain about the different members of his group in flashbacks.
- Little "No": After hearing Gibbs's many "grab your gear"s, Tony puts his foot down and says they should stop trying to find replacements and to rescue Ziva.
- Majored in Western Hypocrisy: Terrorist leader Saleem Ullman received his B.A. from Yale University. He is indignant when Tony insults their football team's record, and his addiction to American Caf-Pow! proves to be his undoing.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Played with. Tony tells Saleem his name at the start, but he doesn't tell WHO he is and his role at NCIS until the end. He's also not the one going to kill him.
- Noodle Incident: Tony narrates that upon hearing that Ziva drowned with the Damocles, the conversations he hears are transcribed to generic contexts, this from Gibbs:Gibbs: Some idiot smuggled a koala onto a submarine, grab you gear.
- Not Listening to Me, Are You?: When it looks like Tony isn't listening to McGee's sit-rep.McGee: I've been thinking about getting some tight leather pants. You know, something that really cradles my butt.
Tony: It's not normal.
McGee: I'm kidding, I'm not really -
Tony: It's not normal we haven't heard from Ziva. - Not So Stoic: The first new agent to apply for Gibbs' team, who initially appears to be a coldly logical woman, ends up storming out of the conference room in tears when she's rejected.
- Oh, Crap!: Saleem's reaction upon hearing...
- Redemption Equals Death: Ziva is in this mindset when Tony and McGee find her.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Tony admits that vengeance for Ziva's death is his reason for coming to Somalia.
- Running Gag: Until a few months ago, Saleem never heard of NCIS, just like several characters from the early seasons.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Ziva's second prospective replacement hears McGee, Tony, and Abby planning to do some illegal hacking (of either the NCIS director or Mossad), she decides to cut and run. Nobody seems to care.
- Shout-Out: Tony references True Lies while he's being interrogated.
- Speak in Unison: Tony and Gibbs, during the interrogation of the drugged sailor (who actually drugged himself). An unusual variation, as Gibbs is in Interrogation with the sailor while Tony is in Observation with another prospective new agent.
- Tantrum Throwing: When Saleem learns that NCIS found him by following his Caf-Pow! trail, he angrily throws his canteen across the room.
- Trojan Prisoner: Tony and McGee get themselves Captured on Purpose to infiltrate Saleem's hideout.
- Truth Serums: Tony is given one by Saleem. It's made of sodium pentathol And Some Other Stuff.
- Unreliable Narrator: Tony, describing the NCIS team to Saleem:Tony: [voice-over] My partner is Timothy McGee. Small muscles, big brain, the heart of a lion. Together we're virtually unstoppable... virtually.
[In flashback, Tony and Tim are wrestling a hulking meth-crazed sailor.]
McGee: I got him... Tony he's going for the knife! - Unwanted Rescue: Ziva herself, having been thoroughly broken from her months-long torture, believes she doesn't deserve NCIS' help, especially since they put themselves at risk with seemingly no escape plan. At the end, Tony and McGee prove her wrong on both points.
- Wham Shot: Saleem goes to interrogate his prisoner—and it's Tony.
- And again when he reveals that he's captured McGee as well. And then again when he reveals that Ziva's still alive.
- Wild Card: Tony labels himself as such, though he does not really fit the trope as written.
