Line #24 Recap/NCISS07E01


1	Directed by Creator/DennisSmith
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3	Written by Creator/JesseStern
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5	Tony and [=McGee=] travel to Somalia to rescue Ziva, who is being held captive by a terrorist group.
6
7	!! Tropes in this episode:
8	* BlahBlahBlah: How Tony hears [=McGee=]'s TechnoBabble during his HeroicBSOD.
9	--> "Blah blah blah, computer stuff, blah."
10	* BoomHeadshot: Saleem gets shot by Gibbs near the end of the episode. He barely has a chance to put on a FlatWhat / OhCrap 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 YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe.
11	** 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 NoKillLikeOverkill when Gibbs shoots him dead with his pistol.
12	* CasualDangerDialogue: 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.
13	--> '''Tony:''' You're going to be dead soon, you know. Truth or not.
14	** 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 BoomHeadshot.
15	* ColdBloodedTorture: Tony and [=McGee=] are subjected to this. Ziva has been subjected to this for months after her capture.
16	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Tony off-handedly mentions that "Sahara" is the Arabic word for "desert", meaning that "Sahara Desert" means "Desert Desert".
17	--> "A lotta sand."
18	* TheGlassesComeOff: {{Discussed}} by Tony when talking to a prospective new agent who wears glasses and a PrimAndProperBun, which he suggests LettingHerHairDown.
19	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: 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.
20	* HeroicBSOD:
21	** Tony has one after being told the Damocles went down along with presumably Ziva; he ends up in a fog for awhile afterwards.
22	** [[BreakTheBadass Ziva,]] from the time NCIS finds her in Somalia to the time she returns to D.C.
23	* ImpairmentShot: From Tony's perspective as the TruthSerum takes effect.
24	* InstantlyProvenWrong: Tony and [=McGee=] talk about how unflappable the aforementioned candidate is--just before she leaves Gibbs' office weeping profusely.
25	--> '''Gibbs:''' Strike one.
26	* InterrogationFlashback: (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 TruthSerum lead [=DiNozzo=] to explain about the different members of his group in flashbacks.
27	* LittleNo: 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.
28	* MajoredInWesternHypocrisy: 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.
29	* {{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.
30	* NoodleIncident: Tony narrates that upon hearing that Ziva drowned with the Damocles, the conversations he hears are transcribed to generic contexts, this from Gibbs:
31	--> '''Gibbs''': Some idiot smuggled a koala onto a submarine, grab you gear.
32	* NotListeningToMeAreYou: When it looks like Tony isn't listening to [=McGee=]'s sit-rep.
33	--> '''[=McGee=]:''' I've been thinking about getting some tight leather pants. You know, something that really cradles my butt.\
34	'''Tony:''' [[SubvertedTrope It's not normal.]]\
35	'''[=McGee=]:''' I'm kidding, I'm not really -\
36	'''Tony:''' [[DoubleSubverted It's not normal we haven't heard from Ziva.]]
37	* NotSoStoic: 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.
38	* OhCrap: Saleem's reaction upon hearing...
39	--> '''Tony''': [[PreMortemOneLiner Remember when I said my boss was a sniper?]]
40	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Ziva is in this mindset when Tony and [=McGee=] find her.
41	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Tony admits that vengeance for Ziva's death is his reason for coming to Somalia.
42	* RunningGag: Until a few months ago, Saleem never heard of NCIS, just like several characters from the early seasons.
43	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: 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.
44	* ShoutOut: Tony references ''Film/TrueLies'' while he's being interrogated.
45	* SpeakInUnison: 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.
46	* TantrumThrowing: When Saleem learns that NCIS found him by following his Caf-Pow! trail, he angrily throws his canteen across the room.
47	* TrojanPrisoner: Tony and [=McGee=] get themselves CapturedOnPurpose to infiltrate Saleem's hideout.
48	* TruthSerums: Tony is given one by Saleem. It's made of sodium pentathol AndSomeOtherStuff.
49	* UnreliableNarrator: Tony, describing the NCIS team to Saleem:
50	-->'''Tony''': ''[voice-over]'' My partner is Timothy [=McGee=]. Small muscles, big brain, the heart of a lion. Together we're virtually unstoppable... virtually.\
51	''[In flashback, Tony and Tim are wrestling a hulking meth-crazed sailor.]''\
52	'''[=McGee=]''': I got him... Tony he's going for the knife!
53	* UnwantedRescue: Ziva herself, having been [[BreakTheBadass 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.
54	* WhamShot: Saleem goes to interrogate his prisoner--and it's Tony.
55	** And again when he reveals that he's captured [=McGee=] as well. And then again when he reveals that Ziva's still alive.

Context Recap / NCISS07E01