NCIS: 10x21 - "Berlin" When Tony Met Adam (+ Poll)
SOURCE PHOTOS: Screenshots
In S10E21, Ziva travels to Berlin with Tony, where she meets one of her contacts again: Adam Eshel. In this scene, she is annoyed and impatient. She wants to find the man responsible for her father’s death.
When I rewatched this scene yesterday, I realized that it could be interpreted in two different ways. The first is obvious: Ziva is focused on her mission. But the second becomes much more significant.
At first, just like Tony, when we see Adam, we cannot help but wonder: Who is he? Can we trust him? Is he another Rivkin? And above all, when we are 1000% Tiva fans, the reaction is almost inevitable: Oh no, not another obstacle between them. Not yet, please.
In reality, it is even more complicated than we think. At this point, just like Tony, we do not know that Ziva and Adam slept together after Eli’s funeral, somewhere between S10E12 and S10E13.
This also makes Tony’s behavior rather ironic in hindsight. He observes a man who is close to Ziva and immediately tries to figure out what his place in her life is. Is he a friend? A colleague? A potential rival? He is looking for answers, but the truth he is missing about Ziva is much deeper and much more painful than he could ever imagine.
Even before Adam arrives, an exchange between Tony and Ziva stands out. True to himself, DiNozzo jokes while admiring the women in the street: Berlin has better scenery than I expected. She replies: Something tells me you and my old friend will get along just fine.
Ziva’s line is significant: she introduces Adam as an old friend. But knowing what happens in S10E23, the choice of words takes on a different meaning. She is not lying to Tony, but she is also not telling him the whole truth about what happened between them that night.
When Adam arrives, Tony takes off his sunglasses and stands up to greet him. But what stands out is the way Ziva welcomes him: She immediately hugs him, a gesture that feels unusual for someone who is often more reserved when it comes to showing affection. For Tony, who knows this side of her, this closeness cannot go unnoticed.
When Ziva presents the two men to each other - Adam Eshel, I want you to meet Special Agent Tony DiNozzo - one detail stands out: She gives Tony his formal agent title, while she only presents Adam by his name, without specifying his role or his connection to her.
The two men observe each other. Tony gestures for him to sit down, and they both do so almost at the same time. This moment almost mirrors the dynamic between them. Neither of them takes the upper hand over the other: They observe each other, trying to understand who they are dealing with, and they immediately adopt a form of mutual politeness.
The fact that Ziva is sitting in the middle also adds something to the scene. She becomes the link between them, while trying to remain impassive, hide her discomfort, and stay focused on the mission.
The basketball scene is very Tony. He uses a light, almost ordinary subject, but with an underlying objective: to build a rapport with Adam and see how he reacts. He is not going to ask directly: What exactly are you to Ziva? Did you two have a history? Instead, he uses humor.
When she turns to Tony and says: You can ask Adam out on a date later. One possible way of reading her reaction is to imagine her thinking: Stop. Please, I cannot deal with this. Because Tony is a thousand miles away from even imagining the truth she is not ready to tell him yet.
If Adam had only been a simple contact, I think Ziva would have let Tony continue talking to him without feeling concerned.
It is easy to imagine Ziva thinking: Okay, we are going to talk about Bodnar. Everything will be fine. Then, as she watches Tony and Adam interact: Damn … this could get complicated. I need to stop this.
My impression is that, after they slept together, Ziva was honest with Adam about what that night meant to her. She may have made it clear that it had been a mistake and that her heart belonged elsewhere.
Later, in S10E23, she will explain that she sees what happened with Adam as a moment of weakness rather than something meaningful.
When the two men greet each other, Adam says: So nice to finally meet you, Tony. Ziva’s told me many great things. This makes Tony’s response - Same here - ironic, since it does not reflect reality.
Adam could have easily let something slip: an allusion, a shared memory, a familiarity that was too obvious. But he chooses not to do it. Even if he appears slightly saddened by the situation, he respects it.
At the same time, Adam continues to observe Tony, and the scene reveals how quickly he understands him. His comment: Absolutely. Drink up. The better to blend in like a common tourist - shows that he is clearly teasing him, but in a playful and familiar way.
When Bodnar contacts Ziva via video call, Tony and Adam instinctively stand up to move out of the camera’s view and end up standing side by side while Tony contacts McGee. The staging is interesting: only moments earlier, they were observing each other face to face; as soon as the mission resumes, they act like two professionals pursuing the same objective despite the tension between them.
This is ultimately what makes this scene so compelling: Each of the three characters is in a very different position :
- Tony tries to understand Adam’s role in Ziva’s life, without imagining the answer for a second. Two episodes later, when he discovers the truth, this scene takes on a much more bitter meaning.
- Ziva tries to maintain the balance between focusing on her mission, avoiding letting what happened with Adam complicate her relationship with Tony, and keeping a secret she is not ready to reveal.
- As for Adam, this encounter allows him to understand Tony’s place in Ziva’s life. By watching the way they interact, he quickly sees that Tony is not simply a colleague, but someone who matters to her.
The fact that Adam does not appear again in Season 10 is revealing because his role is not defined by how long he remains in the story, but by the impact of this single encounter on Tony and Ziva.
What was your first impression of Adam when you first saw him?
01. “Who is this guy? Can we trust him?”
02. I saw him as another obstacle between Tony and Ziva
03. I liked him and wanted to know more about him
04. I never saw him as a threat to Tony and Ziva’s relationship
One last thought: If we put aside the writing choices made from Season 11 onward, I would have loved to see what Tony and Adam’s relationship could have become. Considering Adam’s history with Ziva and Tony’s place in her life, their first interactions would probably have been complicated. But it would never have become a love triangle.
Instead, I could have imagined them slowly developing their own unusual relationship: teasing, arguments, and eventually a bond built on mutual respect. A little like Gibbs and Fornell, they would not have been best friends, but they could have learned to understand each other.
Sorry, I did not expect to end up writing such a long post again.