Cote de Pablo made her departure from "NCIS" on the Oct. 1 episode. Fans of the show were forced to accept the fact that Ziva David won't be on the show anymore -- but she went out in a tasteful, emotional way. According to FOX, the show really built up Ziva's farewell and things kicked up for the last 20 minutes of the show. Spoiler Alert: Stop reading here if you haven't watched last night's episode.
Basically, Tony ends up finding Ziva and trying to convince her to come back to D.C. with him. Instead, Ziva tells him that she must stay abroad and continue on her journey of soul searching... she didn't want to kill people any more so she made her decision -- she must leave "NCIS" and she must leave Tony. "How can I not think that for every man I kill, there's someone out there crying for him? The center of all this pain is me. ... This is what I made of myself, but it's not who I wanted to be," Ziva tells Tony.
Cote de Pablo's departure was made official when she stood on a tarmac with Tony and said "goodbye" to him. She told him that he was "loved" and the two shared another romantic moment that barely left a dry eye in the house. As he walks to the private jet waiting to take him home he says, "hardest 180 of my life."
As most fans noticed, Ziva's exit wasn't really final. There is definitely a chance that she could come back at a later time... and many hope that was done on purpose. Perhaps Cote de Pablo will return for a few episodes in a future season.
Was the Cote de Pablo departure handled well by the show's writers? Do you think she will be back?
© Effie Orfanides 2013
