NCIS: Tony & Ziva Episode 7 Review: Martine Zeroes In On Jonah’s Lies — Will She Unmask Him Or Become His Next Target?

Seven episodes in and NCIS: Tony & Ziva is already swinging for the fences. Dark Mirror doesn’t just stir the pot; it flips the table and walks away with the table legs. As someone who’s been Team Tiva since they were just flirty colleagues, this one hit harder than I expected.

Jonah and Martine: same target, very different engines

Episode 7 finally cracks open Jonah Markham and Martine’s shared obsession with Reigning Fire’s Aaron Graves, and it is not the straightforward revenge story it pretends to be.

Martine’s case is brutal and simple: she watched Graves’ people murder innocent children. She wants justice. Jonah’s? Much murkier. He says Graves and Graves’ hacker brother slaughtered his family. Then there’s the separate sob story about Jonah’s own brother being a hacker-hero who hijacked a flight to get them out of the Balkans. Dark Mirror makes that last part look like exactly what it is: a sympathy play. The more Jonah talks, the more it sounds rehearsed.

They met at one of Graves’ conferences (the least romantic meet-cute imaginable) and bonded over shared rage. But it’s not a balanced partnership. Jonah promised Martine he wouldn’t drag Tali into any of this, and we all saw how fast he blew past that line. He is feeding Martine what she needs to hear while pulling strings behind her back. The guy has an entire costume closet of masks.

The frame-up: Interpol buys the wrong story

If I were Tony, I’d be kicking holes in drywall. He and Ziva aren’t just on the run — Interpol’s now treating them like international boogeymen. And somehow Jonah has convinced people they’re behind his mess. Here’s the mess:

• He pinned the theft of $120 million on Tony and Ziva, even though he’s the one who actually stole it back in the season opener.
• The deadly drone operation? That’s on them now too.
• They’re being tied to the prison explosion.
• Henry’s death is getting swept into the same blame pile.

It’s infuriating because it feels real: if no one is around to flag the lie, the liar wins. And now Jonah is back inside Interpol with all the leverage that comes with it, pointing the biggest law-enforcement cannon he can find at Tony and Ziva like they’re the villains of his story.

A public reckoning, a private doubt

The episode’s best scene is Ziva confronting Martine in public. No theatrics, no fists — just truth. Ziva lays out Jonah’s betrayal, including how he risked Tali, and you can practically see the seed of doubt land. It’s quiet, personal, and way more devastating than a shouting match.

Then there’s the fallout. Ellen and Julia are now squarely in the blast radius. Henry’s death is being used as cover smoke for Jonah’s narrative. If Episode 8 opens with Ellen making a rogue move, I won’t be shocked. Everything is fracturing, alliances are wobbling, and if Martine truly clocks what Jonah has done, his whole plan could go up in flames.

Does Dark Mirror deliver?

Yeah. The direction and pacing are tight and deliberate, and every scene actually matters — no wheel-spinning. I’m in this for the moral mess as much as the action: everyone’s choices are smearing that line between right and wrong in a way this show has been promising since the premiere.

My one gripe: give us more of Ziva’s inner world, especially now that Tali is in danger. The show is juggling a lot of moving parts; just don’t lose the heartbeat.

Set the table for Episode 8: Jonah is back in power, Tony and Ziva are branded as terrorists, and Martine is carrying the weight of knowing — or at least suspecting — she’s being lied to. If Dark Mirror was the fuse, next week better be the boom.

So where are you at on this? Is Jonah a master manipulator or just a broken man chasing revenge? Does Martine wake up in time? And does Interpol ever see through the fog?

NCIS: Tony & Ziva Season 1, Episode 7, Dark Mirror, is streaming now on Paramount+. New episodes drop weekly, so if you’re behind, this is your catch-up window.