[1] The story arc was initiated in January when secondary characters Eli David (Michael Nouri) and Jackie Vance (Paula Newsome) were killed off in a shooting at the end of "Shabbat Shalom".
Subsequent episodes featured Ziva David and Leon Vance's efforts to find the killer, eventually revealed to be Eli's protégé Ilan Bodnar, and exact vengeance.
"Revenge" focuses on the team's hunt for Bodnar against the wishes of Homeland Security,[2] culminating in Vance and Ziva finally getting closure when the latter kills him in a physical fight to the death.
Bodnar (Oded Fehr) approaches the vehicle and retrieves a parcel of illicit diamonds, despite efforts from a dazed Ziva to stop him.
They are unable to identify him through facial recognition and eventually learn that this is due to extensive plastic surgery the man underwent.
Tony and McGee locate the surgeon and learn that the man was a South African mercenary named Clive Goddard (Branden Cook).
[3] Ziva begins to undergo intensive training, evidently in hopes of a confrontation with Bodnar, including forcing herself to practice boxing with an injured shoulder.
[3] Bodnar contacts Ziva at NCIS and insists that, while he was responsible for the deaths of Eli David and Jackie Vance, he did not kill the Iranian ambassador.
The reason for this move was because the writers now felt the ending in "Berlin" would be a "much stronger cliffhanger on "Tiva", the mystery of Tony and Ziva’s fate".
[4] In August 2012, Cote de Pablo, who portrays Ziva, admitted to missing aspects of her character that were more prevalent in earlier seasons.
Watching her punch her way through the pain of a dislocated shoulder in order to prove to herself that she was in control of her own body was such a desperate but pointless exercise...In general 'Revenge' was a good episode.
Even after being injured in a car accident, Ziva doesn't let that [stop her] from going after Bodnar and ultimately ending his life by her own hand (though she may deny it in later episodes).