If you’ve read my other post, you’ll already know that NCIS’ OG couple Tony and Ziva are getting their own spinoff show. But yesterday, the official title was revealed: “NCIS: Tony & Ziva“. And people have a lot of thoughts about it. So here’s my two cents.

I’ll preface this by saying that I haven’t looked at any other social media platforms other than Twitter (yes, I still call it that!), so I cannot comment on the reactions of it there, but I can say that the reaction on Twitter was divided, at best. A lot of people were saying it’s too basic, and asking why they couldn’t have come up with something better? Out of all the titles in the world they could have chosen, why did they choose that one? Others loved it.

I’ll admit that it wasn’t what I was expecting when I heard it. I genuinely thought that it was going to be something different – some sort of title that would take a little guess work for outsiders to understand, but then when the penny dropped, it would be obviously clear as to why they had chosen it, especially for Tiva fans. (My thoughts were something like “NCIS: Jet Lag”… because if you know, you know.)

But the more I sat with this title yesterday, the more I loved it. Because it isn’t just a title.

It’s their names, side by side. It’s the two of them as a couple. It’s not just the two of them as individuals at NCIS. It’s not just Tony anymore. It’s not just Ziva.

It’s Tony and Ziva.

The title is intimate. Personal. It solidifies the idea that they’re no longer entirety separate people; that you can’t have one of them without the other. They and their stories will be forever connected by the ampersand.

This show, for us, is twenty years in the making. From the moment Tony and Ziva met in 2005, Tiva fans have been yearning for them to be a couple. Their chemistry is unmatched. Every year there would be the question of: are these two characters ever going to kiss? Every season we’d ask: ‘is this the season where they finally get together?’ But they never did. At least, not until Ziva left, that is. And even then, though they did conceive a child during their fond farewell (which Tony later discovers during his own leaving arc), the two of them have never been a couple on screen.

It is two decades of longing. It is two decades of emotional turmoil for both of these characters. It’s us as fans watching their first interaction in “Kill Ari: Part 1.” It’s watching their teasing and their banter. It’s watching Ziva watch Tony with Jeanne in season 4. It’s the season six finale “Aliyah.” It’s the season seven premiere “Truth or Consequences.” It’s Ziva with Ray. It’s Tony with EJ. It’s “Under Covers,” “Boxed In,” “Cloak,” “Reunion,” “Jet Lag,” “A Desperate Man,” “Housekeeping,” “Canary,” “Shabbat Shalom,” “Shiva,” “Berlin,” “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” and “Past Present Future.” It’s all of the small moments that Tony and Ziva have shared – the looks, the words, the closeness without the two of them ever being together as a couple. It’s the sexual tension, and the heartache. It’s us as the audience watching these two people fall in love with one another, and wanting them to finally admit their feelings.

It’s easy to brush the title off as unoriginal; to feel like not a lot of thought has gone into it. But, when you consider their journey spanning two decades, and realise how much these characters have been through to get to where they are now, it’s actually rather poetic.

It represents them – together. And it carries with it twenty years of emotions.

It’s not just a title.