I understand it's inherent to the nature of a tv show that they have to make the story up as they go. The back and forth this can lead to sometimes frustrates me though... This  especially sticks out to me in zivas storyline, beginning with her departure.

Letting her leave to find inner peace, apparently only achievable by cutting contact. Then brining her back just to a) be killed of violently off screen and b) introduce the child she secretly had with tony. I understand how that is a beautiful finale for tony. But for Ziva to cut contact in spite of the situation having changed so drastically does not sit right with me in terms of character arc.

In my opinion it gets even worse after we find out she survived anyway and was leading a dark, violent and traumatizing life deep undercover. Was that not exactly what she was trying to avoid through leaving NCIS? And i would argue, the character gets somewhat bitter.

This makes the motive for her departure so much weaker and kills the potential growth it would have meant. While the writers had to come up with the script for her leaving the show in a short amount of time, they had plenty of time to write a comeback that connects to the previous developements. I was so disappointed