FBI Episode 10
Episode 10: The Armorer’s Faith
This week’s episode is a true roller coaster, so you better hold on tight. We start our show with a duo discussing a third person. Our details are scarce at first, but they seem to be law enforcement speaking about a criminal. Our British duo continues to complain about our mystery baddie even as he pulls up in a vehicle. Out steps a tall, dark and handsome man who heads toward a plane only to be gunned down. The officers rush his way and agree to board his body anyway and we cut to title screen.
We first see familiar faces in OA’s basement. Maggie joins him there and tells him (as he works out) that Valentine wants them in, ASAP. They don’t know details. This scene is interesting. Maggie clearly has a key to OA’s place nor does he seem surprised she used it. Has she used it before?
In the JOC, our team gathers. Valentine introduces the FBI’s Special Investigations Unit Team One operator, Jillian Starls. She explains an undercover mission to take down Martin Vickers, one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. She further details her unit was able to flip Otan Reis (our mystery baddie), a black-market broker. It is Maggie who asks, “Who flipped him?”
Enter Agent Douchebag
Enter Quinn (Billy Burke), an undercover instructor at Quantico who apparently taught both Maggie and OA. Their reactions are opposite. Maggie and Quinn share warm smiles and happy memories, while stoic as ever OA simply acknowledges his existence with a curt, cold retort. Ouch. You can feel that tension. There is definite resentment in OA’s eyes.
Once acquainted, Quinn gives his own spin on the events, including how OA matches Otan’s physical description almost perfectly. He’s not wrong. Otan and OA could be siblings. Since Martin Vickers has never seen Otan (and our baddie has kept a low profile over the years), they could definitely pass him. The message is clear: Quinn and the SIU want Agent Zidan to continue the mission as our dead baddie.
In Mosier’s office, she does not agree. Something this extreme comes with just as severe risks. It makes me wonder if maybe Mosier doesn’t care for Quinn either. What does Mosier know that we don’t? Quinn goes to argue, and Valentine shares his opinion: “let’s roll the dice”. OA enters the room and asks if he can humbly give his opinion. He explains that Vickers financed the Baga Massacre in 2015 and if there is any way his involvement can take him down, he wants in. Eventually, Mosier caves. (Another mentioning of a bombing. Has OA been involved in all the ones he’s mentioned or is there something personal we still haven’t learned?)
Becoming the Baddie
In this time, we learn that Vickers is to sell anti-tank missiles, which have an extreme damage radius. Like, enough to take out a plane coming into JFK. Probably should get those out of criminal hands.
OA asks Maggie to be his contact agent and she agrees. Together, they have 24 hours for OA to know the case in and out, so time to get studying. Quinn sits in and bites at any hesitation on Zidan’s part. At one point, he tells him he has no confidence and refers to him as Omar. The room is tense. OA seems furious but controls himself. If I’m not mistaken, referring to someone’s full name when they go by a nickname is a clear way to show disrespect. What is this guy’s problem?
Maggie tells him to see if Kristen has any updates on Otan chatter, leaving Maggie to question Quinn about his attitude. He brushes her off and says the attitude is coming from OA. Maggie does not seem convinced. I’m not convinced. Quinn is being a grade A douchebag.
Over the next few hours, OA continues to study.
To Catch an Arms Dealer
The next day, Quinn and OA head to the hotel where they head to the floor that Vickers rented. Vickers does not rent a room; he feels it is too unsafe, so he makes sure he has access to an entire floor. Meanwhile, Kristen and Maggie run surveillance from the outside in a van. As OA and Quinn enter the hotel room, something jams their audio and image signal. It takes the tech Valentine brought with him nearly too long to fix and Maggie almost pulls OA. They get it back up with seconds to spare.
Inside, our undercover agents meet with Ari Vickers, Martin’s daughter and business partner. She says her father likes to be extra cautious. She grills OA to vet him before asking for OA to follow her to the car, telling Quinn to stay behind. The team (including Quinn) follow as Ari continues her vetting, finally deeming him worth the risk. She returns him his gun (taken when they entered the hotel room) and tells him the sale will happen tomorrow.
Back at the JOC, the team discusses the possibility of a third-party buyer. Someone killed Otan after all. Mosier says she’ll reach out to her contact at MI5 to find out more.
Meanwhile, Bell finally confronts OA about Quinn. He tells her everything—Quinn told OA to quit every day, over and over in Quantico, how he would never make it. He didn’t give up, but he wanted to sometimes. Maggie tells him she’s glad he didn’t. Yeah, totally hate Quinn. People like him suck.
Mosier’s meeting does not go well. MI5 tells her they have no update on Otan’s shooter but assures her it continues to be their highest priority.
Reasons
Later, OA is resting and awakens to Quinn staring at him. He asks a bizarre question about divorce rates in the bureau. OA doesn’t understand and instead changes the subject. He asks him why he singled him out during training. At first, he’s hesitant to give an answer but finally admits each year, he picks one rookie who he thinks has higher potential than the others and uses an extreme form of tough love. He never wanted him to quit, he wanted to push him further. This does not seem to settle OA, but it at least gives him an answer. At the end, Quinn gets a text that the meet up will be at 10pm.
In the JOC, Mosier wants to bring Maggie into the hotel posing as staff so that they can clone Ari’s phone, but she must be within several feet of her for several minutes for it to work. Maggie does it, narrowly making it in time before they shut her out of the elevator. Mosier tells them they have an ID on the shooter. It is someone from the Los Zetas cartel; this confirms their third-party buyer theory.
At the meet up, Quinn tries to apologize as they wait for the Vickers to show, but OA tells him not now. Martin and Ari pick them up, but the car is moving fast and driving haphazardly. OA asks why; Martin tells them they think the FBI is tailing them and wants to lose them. Finally, they slow down and believe they are safe.
Red Hook Showdown
The deal is to take place at Red Hook’s Port. Maggie and SWAT follow on route while at the JOC, they notice Ari has sent a text but it’s coded. Kristen is not able to crack the code but can see where it was sent. It was sent to the cartel, and she realizes that Ari has undercut her father and is going to sell to the Zetas.
The ‘sale’ is underway at this point by OA and Martin, though neither of them knows yet about Ari. She eventually cuts her father off, telling him $200 million is too low and reminding him about the Armorer’s Faith, cuing our title for this episode. She admits that the cartel paid more, and Martin is gunned down by one of them as shots begin to ring out everywhere. Quinn takes a hit in the thigh and our undercover and blown duo is outnumbered. OA tries to take as many down as possible but cannot hit them all. Luckily, Maggie and SWAT arrive to save the day. Ari is arrested.
All head back to the JOC where our team celebrates, and Mosier tells the team that the director of the FBI says a job well done! Maggie invites OA out for drinks, but he says he must go somewhere else.
Potential Recognized
OA instead visits Quinn in the hospital and Quinn apologizes a second time, to which they make amends. OA tells him that while he wanted to quit many times, he never did so his methods worked in a way. Quinn disagrees and tells him he always had it in him, he never needed that to succeed. He then asks a favor of OA.
We learn the favor is OA going to guest lecture in Quinn’s undercover class. The episode ends with OA coming into the room, confident and secure and telling the class he was there two years previous.
Thoughts:
New York:
- One of the most exciting things about this show is that it takes place so close to home for me and for some I know, it is their home. Over the summer, I had the pleasure of seeing some of the most exciting parts of the city with friends, so when our final scene ending up in Red Hook terminal and port, it was awesome! From the Port, you can see the Brooklyn Bridge (always prettier at night) and the Freedom Tower in the background. Just beyond that, are the islands (Ellis and Liberty island). I imagine it is just as exciting for those in the show who are not local to act around these sites. Besides, what a backdrop!
Quinn:
- His arrival made me want to punch him and I’m not so sure I still don’t want to punch him. First, I hate people like him. I don’t do well by being put down to succeed and not everyone does. So, his type of character is the kind of person who, in real life, makes me want to hurt them. Of course, he didn’t pick Maggie as his “chosen” one that year. Beautiful woman, he’s going to be smitten, not scolding. Second, you must wonder what made him pick OA and the others he did this to. He says it was his skill, but was Maggie not the best of her class then? Cop out response. Let’s be honest. He feared him. Quinn is a bully who takes pleasure in making others feel crappy about themselves. I hate that they made OA forget whatever he put him through just because he proved himself worthy. People like that should get what’s coming to them.
Undercover work:
- I LOVE undercover storylines. Oh, the possibilities with them! This is when things usually go haywire too. I fully expected someone to end up injured in tonight’s episode (and don’t get me wrong, I didn’t shed any tears for Quinn). Tensions are high, and emotions are strong. OA had a lot to prove (mostly to himself even though he doesn’t realize it) and he scores well. I also think this was one of Zaki’s better performances. He is the rookie here compared to Peregrym, but he did well. I’m looking forward to more undercover storylines in the future.
Episode 10:
- What happens for the rest of the season? Next episode is our mid-season finale and I do wonder where the rest of the arc will go. FBI is not like some shows where there is heavy, drawn out arcs across the season. This show runs as episodic and simple, where you can tune in and miss a week and still be able to follow along. We’ve seen a few hints that others from previous episodes might return (Mosier and her Russian ‘friend’). OA’s history could lead us another way. What about Maggie? She’s been under the hand of Mosier for a while now. Could she take a more direct role? It’s hard to say. We have another 12 episodes this season and storyline is fair game!
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