Slow and Swagger wins the race.
So, this time they send Valentine in. He’s posing as a potential buyer and seems well on his way to making the deal when in comes someone with a polygraph. For them to sell anything to him, they want him to pass a lie detector test. Maggie and OA want to pull him, but Jubal seems confident. He passes, and they tell him they’ll be in touch. Valentine’s showing some swagger as he leaves the meet and heads back to the team.
Maggie and OA meet with Gina at their usual spot under the bridge in Central Park. She tells them that “Jack” liked Jubal. And that “Jack” wants to move forward. While this satisfies Maggie, OA is still staring at her after she leaves. Maggie questions it, and he states, “In my experience, when the undercover starts referring to the target by his first name, it’s a problem.” For the first time, we see the hesitation in her eyes. She knows OA is correct. This leads her to Gina’s Supervisor who tells her that Gina is solid. The only worrying part of the conversation is he only sees her in person once a week. While she might be solid to him, how can someone say that unless they are around all the time?
Gives new meaning to: Into Bad Boys
At the JOC, Kristen confirms this. She has surveillance video of the suspect, Jack Rossi and Gina kissing. When Maggie confronts Gina about it, she plays it off as it was nothing. She was able to get closer to Jack because they shared some personal details about their upbringing. Both Gina and Rossi were raised by single mothers. Emotions were sparking. She took advantage. Maggie wants to pull her; she refuses. She leaves, and Maggie tells OA she’s solid enough to work the case.
I’m thinking Maggie is too invested in trusting her friend at this point. It is always easier to see clearly when you’re not involved.
Regardless, they set up the drug meet and Valentine waits outside while Bell and Zidan wait in a car hidden. Gina and Rossi are over an hour late. Maggie tries to defend her, but then realizes she’s lying. The GPS says she’s heading to New Jersey. Their meet is off and our agents head to cut Agent Gina Pratt off before she can get away.
Or What?
Once cornered, Maggie reaches out to Gina. She’s more than hesitant to cooperate even with Maggie’s gun trained on her. There’s a weird level of trust and distrust her. Maggie doesn’t want to use the weapon, Gina doesn’t seem to care. With Maggie’s coaxing, Gina reveals where the two suspects are. They take Gina in and then we pursue our drug traffickers, eventually cutting them off in the woods.
Soon, everything is clear. Rossi tells them everything—how the Judge’s daughter fell in love with a drug dealer and how they killed them both for being threatened. Mosier tells Maggie that the Judge’s husband finds peace that his wife died protecting their daughter. It isn’t much, but it is something. Maggie also asks about Gina. She wants to know what they decided to do. Sadly, Maggie goes to visit with her former friend and tell her that the US Attorney’s Office is going to file charges against her despite Maggie’s best attempts otherwise. Both women are teary as they realize this is the end of her career.
As Maggie goes to leave for the day, OA asks if she’s okay. She tells him no and he tells her he’s a great listener. There’s some gentle banter and the two enter the elevator together as our episode comes to a close.
Thoughts:
I called the daughter being the reason for the killing from the beginning. As an avid fan of anything crime and mystery related, sometimes it’s not always the most obvious person. Red Herrings are super popular in today’s TV scene as it makes for a more interesting story. For those like me, who watch shows like this religiously, they become obvious. Maybe now they should go for the obvious person just to throw people like me off! Still, how does a girl like the Judge’s daughter end up with a drug dealer? A late rebellious phase, maybe? Sad, regardless.
Recognize Your Bias
It is also interesting how easily both OA and Maggie can be blinded by their own biases. We see it with OA several episodes previous with the Army veteran and Maggie now with her former classmate. They’re both relatively new agents (compared to others), so this isn’t surprising. We as humans are trained to trust those who are like us, both in our careers and our lives. OA wanted to believe that the Army veteran would do the right thing because that’s what he would do; the same goes for Maggie. That said, the two of them could use a little more trust in each other. Objectivity is something so important in their line of work and they both should be more aware of when their objectivity is compromised. Makes for great TV, but not so great agents.
Forced
Oddly, one of the least believable performances for me tonight was Sela Ward as Mosier. I feel as if her supposed connection to our victim was forced and I had a hard time really connecting with what she felt. The scenes where she discussed her involvement with our victim and then her husband were not the best. This is also surprising considering Ward is the actor with the most experience on this show. Interestingly, this was the first time I didn’t see her as believable, so my opinion might be short lived.
For the Future
Discussion continues social media about Agents Bell and Zidan. Do you see a romantic connection between the two of them? I just don’t see it. I still stand firm on my belief they are better off platonic. For some reason, people love to toss together law enforcement partners. Is it valid sometimes? Of course. There are some pairings on TV that you just can’t imagine NOT together. Bell and Zidan are not one of them. For the love of all things sacred, PLEASE, writers of FBI, let’s keep them the way they are!
Another question comes to mind. We see Kristen head out undercover this episode. Valentine as well. Will our team always be our core five: Mosier, Valentine, Kristen, Bell, and Zidan? I feel as if they will need more people eventually. You can’t have the same few folks going undercover all the time. Most shows in this scenario have a team of five or six. Does this benefit FBI or hinder it? We can get to know our core five faster, but it might make storylines become stale. It is something that is worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses.
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