FBI: International - The Edge - Review

When we first open the show, we see a mother and son, who are walking through a street festival in Budapest, enjoying the displays and booths. We are also shown though that they are unaware there are two men nearby in a van watching them. This definitely sets an ominous tone to the episode right from the start.

We then open on Jamie, who has received an envelope from the FBI. She opens it to find that she has been transferred. Forrester pulls up and she gets in the car, but hides from him the news she has just received and instead begins reviewing the case they have been assigned. This is an interesting development after we just found out they are seeing each other…are they on the outs? Did she request the transfer or is it being imposed upon her? Did Scott ask for her to be transferred out. This scene definitely sets up a lot of questions around the letter and transfer that we are left to ponder until the end of the episode.

Their case is of a Mother who is caught up in a custody battle (tried for full custody and was granted partial) and who took her son and fled the country. Scott and Jaime go to festival and are about to apprehend the mother when they see the two men grabbing the child and putting him into a van and throwing the mother to the ground. Scott tries to stop them and they almost run him down with the van. This infuriates Scott, who is wound up tighter than a knot in a tree by the time they return to their office.

Vo and Raines join in on the conversation and the team reviews the case together, and prepare to question the mother, when Katrin comes in to join them and discuss the Europol rules of involving local law enforcement. Once again Scott seems to take on the same attitude which appears like an air of arrogance that he displayed in the first episode, which certainly made his personality seem a bit prickly at times. I am still trying to get a read on this character and am quite curious what the season will bring as we learn more about him and perhaps why he seems to have a distain for involving local enforcement. Is it truly arrogance and a self-inflated image of his policing abilities, or maybe there was a traumatic incident in his past that has created a significant trust for other law enforcement agencies. I do hope we learn where this comes from though, because it does seem like he is making the FBI International Fly Team look like they are not respectful of the law in other countries at times, which I do not believe would be in keeping with the realism that Dick Wolf creates in his universes. This is why I feel that perhaps there will be a reason revealed to us in the future that will explain this behaviour on his part.

The mother’s name is Katya and her son is named David and the team questions her, and find out she immigrated to America for love and then her husband changed. He was abusive to her and when she found out he was abusing her son, she knew she had to flee the country to her home country of Hungary. We also learn that her son has epilepsy and that she has his medication and without it, he will have seizures. When they are done questioning her, Vo and Raines believe her story but Forrester is not sure, as he is skeptical of her story and wants to learn more first before he decides and Jaime suggests to go back at her in an hour.

When Forrester responds to Vo after the questioning, his comments are a bit biting and Raines offers support to Vo after he walks away. Raines tells her that Scott may be a jerk but he respects her which is why he let her into unit. I really like the dynamic between these two team members, and I definitely think that Raines humor and kindness provides a real balance to the brooding Forrester within the unit.

A lead then comes in and they have eyes on David and the two kidnappers on a train platform. Again we see the ever present conflict between Forrester and the local police about moving in with them and how soon to move in. The team and local law enforcement approach them on the train platform, and a gun fight ensues on the platform. Forrester, Raines and Tank are in pursuit, and we get to really see Tank in action as he takes on one of the kidnappers, knocking him down an escalator and leading him to be caught by Forrester. However much to the dismay of the team, the boy and one kidnapper get away from Raines and Vo in a stolen SUV.

When they interview the kidnapper, they discover he is part of a rogue group online called Dad’s Pride, and he believes that courts are gender biased and that men have a right to see their children. The way that he speaks, he definitely seems to have a very low opinion of women, which may be from his own past or perhaps part of the motivation why this character would want to assist in kidnapping children from their mothers to reunite them with their fathers. Regardless of what his underlying motivation is, it is revealed that he was hired by the boy’s father (Gary Milgrave) and Forrester decides that they need to check him out further.

Forrester calls Jubal, and it was wonderful to see a little cameo in this show, as I think it brings authenticity and demonstrates that different areas do work collaboratively for the greater good. Forrester asks Jubal to check out Gary Milgrave. Raines also suggests that the kidnappers were getting on the train and the team should follow up and check out where it was going and the team follows up that lead to see if they can help identify where he is.

Forrester goes back to talk to Katya and she is crying as she says she is so worried for her son and his safety. You can see a bit of Scott’s skepticism still about whether she really cares about her son and so he asks her what David’s favorite thing for them to do together is. She says singing at bedtime, and sings Forrester the song they sing through tears. When she is done, he seems less guarded with her, and I think this interaction allowed him to start to believe her story more.

Through a conversation between Vo and Jamie, we start to find out more about the history of Forrester’s character and learn that his mom was named Angela Cassidy and that his dad and mom were both career service officers. We also find out that his mother sold secrets, that the government set up a false flag on her, and as a result, she is in the wind. This is a very interesting revelation…is this why he was so suspicious of the mother? Is this why he hates local law enforcement so much?

They finally track down Gary Milgrave and Forrester is questioning him. We then get the updated information from Jubal. It turns out that his assistance filed a harassment suit against him and he claims that his wife used parental alienation to try to manipulate his son and as a result, he was left with no choice but to use the radical group to help him find and bring back his son. Vo is trying to explain to him that the theory of parental alienation has been completely debunked, when suddenly Forrester asks him the same question he asked Katya…what is his favorite thing to do with his son. He stumbles trying to come up with a reply and eventually says playing games and apps on the phone. The look of Forrester’s face made it clear to the viewing audience whose story he now believed.

Katrin comes in and says they have to let him go and that Europol says they can’t hold him, and when they release him, Milgrave thinks he is free. However we soon learn that this was a ruse and that they swapped his phone so he would lead them to David. This was a great plot twist, especially for Katrin to be involved in this ruse, because she has been such a key force in trying to ensure that the team works collaboratively with any of the host countries, so this was a fun and interesting surprise. To be honest, something that really should not surprise me with Wolf writers, but it definitely was unexpected with these characters and what we know of them so far.

The team returns and is monitoring Milgrave’s phone and he has not moved. Katrin return to the office and tells Scott that he did a nice job with the phone switchero, and reminds him he will need to work with the local authorities for the capture and recovery of the boy. At this point, I will be honest that it began to feel a bit like the movie groundhog day as we again were played the same broken record hit from Forrester as he says local authorities are to slow and he will move without them if he has too. This constant theme does worry me a little, as I am fearful that what appears to be a lack of respect for foreign authorities could make Forrester’s character come off unfavorably in the eyes of some viewers.

As they prepare to follow Gary Milgrave’s phone movement and search for David and the kidnapper, they discover that Katya had David’s gloves that still have his scent on them, so they also get Tank to smell the gloves to perhaps help them find his scent. I don’t know about anyone else, but I am already in love with the involvement of Tank in these cases and I think the addition of a canine character is just what the FBI franchise needed. I for one cannot wait for more Tank scenes in the forthcoming episodes.

It was very interesting that on the way to track the phone, Forrester asks Jamie’s opinion on Vo, particularly after his sharp response to her earlier. When Jamie asks for his opinion, Forrester says he is impressed. I think this is a great step forward for Vo and her character and I definitely think there are many more great things to see from her this season, as she seems to have great instincts and skills.

They discover the phone is tossed, and they begin to search the woods with Tank. Tank catches scent and runs ahead, to find Gary Milgrave and kidnapper handing off boy, to him and it is clear that David does not want to go with him. The team goes in and Jamie takes on the kidnapper with Vo while Forrester goes after Gary Milgrave and David with Raines. They are on his tail, but they are still waiting for Europol and local police, who are 10 minutes out, so they decide they have to move in or risk losing the boy.

Gary realizes there is no way out and decided he is going to crash car with him and David in it. David is having seizure, and Forrester tries to talk Gary down so he can give David his medication. Jamie drives their car into Gary’s to stop him going over the cliff he was trying to drive off of, and he gets arrested and they pull out David and get his meds. This was a very tense scene as it really seemed like Milgrave could and would not hesitate to harm his own son, which is a very disturbing notion indeed. I found this scene really gave a lot of creditability to Katya’s story about the level of abuse her husband was capable of and tied together the story nicely.

The next scene was very endearing where we get to see a very different side of Forrester as he talks to David. He tells him it is not his fault and gets him to tell him what happened the day his mom described finding him and suspecting he was abused. David tells Forrester that he broke a glass and his dad got mad. David does not want to tell Forrester what happened at first but then changes his mind and tells Forrester what his dad did, but we are not privy to this conversation as they pan to showing them talking from the other side of the window. Meanwhile, Jamie makes a call to friend in the justice system and tells them to keep her transfer under wraps for now, but asks for their help for Katya. Jaime and Vo help to get warrant dismissed due to special circumstances (USA won’t pay for extradition) and therefore Katya and David can stay in Hungary together. I was very happy to see this resolution for them, and to see the team doing what they could to keep them together and safe. I think this shows a very human side to this team, and that they do in fact care about the people they are assisting, and even sometimes tracking. I really thought this was a great way to close out this story line.

In addition at the conclusion of the case, Vo gets a compliment from Forrester and goes for drinks with Raines. It is nice to see Forrester providing some recognition to his team, and I love the evolving friendship between Raines and Vo, and am excited to see where this leads as they continue to work together. Do we have another ship on our hands, or will this be a close friendship like the type we see in some other Dick Wolf shows (ex. Atwater and Burgess on Chicago PD). Only time will tell, but I cannot wait to see where the writers take us, as we know it can only be somewhere good.

The episode concludes with Forrester and Jamie going home together. Jamie tells him that she got her landing spot in New York, and that when she applied for it, she did not anticipate them being a thing. Scott doesn’t want her to go so team can learn from her, and she says she doesn’t go for a few months. Scott says that is good and he says he has some time to talk her out of it.

Overall, this episode had many ups and downs, and brought us through moments of high tensions and enduring kindness like only Wolf writers can. As we watch these characters develop this season, it will be interesting to see what mysteries are revealed to start to learn more about the reasons behind some of the behaviour and attitudes we have witnessed so far. I will definitely be tuning in for more. How about you?

Let us know what you thought about this week’s episode in the comments below.