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FBI: International - Trying to Grab Smoke - Review

Dec 8, 2021

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Wolf world takes on another sensitive issue in today’s world in this episode, which is that once something is out there on the internet, it is almost impossible to take it back. While the internet has allowed the world to become more informed, and made instant access to information an almost expectation now, it is important to see that the internet can also be a dark place if used in a malicious way, and as the world has seen with the increase in cyberbullying and teen suicide related to online activities, along with online trafficking and predators.

The episode opens to a young girl who is being recorded by someone on a video camera. The man tells her to take clothes off, but the girl is reluctant. There is also a woman present with the man behind camera. The door buzzes, and the man goes to answer it, and the woman speaks with the young girl and tells her she is making her look bad and she needs to do what he tells her. The two women hear fighting, and then a gunshot, and find that the man has been shot in groin. The women quickly leave the apartment in separate directions.

The episode then moves to night time in Budapest. Jamie is on the roof on a video call with her mom, and tells her she wished she could see the sights there. Her mom asks her when she is coming home, but Jamie says maybe Budapest is her home now, and her mom says home is where her family is. She tells her mom she is dating someone, and tells her it is a co-worker, her boss technically, and her mom replies “Again” which makes one wonder what we do not know about Kellett’s romantic past and what has happened before she came to be stationed with the Fly Team. She tells her mom there is a lot of dating within the bureau and that her she would like him and this time is different. Her mom says that it felt like she ran away after “everything that happened”, which again makes a viewer wonder what happened that she may have been running from. Hopefully we will find out in the weeks to come. Jamie replies that maybe she ran toward something, but she doesn’t know what yet. She then sends her mom a photo of the view.

We then flash forward to Vo and Raines at coffee shop, where Vo is again flirting with the Barista. Raines says for an agent going places, she is dense and to ask him out. Vo says they have already been on two dates and Raines is upset she hasn’t told him as he is her partner. Vo replies that the bureau doesn’t have partners. Raines thinks she should have kept him in the loop regardless. They enter the office and Scott begins briefing the team. The murdered man is Lloyd Eckersly, who has been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for the last year along with his co-conspirator Fred Dobbins, and we then get to see a mini-crossover of Jess LaCroix from Most Wanted. Jess fills them in about the two men, who duped about 100 women forced into sexually explicit videos in Jacksonville, and were told they were being sold to only private collectors overseas and would never be seen in the USA. Most of the women were 18 or 19 years old and were coerced into signing modelling release forms and then forced into sexual acts they did not agree to upfront. The videos were then shown on a site Eckersly and Dobbins own called Girls Make Porn. Twenty of the women came together to sue them, which triggered a criminal investigation and a trial. They were charged with three counts of sex trafficking by force and fraud and coercion, and both fled the USA before the trial started. The men tried to silence women by emailing the videos to their friends, family and coworkers and posting their personal info on black websites. One of the women, Kayla Clancy ended up committing suicide because of what happened. If Eckersly is back in Prague making porn, they are thinking that Dobbins is not far behind. Jess says that they are likely both back at it again and that both these men are the scum of the earth.

The team heads to Prague and meets with Katrin. She asks them if they have worked in Prague before and tells them the department is very nice, cooperative and grateful for assistance and that although it is one of the safest cities in Europe, sadly the police department is not robust. We then meet Detective Marta Novak, who fills them in on what they know so far. A food delivery person walking across the street heard two gunshots and saw two women running from studio. They have a minimal description of the women, and Kellett asks about seeing the studio. Novak says they will take them right away but will get them set up at the station first. She asks Scott if this man was involved in pornography and he tells her yes, of the illegal kind. Novak tells him that Prague is the pornography capital of Europe.

At the studio, they did not see any sign of robbery, and Lloyd had $1000 in currency in his pocket and there is $6000 in camera equipment and computers left behind in the studio, and Forrester points out that the fact that he was shot in the crotch suggested there was perhaps a more personal element to the crime. Raines tells them that the desktop and camera is password protected and he is working on cracking them. Vo finds information about the owner of the porn site where the girls videos were uploaded, and some of the details of the lawsuit. The main issue with getting the videos taken down off the porn site is that it is not based in the USA, and the site is based in Prague. The proprietor of the site is Antek Kral and Detective Novak says for Scott and the team to do what is needed and just report back. Scott says “I love working in Prague”. This scene not only showed that the Prague team was indeed collaborative and appreciative, but also Scott asking if they wished to accompany them to question this man showed that there was mutual respect for their department, which only goes to show how well the Fly Team can work with other law enforcement agencies when there is mutual respect and a desire for working in partnership within the law.

Kellett and Forrester go to see porn site owner, Antek Kral. He says he knew Lloyd, and said he had phone contact with him and Dobbins when they all got sued. He says to Scott that it is a coincidence he was in Prague shooting porn as lots of people shoot porn there as there are many beautiful women and they are sexually liberated. Scott says that with Eckersly there that Dobbins would not be far behind and it would be hard for him to travel and he wondered where Kral has him stashed. Antek says he has no contact with them and feels they were screwed by the US and that the women knew what they were signing up for, and Jamie tells him that the women did not know what they were signing up for. Kral says he sees a different side of females that nice people don’t want to talk about. Jamie asks why he did not take the videos down after the lawsuit and personal appeals, he replies that when he installs a suggestion box in his office, he will let her know. Scott tells him they are giving him an opportunity to cooperate with them and Kral says they have no jurisdiction there and Scott warns him that they have more than he realizes. Antek tells them to leave and Kellett warns that the killer could be after him too and he says he has bodyguards and tells them goodbye.

They leave and Kellett is clearly very angry from the conversation, slamming a drawer closed as they return to the office. Vo looked into the woman who committed suicide, Kayla Clancy. Her father, Jim Clancy, is a retired cop from Tulsa and he flew into Prague a few days ago. Scott and Jamie go to see him and on the way Scott asks Jamie if everything is ok and she says she misses home, misses her family and missed her mom’s birthday. They meet Jim Clancy and ask him why he is in Prague and he says he is there for vacation. They tell him Lloyd Eckersly was killed yesterday, and he says he does not know anything about it. Jamie asks how long he was planning his trip and he says months, but she calls him out as his ticket was only booked a few days ago, five hours before he boarded the plane. Scott tells him not to make a big mistake if he hasn’t already made one. Jim tells them how the two men terrorized Kayla during and after the video was filmed. He says he spent every cent he had trying to get them and the man who runs the porn site. When she committed suicide, they sent chocolates to their home with a note saying good riddance. He says it was not him but please let him know who it was when they find out so he can send them chocolates. Scott and Katrin ask Detective Novak to assign a surveillance team, but she does not have the man power for that and could only provide two part time plain clothes detectives, which the team thankfully accepts.

In the meantime, Raines got into Eckersly’s computer and camera, and they find the video that was being shot right before he died. Vo says the image went out to all the local police and one was able to identify her as Pavlina Dudek, and she will meet with them but only away from her home, as she does not want her family to know she was about to film a porn scene. Pavlina meets with Raines and Vo, and said she did not see who shot him, and that the door chimed and he went to answer it, and she could not see the door from the bed. She said as soon as she walked in she knew she had made a mistake and he was bad, and that there was no one else at the studio but Adela Buzek, who recruits women for the men who film porn. Pavlina gives Adela’s number and info she has about her to Vo and Raines. Pavlina says it is terrible but a part of her is glad he was killed as she would have gone through with it, but now she can reconsider her decision. The team goes to Adela’s apartment and she is packed up and getting ready to leave. They ask her what happened with Lloyd, and why is she leaving town, and she says she does not feel safe, but she knows nothing about why he was killed or by whom. She said she had known him for 3 months and she had recruited 20-25 girls for him, and she had never had a problem with the other American who always paid cash, and identifies Dobbins. She says she will tell them where he is for finders fee. The team arrives at his place, and it is heavily secured with cameras all around outside. They search the grounds and a car tries to hit Vo, Raines and Scott and takes off. The team pursues and they chase the vehicle with help from the Prague police. Dobbins crashes, and takes off on foot. They chase him, and then they arrest him.

Back at the Prague Station, Forrester and Kellett question him and ask him if he killed Lloyd. Dobbins says he knows he is headed back to the USA and has no incentive to say anything. Scott says that is true but he could go back with them or perhaps he will stop over and there will be a paperwork SNAFU, and Scott is not sure what his gang affiliation is, but he hopes he has one because prison there can be a pretty inhospitable place. Dobbins says he does not know who killed Lloyd and that he was railroaded and he gets threats everyday. Jamie gets very upset while questioning him. They ask if he saw Jim Clancy and he says he did not make threats but his other daughter Ella did. Vo pulls up her social media and says it was pretty standard for a teenager, but took a turn after her sister died. It shows that 6 months after her sister died, she started learning to shoot a gun, and the last post was 2 weeks ago in Madrid and says she is backpacking in Europe and there is a video of her saying the men who killed Kayla will get theirs. Passport control has Ella entering Prague by train 4 days earlier. The detectives following Jim Clancy have him pacing in hotel lobby and making phone calls, and the team rolls out.

Scott and Jamie go to see Jim, and tell him they know Ella is in Prague. Jamie tells him they can help him to help Ella and he knows she is in Prague but does not know where. He says that she found out Eckersly was in Prague and was still filming, and she told Jim that those 3 men were responsible for Kayla’s death and they needed to pay for it. Jim says he can’t lose both his daughters, and the team feels if she is still there, she is likely after her third target, Kral. The team and police all have her photo so they spread out to look for her.

They see the site owner, Kral and while following, Jamie gets a call from her mom. Her mom was saying this week is a difficult anniversary for them, and always will be, when Jamie sees something and has to hang up. This again makes us wonder what secrets there are in Kellett’s past that have yet to be revealed, and when will we find out more. Jamie goes through doorway and down alley and finds Ella. She asks her what is in her bag and she says nothing so she tells her to toss the bag behind the garbage cans. Jamie says they have nothing and wants to speak to Ella’s dad. Jamie says to Prague detective to keep an eye on her, bring in her dad and don’t let them talk to each other. Ella asks Jamie what is going on and she says to sit tight and not talk to anyone. Vo wants to know if she confessed, and Jamie says no and she’s not sure what that means. Vo asks what’s next and Scott says, their priority was to get Dobbins and they have so they will bring him home and leave the rest to the local authorities.

Jamie asks to question Jim Clancy alone and if doesn’t go anywhere will have Scott come in to close, and Scott agrees. Jamie tells him they have Ella and he wants to see her, but Jamie says he was a cop and know how this works. She tells him that they know one of them was likely behind the murder so they could launch a big investigation or if who did it could come forward and just admit it, they would not need the investigation and Jim then says he killed Eckersly. Jamie asks if he went with the intention of killing him and he says no, he wanted to talk to him. Jamie prompts him and Jim says Lloyd lunged for his gun and it went off with both shots and Lloyd said he would kill him. Clancy says he took the gun because Lloyd had made threats against his family already. Jamie asks if Ella knew he was going there and asks if she was in Prague for other reasons. Jim says he did not speak a word to her about what happened and that he feels great remorse. Katrin says to Scott that she handed it to him.

Katrin says they are recommending manslaughter charges for Clancy and that he will get a few years at most, as they will make sure the judge will be aware of the circumstances. They also agreed to let him see Ella before he is arraigned. She also tells them that Dobbins is theirs to take back to the USA to be prosecuted. Katrin says Prague appreciates their cooperation and help. Raines finally got into the hard drive and host farm, and he was able to clear all of the content of Kayla and the other women. He also found evidence of money laundering with Kral and referred it to Detective Novak for prosecution. He says they did their best but the internet is like trying to grab smoke, and it is hard to really ensure it is totally gone.

Ella sees her dad and Jamie gives them a minute. Scott asks her what she thinks he is telling her and she says probably that he loves her. Dobbins extradition is being served and he does not want to go and asks Detective Novak for asylum in her country. She says he is all theirs and asks sarcastically if Asylum is an energy drink. Detective Novak was a very enjoyable character to get to know, and it was wonderful to see how appreciative and collaborative she and the other Prague detectives wanted to be with the Fly Team.

As they are packing up, Scott is talking to Jamie and says he has seen people lose their bearings before, including himself, and tells Jamie to keep her compass aligned. Jamie says they cleared the murder and caught Dobbins so she thinks it was a good day, but she says she is going to take a few days like they talked about. Scott asks her if she is going home and she says no she is staying in Prague to see the sites. Scott then asks her if she wants to tell him anything and she says no but thanks for checking. This was a great little scene to add at the end, to reaffirm how much Scott cares about her and is also trying to respect those work and relationship lines in the field.

We then move to Jamie speaking to Ella. She is getting on a bus to go to Norway to visit cousins, just like her sister always wanted. Ella asks if she has a sister and she says she did. This is perhaps a foreshadowing of the coming story that will regale us the tragedy that has become the difficult anniversary she and her mother cannot forget…I guess time will tell. Jamie tells Ella to go have the life Kayla and her dad would want for her. We then see Jamie on a bridge and she dumps Ella’s bag she had thrown behind the trash cans into the water. She then takes a picture and send to her mom as the episode closes.

This certainly was a great episode as we start to see a bit more into who Kellett is and a glimpse into her past, watch the growing friendship (and maybe a few sparks) between Vo and Raines, and again see our Wolf Entertainment writers deal with very real and terrifying crimes in an honest and sensitive way.
Let us know what you thought about this episode in the comments below.