FBI: International – Uprooting – Review

After several individual team member specific episodes, it was wonderful to see an episode which focused on the full team including Katrin again. It was also wonderful to see all the team work and collaboration continue to grow as the season begins to draw to a close.

The episode opens with Scott meeting a woman in a café. She is teaching him Hungarian and they flirt a little before beginning his lesson that evening, and she tells him she would rather be there with him than out dancing. After his very recent parting and then one night reconciliation with Jamie, it will be interesting to see how this new woman creates a possible challenge in full reuniting of Forrester and Kellett.

We then move to Occitanie France, in a home with two couples having dinner together. As the one couple gets up to leave, they make comments about how eating at home means that they know their meal wasn’t spit in, and the one woman who is pregnant says she hopes things will have settled by the time her little one comes. So clearly there is something going on that has not been shared with viewers yet. The couple who were hosting prepare for bed, and suddenly they hear what sounds like gun shots. The wife tells her husband to stay where he is and wait for the police but he says it is the wine tanks, and he grabs a gun and says he is going to stand up to them. Outside, someone is shooting holes into his wine tanks, causing all the wine to be lost. He begins shouting out into the vineyard where the shots are coming from, when he is shot in the shoulder. His wife rushes out and holds him as he dies.

Forrester arrives at the office with Tank, and Raines tells him that Europol is asking for assistance with a case and Jaeger is there to speak to him. Katrin presents the case to the team. Daniel Spencer, age 35, was shot and killed on his vineyard. He is survived by his wife Shannon and unborn baby. Amanda and Henry Martin are their business partners and the two men went to university together, and Henry has no criminal record and the two men were said to be inseparable. Forrester asks why this is not a local homicide investigation, but apparently where the vineyard is located, the area is inhabited by a civil protest group known as CRAV. Vo says she has heard of them and they are on a terrorism watchlist. Apparently they were once tried to be recruited to overthrow the French government but they declined, but they are known for very aggressive and violent intimidation techniques. So they have asked for the team to help investigate as they are not sure if this murder is part of a personal grudge or the start of a terror campaign. The team packs up and heads out to France.

The team arrives in Place de la Mairie, France. Katrin tells them that she has commandeered an abandoned store for them to work out of, and Forrester asks Raines to paper the windows and gather background information on person’s of interest and the rest of the team is going to go complete some interviews. A few of the locals are watching with unfriendly looks on their faces as the team heads inside to set up.

At Daniel and Shannon’s vineyard and home, Forrester and Vo are examining the tanks and the scene, and discussing that with all the leaked wine, all the evidence and footprints is likely washed away. They examine the security video and estimate the direction the shot came from, when the local authorities arrive. Detective LeGrand and Detective Dupuis introduce themselves and let them know they were first on the scene. They say they do not know yet where the shooter was but that they do not need Scott to bring in a forensic team and they have it handled. When they ask the detectives about CRAV, they indicate that while CRAV actions are sometimes misguided, their hearts are in the right place, and share about how the farmers in the area have been humiliated by the government, and had their crops uprooted and been told they cannot grow on their own land, causing financial distress to these farmers. The people are angry about this, and have been forced to sell to people who have no respect for the land and the business. Scott asks if they think anyone from CRAV would speak to them, and Detective Dupuis says that they can try the cohort, but he cannot guarantee the type of reception they will get.

Jamie is speaking with Shannon and her friend Amanda. Shannon says they moved to France 8 months earlier, because owning a vineyard was Daniel’s dream since he was 4 years old. She said it was her dream too after he showed her a documentary. Daniel had family money and his job had moved online so they thought if they did not do it now, they would always regret it. Amanda said that they even convinced her and Henry to join them. Kellett asks if they had family money too, but Amanda says they were doing well enough and Daniel was Henry’s best friend, and they thought it was exciting. Shannon says she cannot believe the locals hate them this much that they would kill him, and Amanda says the local harass them constantly. She describes how it started with shouting, dirty looks, spray painting…really minor intimidation things, but then their front doors were kicked in in the middle of the night and has been escalating.

Raines meets with Amanda’s husband Henry. He tells Andre that Daniel took the brunt of the flack because he was the face of the winery. Raines asks if they feel unsafe and would like a car out front, but Henry says they will not be there forever and the locals will just wait until they leave. He asks how far they live away and Henry says three kilometers. He asks if they saw anything when they left like vehicles on the road and he says they saw a truck heading down the road toward the winery. He then has to go to supervise a wine shipment, and thanks him and says it seems like the French police can’t or won’t help them.

Vo is driving with Forrester and talking about a case they learned about at Quantico, where there was a man who lived in a town and was a terrible bully. After years of abuse, the man was gunned down in the middle of town, and the crime was never solved. She says it seems like in both cases, it was a town that was fed up. They then come upon an overturned tanker truck of wine, with wine spilling out of the top. Henry is there yelling at a man, telling him he will have to pay for every drop of wine that was lost. The man says to him that he seems upset and they are trying to help, and Henry responds by saying they ran him off the road. The man says that Henry’s driver turned to quickly, but Henry insists the man caused the accident. Henry grabs him and the man punches him. The crowd starts to respond by rushing in and Scott takes control by shooting a shot into the air, and tells them all to get back and that he is with the FBI and everyone has to step back. The man says who does Scott think he is coming to his country and pulling out his gun, and that the driver was swerving and went off the road, and they are all farmers and it breaks their hearts to see this happen. Scott says they are also there to help and they will collect Henry and be on their way.

Katrin goes to the Occitanie Village CO-OP and speaks to the head of the CO-OP, Olivier. She tells him that one of his trucks was seen near the crime scene. He tells Katrin that the trucks have cameras, so no one would use one to commit murder. She asks to see the footage and he says ok. She asks him about the overturned tanker truck and he says it is Spanish juice, and says they slap a French label on it and call it wine and it devalues actual French wine. She asks if he thinks they sold fraudulent wine, and he says the reason French wine is so good is because it is generations of French men waking up before dawn and studying every aspect of the process. She says when novice people come in to do it, that must be upsetting, and he says he needs to get back to work. Katrin shows him a photo of the man from the tanker accident and asks who he is and he says he is a hero and that he is done speaking to her. She asks to ensure he gets her the truck footage and he says he will.

The man from the side of the road is identified by Raines as Guillaume Marais, and he is the leader of CRAV. He was taught tactics by the French Army and brought those tactics home. Raines shares that some of his tactics include burning peoples crops to the ground, and that he was also a sniper in the army. Scott asks if the local police have determined to position of the shooter or found any casings yet and Cameron says no. Raines shares that CRAV got the terrorist designation when they hit some deeper pockets, and they are about tradition. Vo says that if the people feel humiliated and Guillaume stands up for them, that makes him a local hero. Katrin shares the video she got from the trucking company showing the truck driver in the truck and the Martins in their car at the time of the shooting. Forrester asks if CRAV has ever been linked with a murder and Raines says he has checked everywhere including missing persons, and can find no evidence of this, and so Forrester asks what is it about Daniel Spencer that made them cross the line. Kellett says that she feels that the “Us vs Them” mentality was a powder keg waiting for the right match. Forrester says they need to find someone who can fill in the gaps of why this escalation would have happened, and Vo says there is an American Chef who works in a restaurant in town and has a Michelin star, and he may be able to help.

Scott and Cameron go to meet Jeremy Sheridan in his restaurant. He says he worked for years in France to understand the culture before he attempted to open a restaurant, but that Daniel and Henry came in throwing money around talking about how they were going to revolutionize French wine making, but that CRAV has a long enemy list and he himself was once on it and got off when he proved he was not a “fly by night”, and he thinks they could have gotten there too if they had been patient. Jeremy had suggested that they sit down and talk with Guillaume, and Daniel did as he was anxious for the community to accept his family before his son arrived. Vo asked if he could arrange for them to meet with Guillaume, but Sheridan says he would rather not. Then Scott notices that one of the kitchen staff had left a phone recording the conversation in a basket beside them. He runs and Scott pursues, and he attacks Scott with a large knife, and Vo knocks him out. The local police arrest him, and Sheridan says Nicolas is a good man and just trying to feed his family, but Forrester says anyone who tries to slice him open is a bad guy. Forrester then approaches Detectives LeGrand and Dupuis and says if he does not have Guillaume in front of him in the next hour he will make a call and have some Paris police take over their investigation.

They bring in Guillaume to speak to Scott. He tells him he does not want to do the “whole insider outsider thing” because it is not helping his village and it is not helping him solve a murder, so he lays everything out for him. He talks about Daniel Spencer being murdered in his own yard, and Guillaume says CRAV had nothing to do with it. Scott says he had been harassing them and Guillaume says not him personally. Scott tells him that he knows he destroyed the wine shipment and put a bounty out to disrupt his investigation, and Guillaume replies “Maybe. Maybe not.” He asks if Forrester is now going to threaten him if he does not tell him what he knows but Scott says “No threats”. Guillaume says he cannot vouch for the actions of every man in CRAV, but no one would resort to murder. Forrester asks how he knows for sure, and Guillaume says that what he says goes.

Back at the vineyard, the local police have finally found the location of the shooter and some shell casings. They also found CRAV carved into a tree, but the detective says that is not typical for them to leave a calling card like that.

Shannon Spencer calls Jamie and asks if she can watch over her while she packs and Scott tells her to go, and Jamie leaves to assist Shannon. Vo does a search of their phones and finds that Henry and Guillaume have calls to the same man, Tristan Moreau. According to the local detective, Tristan was a member of CRAV but was a bit to radical and was banished. He says he is a very dangerous individual. Raines identifies that he is also sniper certified, and Vo says his calls with Guillaume were a month ago but the calls with Henry were as recent as 2 days ago, just hours before Daniel was killed.

They ping Tristan’s phone and he is headed to the Spencer Winery. Scott realizes that is where Jamie is and he calls her to warn her. Jamie is at the winery helping Shannon and they are talking when Scott calls to warn her. Tristan arrives breaks in. Jamie has Shannon lock herself in the laundry room and she fights with Tristan, showing what a true badass she is and eventually chocking him until he passes out. The detectives question him but he has not said a word. The team feels that Henry hired Tristan to kill Daniel, and they go get his cell phone, and send a text to Henry to bring him money to Jeremy Sheridan’s restaurant. Vo and Raines are eating when Amanda Martin arrives. They find the envelope of money and she says she did not know what was in the envelope and was just asked to give it to someone.

The team is checking out some records and Jamie and Andre go in to question Henry. They tell him they are questioning his wife and that she was found trying to pay off Tristan and he says it is because he was a psychopath and they wanted him out of their lives, and he was afraid of what he would do if he saw him in person. Raines asks why he did not mention Tristan to them earlier, and he says Tristan said he would kill him if he spoke to the police about CRAV. They ask if Tristan asked them for money and Henry says he was working for CRAV and they wanted them out. Jamie says there is another theory that Henry wanted out of the partnership and brings up the documents for their partnership that indicates that if either one of them left the business, the one who takes over only has to pay back to the one leaving their initial investment, but the winery is worth twenty times that amount now. Henry says Daniel was his best friend, and it was CRAV who wanted them out, and asks them if they are blind or incompetent. Raines asks if they speak to Shannon will she know about Tristan, and Henry says the wives knew nothing about it because CRAV only came after the husbands, but what could they do because the local cops did nothing. Henry says they thought if they showed CRAV backbone they would leave them alone, not kill one of them. Henry says he should have encouraged Daniel to call the police and he will have to carry that for the rest of his life. Katrin asks Scott what he thinks and he says “I think there is one last drop in the bottle”.

Scott goes to talk to Amanda and uses an analogy of musical chairs, and he says there is one chair available, and her husband will cave before lunch, so this is her one chance to get the chair. He says he wants her to think about her life because the music just stopped and he will go offer the deal to Tristan and she agrees to talk. She says that Henry knew about Tristan and that he was kicked out of CRAV, and was going to have him harass Daniel to make him go back to the USA, so they could take over the winery. She says they came as partners but Daniel with his family money treated Henry like an employee, not a friend. Henry’s plan was just to scare them until they went back home but even after the first few things Tristan did, Daniel would not leave because he was to proud. Henry went to Tristan to call it off but Tristan refused as he wanted more money, and he threatened their lives. On the night of the shooting Tristan was to only shoot at the vats, and that Henry never agreed to have Daniel killed. Amanda begins to cry and says she is so sorry.

Jamie goes back to the winery and fills Shannon in on everything. Jamie says if she needs anything to please let her know. Shannon thanks her for everything and says she needs to put positive energy out there for her son so she is just going to say it once and leave it behind and says she hopes they both rot in hell.

The detective is with the team as they are packing up and says it is such a tragic story, but it seems these kinds of stories are always about money. He says they are welcome back any time. The other detective arrives and says that Guillaume is out front and says he wants to talk to Scott. Scott goes out to see him and he says he solved the case, and gives him a bottle of local wine.

When they arrive back, Jamie and Scott discuss about how they say to keep your friends close and Scott says that is why he does not have any friends. Jamie suggests they open and drink the bottle of wine but Scott says he can’t as he has plans. He tells Jamie that he will take a raincheck but may want a bottle of whisky instead of a bottle of wine, and they say they will see each other tomorrow as Jamie leaves.

Scott goes to meet with his teacher Sarah, and she pretends to be angry and says she is quitting, but then laughs and says that she loves working with him, but due to the time they will have to move from the coffee shop to a proper restaurant and he will have to buy her dinner. Scott agrees and says he is officially turning his phone off, and they leave to go to dinner.

It will be interesting to see if something comes of this new relationship with Scott and Sarah, and also what this will mean for his relationship with Jamie. It was wonderful however to see the full team in action, and to see Katrin also assisting with the investigation. As the first season will soon draw to a close, it will be exciting to see how our writers will end this exciting run. Looking forward for what is to come!!

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