FBI: International – A Proven Liar - Review

Unfortunately, due to some required training, Scott is largely absent from this episode, but it allows us to see Jamie demonstrate some of her leadership skills and spread her wings leading the team. We also get a further glimpse into Raines’ personal life, and perhaps a hint about some hidden feelings within the team.

We open on Raines and Maya spending the night together. Maya is heading to church the next morning and they talk about their families. She asks him to come over later so she can learn more about him. For those who have been following FBI International, talking about family is definitely a sore spot for Andre, and this conversation could definitely end up down a road Maya did not intend it too.

We then move to Barcelona Spain, where a woman and man are walking together, with a security guard behind them. The church bells begin to ring and they see a wedding coming out of the church. He is in the middle of proposing when a van comes out of nowhere and masked men kidnap his bodyguard and the woman he is with.

As Raines arrives at the office, Vo and Kellett press him for details. It is clear that there is a tight bond in this team, as they are not only supportive but very interested in what is happening with their friend and if he is happy. Forrester comes in and tells them they have a case. They review the case, and witnesses say scene was chaotic. Smitty is already at the hospital with the man who was attacked.

Forrester says he has been summoned in Budapest and he needs Kellett to run the case and she agrees. The team arrives in Barcelona and set up. They go to interview Brent Remis and he asks about news on Tiana. Jamie asks for him to take them through what happened.

He says they grabbed him first and his bodyguard Sean stepped in, and he got away. Tiana was behind him but suddenly he was knocked to the ground and Tiana and Sean were gone. He says they met online 4 months ago on a dating app. The team asks Brent why he has security, and it is clear that to Jamie and Smitty things are not adding up. He says there are people who are looking to beat you out of jobs and he is an honest business man but he gets threats from competitors.

They track down footage of the kidnapping that was taped by a bystander. They examine the footage and Raines finds signs that the van was painted over. Raines also tells them that he has examined Remis’s business site and has uncovered that it is all photoshopped and his business appears to be a cover and fake. Again, it is wonderful to see Raines excelling in his role, and you can only wonder what would happen if the team was left without his skill set.

They catch a woman trying to break into Remis’s hotel room. The team interviews her and she says she is tracking down Brent Johnson (not Remis). Raines does further digging and discovers that Remis died years ago and that Brent's real name is Gerald Fredrickson and is on the most wanted list for defrauding women and has many aliases and there is a warrant out for him, and even a blog that is out for women he has victimized. He has duped over a dozen women out of 2 million euros, taking small amounts of money from each one.

They bring Gerald to an interview room, and they confront him about his past. He insists he did not kidnap Tiana. He says that he dates a lot of women who gave him money and it was consensual. The team does not believe him and Vo tells him to contact Sean and tell him the kidnapping is off. Suddenly, he gets a text asking for 170 thousand Euros to let her go.

Smitty does not appear convinced that the kidnapping is real and says he is a skilled con man, but Kellett says his emotion seemed genuine. Inspector Montoya comes in and tells them they found the van. The team goes to check it out and they find the bodyguard shot in the head. At this point, the team has no choice but to believe that the kidnapping is real.

They process the van but the only prints are the bodyguards. They all agree none of this makes sense and they discuss whether this really seems like a jilted lover as opposed to a professional kidnapping. They receive another video with instructions about how to make the drop. They look at the background and deduce she is likely in a church. They also look at the women Gerald conned and they believe the kidnapper is one of the women he is wronged.

Kellett calls Scott, and she fills him in. He also tells her about how Dandridge said he has to do some kind of supervisor training, and says that the whole situation seems off. This was a great little addition, which not only showed the respect the team has for Scott as their leader, but also the trust he has for Jamie to lead them in his absence.

The team goes to interview Lydia Herrera, as they are suspicious she may be linked to the kidnapping, because of the amount of money they specifically asked for, which is exactly the amount he scammed her out of. However when they speak with her, she says she offered him the money and he did not ask. Smitty notices wounds on her wrists and asks if she tried to hurt herself and she tells them she went into a very dark place but the program she is in has been good for her. She says her father was devastated and he was angry with Brent. She says she does not know if he ever confronted him, and she avoids the question when Raines asks if they can speak with her father.

When the team looks into it further, it turns out her father is Roberto De Gracia, the biggest crime lord in Spain. They have never been able to directly link him to any crimes. The local authorities say that he will definitely kill Tiana and dump her body, and he will be looking for Gerald and will want to kill him. The team manages to convince Gerald to answer a call and they negotiate with him regarding the ransom and being able to get Tiana back unharmed.

Jamie tells Gerald that he crossed the wrong person and he has to help them to get Tiana back. They tell him he wronged the wrong mark but he selfishly says he did not sign up for this and he is safest in police custody. He tries to use his position to negotiate his charges in the USA. He says if they drop the warrants and charges in the USA and he gets that in writing, he will help.

They get him wired and tell him they will be tracking him. The team surveils the park and then Gerald gets a call, and he tells them he has their money and is following their instructions. The team is able to identify a possible location and Kellett, Vo and the local police breech and search the location. There is gun fire and they find the men and Tiana, and they rescue her.

The team suddenly realizes that the kidnapping was a decoy to draw out Gerald and as Smitty runs to get him, he is shot and they capture Roberto De Gracia. Back at the station, they fill in Tiana on who Brent/Gerald really is and what happened and why she was kidnapped. They fill her in on the fact that Gerlad was only prepared to help if they reduced his charges back home. Inspector Montoya tells the team that unfortunately Gerald will likely end up walking in Spain but De Gracia’s reign of terror in Spain is over.

Tiana meets up with Brent on the way out and slaps him. Kellett then tells Brent that the FBI was able to wave the federal charges but not the state ones, and they were able to add extra charges with Tiana’s statement.

Back in Budapest, they are all out at Maya’s bar upon returning home and Smitty shares with them at the bar what happened with her ex boyfriend. They also try to get her to tell them where the name Smitty is from, but she won’t tell them. It is great to see how she is fitting in with this team, and there seems to be a great relationship and trust developing with her and all of the other team members. It will be nice for everyone to be able to trust her as much as Scott does in the future, as it was such a big loss for them when Katrin was promoted.

Maya tells Raines she is sorry she pressed him about his family, but he says he wants to be open with her. They decide to jump in with both feet and see where it takes them and they both delete all their dating apps. Vo watches them kiss and there is almost an air of sadness and jealousy in her reaction.

So as we conclude this episode, we see new relationships strengthening both inside and outside of the team, but it will be interesting to see what happens to the dynamics within the team as all these develop also.

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