FBI: International – A Tradition of Secrets – Review

In this episode we are able to delve deeper into the backstory of Megan Garretson, while also seeing how Powell begins to acclimatize to the Fly Team.

To recap this episode, we open in a bank in Geneva Switzerland. A woman working late notes that there may be information being stolen and goes to the gentleman in charge of cybersecurity. He locks her in an office, flees and goes to his home where he tells his wife that they have to leave immediately. In the bank, the bankers are meeting and one says he can get the situation resolved and calls Megan Garretson. It is her younger brother, Christopher.

As Powell tries to settle in and is playing with Tank, Forrester briefs the team. There was a breach at a Swiss bank and Philippe Morand (chief cybersecurity officer) and his wife Anne Marie Morand are missing. The Swiss have a tradition of bank anonymity, which means accounts are linked my account numbers and no names and Phillippe stole a list of the customer names. Forrester asks Vo to partner up with Powell and show him the ropes and the team heads out.

Christopher greets Megan. She asks what this has to do with him. He says unfortunately if they cannot solve the issue and get the list back, he will be the one that will have to take the fall and will never be hired by a bank again. Megan says the FBI team is on the way and will help.

Garretson introduces the Fly team to the Bank executives. They give them full access to offices and computers and tell them that they can work out of the bank, and the executive tells them he hopes that they can use discretion with their investigation. They introduce them to the lead Swiss prosecutor, Lara Provost, who says her team will work in tandem with theirs. They have interviewed the witness, but Kellett and Forrester speak with her again and the rest of the team goes to Phillippe’s home.

The woman who identified the potential breach and was locked in the office tells them that Phillippe was a genius with the computer security. She tells them he has never mentioned a wife, and is surprised he is married. At the apartment, no one saw Phillippe and Anne Marie leave. Raines finds a laptop and his whole computer is wiped except for one video file. It says that he was asked to devise a system to provide complete anonymity which allows for criminals to hide behind their money. Forrester and Provost disagree with the approach to take, and Phillippe’s video mentioned Anne Marie’s family and they find out her step father lives just outside the city. They go to his home and the camera has been shot out and Anne Marie’s father is dead on the floor. They get footage and the man in the video is not Phillippe.

Forrester tells the team they are now on two paths – looking for Phillippe and the hitman. Raines has been following his electronic footprint and Phillippe took 3 trips to Johannesburg. Kellett reaches out to Attorney General Blair to see if she can help with the Swiss prosecutor, but Blair tells her that with the posture the Swiss are taking, it looks like they are protecting an enormous account belonging to the Underwood family, which is a family they are trying to find evidence against in the USA. Blair says they have a higher priority to get that list, and says Ms. Garretson is not necessarily on their side.

Powell asks Vo about her relationship with Raines. She says if the timing was different, something could have happened but that is not the case and they are friends and colleagues and the job comes first. Vo asks if he has ever dated a fellow agent and he says no.

Anne Marie is spotted at the airport trying to board a flight to Johannesburg on a fake passport and is being help by border control. They question her and she says that her husband gave her the passport and they were to go separately and he was going to find her at the Johannesburg airport. They ask about the data removed from the bank and Anne Marie says she does not know where it is. She tells Kellett that Phillippe said someone at the bank wants to kill him and that it was Garretson. She says that is why he did not come forward as the bank and government in Switzerland are one and the same.

Megan asks Christopher about the situation, and he says Phillipe is exaggerating and he did not mean someone would kill him, he meant fire him. Megan is furious. Forrester calls the team together to tell them that the Swiss bankers are now their primary suspects and they just need to play nice and keep investigating quietly. Forrester says they need to find Phillippe and get the list. Kellett tells Garretson that direct orders from the AG says they cannot share with her, but she begs them not to shut her out and she is running out of people she can trust. Powell and Vo say they want to take a run at the wife. Forrester allows them too.

Vo tells Anne Marie that they believe she is innocent but her husband has left her in an impossible position. They show her all the trips to Johannesburg and a woman there and tell her that he never told anyone he was married, and that he planned to leave her behind to take the fall and they know she wants to do the right thing. She tells them he is at a Chalet in the mountains and she gives them the location. The prosecutor asks Garretson if there is something she needs to be brought in on, and she says they are following up on a lead and she will loop her in if it pans out.

Raines and Kellett find Phillippe and he is panicking until they say they are FBI. He says he is willing to make a deal with the USA for immunity and 30 million dollars. Raines tells Phillipe that with one call, he can be in the Swiss prison. He says that the Underwood family name is all over the list he has, and he wants immunity for him and his associate from Johannesburg.

Smitty gets called in to see Mr. Hess, the bank president and the prosecutor and her brother are there. They tell her that they heard she is holding out on them and that the FBI have found Phillippe and they will report her to her authorities. Megan asks Christopher to testify against them, and that she has bent over backwards for him so many times, and he needs to not blow up her career, but he says he will lose everything if he does and she leaves, upset.

Kellett says Phillippe is not budging and she calls the AG. Forrester joins Garretson, and she tells him she should have given up on her brother a long time ago, and Forrester says he has never known her to give up on anything because that isn’t her and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Christopher messages her and says he wants to testify. She goes to his apartment and he is being held by an armed man who wants to know where Phillippe is. She tries to negotiate with him to save her brother. She says she needs to make a call and he threatens to kill Christopher and she says she has the address of where Phillippe is. They fight and he pins her down to choke her, and Forrester arrives and shoots him and saves her and Christopher.

Christopher agrees to testify. He says he wants to do the right thing and have her back for a change. Phillipe asks where his friend is, and they say she is not coming. They also tell him they have Christopher willing to testify, so he can turn over the list and do a short time in a minimum security facility, or they will turn him over to Prosecutor Provost. They also said the payment will go to his wife, who is the only one who really helped them.

Vo shows Powell an available apartment in her building. He asks if the two of them living in the same building is a good idea and they kiss.

There were a few key storylines this week. The first was Megan and Christopher Garretson. Each time we learn a bit more about Smitty, we are given even more reason to see why she is such a great addition to the Fly Team and why Forrester has such an affinity for her. While our hopes were dashed when her brother did not reveal where her nickname comes from, it was wonderful to get a glimpse into where her passion and approach for cases comes from, based on the way she has always protected and helped Christopher. We can only hope that we have an opportunity to learn even more about Smitty, and maybe one day even have the secret nickname story revealed.

The second interesting development was the blooming relationship between Powell and Vo. It seems like for some time Cameron has been looking for something, and only time will tell if Powell is a good fit for her, or if it is a right place at the right time situation that will make their working relationship awkward in the end. It would be nice to see Cameron happy, however Powell seems quite the opposite of the kind of person Vo is, so only time will tell what the future really holds for them as a potential couple.

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