Sometimes, having faith in a friend just leaves you burned harder.
A week after Raines went rogue to rescue his missing sister, Vo found herself in a tough murder case where helping an old friend got her in serious trouble.
This made last night’s episode titled Left of Boom a more complex case than usual for the FBI: International team.
Special Agent Vo is in the wrong place at the wrong time
In Budapest, Vo was checking out a gym when she ran into her old friend Nick Thorpe (Tom Forbes). They shared drinks as Nick revealed he’d left the FBI for an “overseas gig.” Vo was surprised as Nick said he needed her help and was cagey about being in public like this.
Just as Nick was leaving, Vo heard gunshots and raced out to find a man murdered outside the club.
Forrester and Kellett met Vo at the crime scene as she related what happened and admitted she couldn’t be sure Nick wasn’t involved. The victim was Roland Torak, a local gambling regulator. Hungary took gambling very seriously and sought to make this a major case.
Vo showed up at the office to meet Erin Padilla (Kadia Saraf), the team’s legal advisor who had questions about Nick Thorpe. Vo talked of the pair being friends from the academy and wasn’t sure of why he was in town.
It took a few moments for Vo to realize she was being considered the prime suspect by the Budapest police, thanks to being so fast on the scene. She also learned that Thorpe was fired for falsifying intel to obtain a search warrant in a child pornography case. Vo was ordered to stay low while the team handled this.
The team met Jaeger and Akos Valko (Andrew PIfko) from the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation. He discussed the murder and Torak armed with a special gun. Valko wanted to keep this a Hungarian matter, but Forrester insisted Raines be part of this.
Vo returned home to discover Thorpe waiting for her to claim his innocence and claim his boss, Paul Kovacs (Pasha Lynchikoff), a Vegas casino owner, was responsible. He’d gotten in deep building a casino and to pay for it, agreed to launder money for a Russian mob.
Thorpe defended his firing as an informant and said he was unfairly blamed for the case being ruined. Kellett arrived and Vo insisted Thorpe trust her. Kellett was ready to arrest him, with Thorpe having already run.
The team make a dangerous gamble
Kellett was still suspicious about Thorpe, with Vo willing to give him the benefit of the doubt even as Kellett pointed out that Thorpe had already lied.
Thorpe called Vo up to apologize and agreed to a meeting. The team met him at an abandoned power station as Jaeger offered immunity in exchange for information.
Thorpe said Torak was skimming money off Kovacs, which got him killed by Kovacs’ sidekick Istvan Benko (Marjan Radanovich). They had him arrested, with Vo still insisting on helping him.
Thorpe revealed Kovacs had used him to set up various accounts for his shell companies and was grateful Vo was helping him. They decided to have Vo pose as a money launderer herself, looking for a new partner.
Thorpe actually wanted to go on his own, but Forrester made it clear he wasn’t calling any shots. They arrived at a casino with Raines acting as their bodyguard and the rest of the team listening in.
Thorpe and Vo bantered as they headed to the top floor to meet Benko, who had the same weapon that killed Torak. Kovacs insisted on having a private meeting with Vo.
Vo played that she worked for a group wanting to use Kovacs’ casino for laundering with them talking numbers and agreeing to a payday at a local restaurant.
The team seemed happy with the initial meeting as Forrester asked if Vo and Thorpe were involved, which she denied. He warned her about having a blind spot “that could send you over the edge.”
Jaeger arrived with a security video showing Benko in the area Torok was killed. At the meeting spot, Benko showed up to reveal the meeting location was changed to a train depot that would block any transmissions.
Vo is in for a harsh lesson
Kellett saw the car enter the depot as their comms were cut off. Raines wasn’t happy about the group being disarmed as the deal went down.
They provided the fake cash for the deal as Kovacs headed outside to make a call on the wire transfer…which was an excuse for his goons to try and kill the pair as this was a robbery to make up the cash Torak had stolen.
Seeing Kovacs leaving made Kellett realize something was wrong as the trio fought back to subdue the gang. The cops rolled in to arrest Kovacs while Benko fired at Vo and Raines as they escaped the station. Benko followed only to be shot by Forrester.
Thorpe denied knowing about the double-cross and clarified he and Vo never dated despite his best efforts. Valko wasn’t happy with how it went down as Kovacs refused to talk.
As they drove to his hotel, Vo brought up Thorpe being in Budapest for six months and not reaching out to her. Thorpe talked of that case and how he felt guilty a bunch of pedophiles walked free because he trusted the wrong person.
Thorpe gave her the advice that “there will come a time in your career, Cam, when you have to make an impossible decision to do the right thing.”
Just as they arrived at the hotel, Forrester called Vo to get Thorpe over just as he vanished and she learned he’d checked out two days earlier.
Torak’s hard drive revealed the truth: Thorpe was the one skimming from the Russians for a complex Ponzi scheme and Torak was blackmailing him. Thorpe not only killed Torak but used Vo to take down Kovacs so he could get out of this with six million dollars.
Vo didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was too clear, and the Hungarian authorities weren’t inclined to look for Thorpe.
Kellett found Vo working out her anger at a gym and feeling guilty for falling for Thorpe’s lies. Kellett brought up the old term “left of boom,” meaning being ahead of some disaster before it happened.
Vo realized Thorpe might be using the same name as on a passport he used for the accounts for the money he stole. At the Budapest airport, Vo found Thorpe about to board a plane to Morocco. Thorpe hoped he’d let her go, but she threw back his words on “making the impossible decisions” to arrest him.
Vo and Forrester mused on Thorpe betting his entire plan on Vo believing him and how the worst betrayals came from the people one trusts the most.
It was a tough hour for Vo to put her trust in the wrong person and that the world isn’t so cut and dried.
FBI: International airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS.