Being a hero doesn’t always mean putting your life on the line.
In the Season 5 premiere of FBI, the team had to track a deadly figure threatening a major attack in New York City.
It put the team in a difficult position of saving a group of people involved in some dangerous politics.
That involved OA going undercover and later taking a considerable risk to save lives.
Meanwhile, Jubal found himself caught between his duty and his son’s happiness, making a tough choice.
It all led to an explosive climax, and a sadder finale as Hero’s Journey put FBI Season 5 on a bold start.
A deadly sting leads to a dark discovery
In an office, a glasses-wearing OA was talking to Curt Mallory (Alex Mickiewicz), who claimed supply chain issues were upping the price of his merchandise. In a van outside, Scola and Nina noted how his “business” was bombs.
Curt showed OA a picture of a bomb he claimed could take out a city block. They shook hands with OA leading him to a car, Curt saying he didn’t want to know what OA was going to do with the bomb.
After seeing the cash, Curt demanded OA follow in his car with the team worried the guy was planning to rob OA. Over Nina’s objections, OA went in the car with the team watching.
The pair showed up at a building with the rest of the team close behind. Curt led OA to meet his partner, Anish, bragging about his smarts. Instead, they found Anish’s dead body, sending Curt into a panic.
OA stayed in character to press Curt on the bomb, but when Curt tried to show it, he found it gone. The two fought as the team raced in, with Wallace cuffing Mallory.
Across town, Jubal was with his ex-wife and son Tyler and promised to see Tyler on his birthday. Samantha noted Tyler seemed happier as she made sure Jubal would be at the party. Unfortunately, he left when he got the team’s call on the missing bomb.
Curt claimed to have no idea who stole the bomb as he did meet a potential buyer but got nervous at how “Nate” was too intent on getting the bomb.
Isobel brought Jubal up to speed on the case, including how the bomb was as big as the one used in Oklahoma City. They found a video of Anish meeting Nate and got a hit on a car belonging to Jorge Rubio (Andhy Mendez).
Jubal got a call from Samantha, who was worried about only a couple of kids coming to the party and warned Jubal that Tyler was having a hard time making friends at school. She was worried Tyler was becoming insecure over his health. Jubal was concerned but had to end the call for the case.
The team raided a house to find Jorge doing laundry and claimed he’d sold the car to a neighbor called Nathan. The team hit another house to find a man bleeding on the floor, claiming he was trying to stop Nathan from killing a lot of people. He died before he could say anything else.
Hunting the bomber
The victim was Tony Wilton, Nathan’s roommate. Jorge related Tony had shared concerns Nathan was turning unstable with Tony.
The team found a chart below of conservative right-wing hosts and political figures and worried Nathan was an extremist.
The team was frustrated at the lack of clues, although a computer search showed Nathan and Tony bonded online on how they felt “the right” were ruining the country. Tony had been working as a caterer at an event that “would make headlines.”
Scola and Wallace talked to the head of the catering company, who shared that Tony was working at a conference for a right-wing judge speaking for the Federalist Society and likely the big target for Nathan.
The team caught a break with Nathan’s car found under an underpass. They found a woman trying to steal it with nothing in the trunk as the woman said the guy had taken a duffel bag from it.
The team learned of a carjacking with a video showing Nathan Baker (Ben Lorenz), wanted for torching the house of a Republican National Committee member and a very troubled man. Isobel was wary of ordering an evacuation but agreed with Jubal it was needed.
At the estate the event was taking place, OA and Nina found the stolen car empty, meaning Nathan had the bomb inside. The attendees were not happy about the FBI ordering them out as they found a video of Nathan heading downstairs with the bomb.
The team raced downstairs to find the bomb as Nina worried Nathan was escaping amid the crowd. In a terrible case of timing, Samantha called about the birthday cake with Isobel telling Jubal she needed him to oversee this.
An explosive climax and a sad party
It turned out Anish built the bomb too well as there was no way to defuse it, and even moving it could cause it to go off with the evacuation still ongoing.
Isobel ordered Wallace and OA to leave, even though the evacuation wasn’t complete. Instead, OA took a chance by having Wallace pull his SUV up so he could put the bomb inside it and overrode Wallace’s objections to drive off.
OA tore his truck down the long estate road, ignoring Isobel’s orders to get out. He finally ducked out, letting the SUV drive along before the bomb exploded at the front gates with the shockwave breaking windows on the house.
OA was okay with Nina going to pick him up. Scola then spotted Nathan trying to escape and gave chase with Wallace. Nathan fired his gun at him before grabbing a boy in a car to use as a hostage.
The boy’s father was blaming himself for bringing him here as Jubal assured him, “there’s nothing wrong with spending time with your son.” He then got a call from Tyler he couldn’t answer. Calling Samantha, he learned that some kids decided to see a baseball game rather than the party but had to hang up when Isobel called.
They found Nathan’s car by a marina as he seemed to be trying to escape by boat. Nathan fired at the agents before holding the boy hostage, demanding a bullet-proof car. Jubal tried to talk him down, but Nathan wasn’t listening.
Jubal kept Nathan distracted while Scola and Wallace snuck through a delivery door in the back. He finally got Nathan down as Wallace and Scola got the drop to arrest him.
Jubal was happy to see the father and son reunited but then saw a score of texts he’d missed from Samantha and Tyler.
Coming home, Jubal found an upset Sam cleaning up the small party. He headed up to find Tyler asleep, putting a cover over him and saying he loved his son while clearly sorry his job kept him from this day.
While OA had a thrilling part in this episode, the emotional core was Jubal forced to choose between the job and his family to show being a hero isn’t so easy.
FBI Season 5 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.