Fatherhood is never an easy task, no matter who you are.
After a few weeks off following a case of Maggie handling an explosive undercover assignment, FBI had Scola put in the center of the action.
That included the return of Nina, with Scola dealing a wrinkle with her pregnancy.
He also had to handle a case of a young man trying to save his dad from a dangerous drug deal.
Sadly, the father may not have been so interested in his son’s attempts to help them escape this life.
This made Fortunate Son a difficult case to show how the bond between a father and child is a tricky thing to handle.
An unexpected visitor with a special package
In New York, a man (Will Sasso) was telling a teenager (Bobby Hogan) to get into a car. Just as they drove off, another car began chasing them and then opened fire, hitting the driver. The younger man called the older one “dad” as he drove to a hospital.
As workers raced to help, the man urged his son to run somewhere safe. The boy drove off as the doctors tended to the man.
Scola saw Nina outside FBI headquarters as they made small talk before Nina said they had “stuff” to talk about later.
Scola entered the building to meet Wallace, who noticed he was nervous. Before they could go further, security saw the teenager enter with a bag. Scola, Wallace, and the guards drew pistols before the youth dropped the bag and said it had drugs in it.
Scola checked the pack to find it packed with enough fentanyl to poison the entire building.
The youth was Trevor Logan, who claimed he found the bag to turn it in. He explained about his father, Vince, wanting to leave town fast and the shooting.
The story was crazy enough to believe as Trevor thought turning the drugs into the FBI could help him and his dad.
The team was confused about where the drugs came from as they discussed what kind of deal they could offer Trevor. Vince had a criminal record, but they figured this was a chance to take down a major supplier.
Scola offered Trevor a deal that involved wearing a wire to get Vince to say where he’d gotten the drugs. Trevor refused to implicate his own father but was eventually convinced to do it. He finally agreed for his dad’s sake and the chance to live in Arizona.
Scola met Nina, who confirmed she was going to have the baby. He was thrilled before she said she wanted to do it on her own and basically wanted Scola to sign away his parental rights.
Scola didn’t take it well and stalked off.
Trying to track the father’s sins
Scola outfitted Trevor with the wire to talk to Vince in his hospital bed and tried to ask about who shot him. Vince brushed it off but told Trevor to make sure he kept the bag safe for when he got out. Trevor pushed his dad on his drug dealing and possibly moving to a new life.
Scola was distracted by Nina’s “contract” and talked to Wallace about it before Trevor joined them. He thought his dad’s phone might be at their apartment and led the agents there.
They saw a man exiting the place and chased him, but he managed to escape. Returning to the apartment, they found it ransacked, with Trevor seeing a photo of his mom, who died when he was a kid. He knew whoever wanted the drugs wouldn’t stop hunting him.
They found Vince’s phone with texts indicating Vince was running drugs, decided to keep some for himself, and his boss wanted him dead.
Trevor told Vince about the break-in as Vince said “Nico” would never find them, and he was just making up for some bad deals. Vince insisted they would be okay.
They found Nico Chao (Smitty Chai), who had served time with Vince and was a major drug dealer.
DEA Agent Morales (Rafael Poueriet) said Nico was smart not to get personally involved in his drug dealing, so it was hard to bring a case against him. He had a good room at the Plaza hotel, so if he saw anyone he didn’t trust, he’d call a deal off.
Wallace and Scola talked about the case before running into Nina. Wallace gave them a chance to talk as Nina pressed. She wanted what was best for the baby. Scola said he needed more time to figure it out.
Scola approached Nico on the street, claiming to have bought the fentanyl from Trevor and Vince was dead. He wanted to “make things right” by giving back the drugs for a “finder’s fee.”
Things got tense as Wallace saw Nico had a lot of backup around him. Scola played it cool to offer a possible partnership for his own customers.
Nico said he was interested as long as Scola brought Trevor along to confirm the story. Isobel didn’t like putting Trevor in the line of fire with Scola, saying they could make it work.
Wallace noted Scola was pretty intent on helping Trevor as he said it was just a job. Trevor agreed even when told the risks. Trevor wanted to see his dad one more time before he went along with this.
Trevor talked to his dad, claiming to have the bag with a friend. Vince could tell something was off as Trevor wanted to tell his dad he loved him. Before he did, Vince saw the chain containing the camera and wire, telling his son to sit on the bag and not come back.
Trevor tried to say, “I’m doing this for us,” but Vince ordered him out, with the boy crying as he left.
A heartbreak for a son
Scola and Trevor ran through the story before meeting Nico. They entered Nico’s club only to hear someone moaning. Scola found Nico and one of his men shot and called in the team.
A waitress was hiding to say a masked man had come inside to shoot Nico. Wallace found security footage of the shooter looking for a pack of money and a hidden compartment.
Jubal called in to say Vince had left the hospital, and Scola realized Vince was the shooter. He’d figured out Trevor was working with law enforcement to grab what he could.
Trevor was outraged his dad was doing this after he tried to help them. Scola pressed for him to still help.
They found a video of Vince leaving the scene and saw his wounds had reopened. They tracked him to a street where Vince was in pretty bad shape but refused to go back to jail.
Trevor insisted on talking to his father, with Vince blaming him for making this worse. Scola said there was still a chance for Vince to get out of this for Trevor’s sake.
For a moment, it looked like Vince might listen. Instead, he ran out with his gun raised, giving the agents no choice but to shoot him. Scola had to comfort a heartbroken Trevor.
Trevor blamed himself for this, as Scola said he saved a lot of lives by turning the drugs in. Trevor was sorry he never got a chance to tell his dad he loved him as Scola was silent.
Scola told Nina he couldn’t sign the papers as, one way or another, he needed to be part of his child’s life. Nina was shaken but agreed while sharing she was having a boy. She and Scola agreed to talk about baby names over dinner.
It was a hard case for the team, but it did make Scola realize how important his own fatherhood is.
FBI Season 4 returns with new episodes Tuesday January 3 at 8/7c on CBS.