Tiffany Wallace found herself caught between her two worlds on this week’s episode of FBI.
As the title implied, Allegiance was all about loyalties, and Wallace found herself trying to decide whether her current loyalty to the FBI outweighed her old one to the NYPD. This, combined with tension with new colleagues and a family member, shook Wallace’s faith in the badge further.
A deadly killer strikes cops
The episode opened with a man stumbling out of a bar in time to be shot dead in the street.
Jubal and Rina were in bed together when they got word of the shooting along with the identity of the victim, NYPD detective James Gerrard. Isobel was talking to the chief of police when she saw Jubal and Rina entering, clearly uncomfortable with this relationship.
The NYPD wanted the FBI to take the lead to help public morale. Wallace and Scola were on the crime scene talking to an eyewitness reporting a man leaving on a red bike right after the shooting. Wallace was taking this personally as “cops are under siege these days,” while Scola was worried they’d mess things up.
Maggie and OA talked to Gerrard’s widow Sarah (Abby Royle), who had no idea who could have done this. She stated his car was in the shop as he claimed a bird had cracked the window. She did take exception to them trying to press on any odd behavior by James.
Wallace and Scola found the car’s cracked window, which clearly was a bullet, not a bird. Lieutenant John Franklin (Brian Distance) didn’t know the cause but insisted Gerrard was a good cop. The other cops made it clear they weren’t happy with the FBI, seemingly ready to think the worst about Gerrard. Wallace defended them to Scola on how he’d never been a cop and didn’t understand them.
The team found dashcam footage of Gerrard arguing with someone they couldn’t see. Isobel announced another detective had been shot at, to up the ante.
A hidden connection is revealed
The second victim, Aaron Dane (Walter Belenky), was from the same precinct as Gerrard, pointing to a connection. Dane survived and his description matched an eyewitness of a masked white man who simply said, “die, you b*****d.”
A check of suspects hinted at Rafael Alvarez (Ed Gonzalez Moreno), a gun runner who claimed that the police had robbed $200,000 from a deal he’d run. Another detective named Pat Rudinsky was convicted of the theft and beaten to death in prison.
Officer Michelle Ruiz (Monica Rae Summer Gonzalez) had been at the bust and injured arresting Alvarez but didn’t see anyone taking the money. Maggie and OA tracked Alvarez to a relative’s and chased him into Scola’s waiting hands.
Alvarez denied shooting the cops but warned them that the money stolen belonged to the Demarco Brothers, who claimed to have killed Rudinsky. Jubal was worried about the issues of police corruption while Isobel and Rina clashed on whether or not to loop the mayor into this.
Alvarez’s alibi panned out, but the camera showed the bike rider, who turned out to be Rudinsky’s son, Ray (Tristan Spohn). After they raided his home, his mother Jan (Barbra Wengerd) related that Ray loved his father and was heartbroken when the NYPD turned their backs on him.
According to Jan, her husband had wanted to refuse to steal the money but was pushed into it by Dane and Gerrard. When Internal Affairs came calling, Pat was made the fall guy and refused to confess the truth so as not to harm the force. Jan likewise kept quiet as Dane and Gerrard paid her off.
Who’s the true criminal here?
Ray just happened to be riding up on his bike and led OA and Maggie on a chase through the alleys before escaping. The team was able to track him toward a home belonging to Jan’s mother.
Liaison Detective Walsh (Gabe Bowling) wanted Isobel to turn the case over to the NYPD, clearly hoping to avoid the corruption becoming public.
Wallace and Scola checked the home out, finding evidence Ray had been hunting the cops who testified against his father with Ruiz next on the list. As he heard that, Walsh was on the phone with someone.
Wallace and Scola went to Ruiz’s home, finding her lying shot on the floor. Before Tiffany could call for help, Ray got the drop on her, using her as a shield as Scola burst in. Realizing how tense things were, Scola left the house to call for backup.
The feds and cops were soon surrounding the place, with Maggie trying to reach out to Ray. Inside, Wallace tried to talk Ray into giving himself up as there was no way out of this, and this wasn’t justice. Ray demanded a pizza…and to bring Dane to the house so he could finish the job.
Dane and his fellow cops showed up with Jubal, not happy they were making things worse. Ruiz decided to be chatty, confessing she’d lied on the stand about Ray’s father being at the crime scene first as she believed Dane and Gerrard’s talk of Rudinsky being dirty.
That just made Ray more upset, and he was ready to shoot Ruiz when Wallace tackled him down and was forced to shoot him in self-defense.
Rina asked Isobel to represent the FBI at a meeting with the NYPD brass, with Isobel realizing Rina wanted her to be the one taking the heat over all this, enhancing the tension between them.
Wallace visited Ruiz at the hospital to get her ready to go on record with the truth. To her dismay, Ruiz refused to go against the “Blue Wall” and risk her career over a dead cop’s reputation.
Scola met Tiffany at a bar as she had discovered the secret accounts Dane and Gerrard had set up to secretly pay off Jan. That was a clear paper trail with Wallace knowing coming forward would ruin Ruiz’s career. But in the end, she felt she had no choice as justice was more important than her past feelings toward the NYPD.
The episode may begin a growing tension between the FBI and the NYPD, making future cases more complicated. It also shows the conflict between Rina and Isobel is growing, with Jubal in the middle.
FBI Season 4 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.