Maggie Bell has been through the wringer on FBI, for various reasons, and FBI Season 6, Episode 10, “Family Affair” feels like an episode that exists solely to get Maggie to an emotional breaking point.
The gist of the plot is that a pregnant woman living under an assumed name has been abducted by members of a radical cult known as the Sacred Testament. The leader of the cult is the woman’s father, and he and his group intend to “cleanse” the woman by harming her unborn child. The situation comes to the FBI’s attention when an off-duty FDIC security guard is murdered during the abduction, and the whole team ends up going to the Sacred Testament compound to rescue Denise Mamet without causing a national incident.
But the episode is really about Maggie and her found family. It opens with a recap reminding audiences what happened to Maggie’s friend Jessica (poor Charlotte Sullivan, getting killed off not one but three Dick Wolf-produced shows!) and then at the compound, Maggie is shot by a security guard. The bullet hits her Kevlar vest, but it’s enough for her to worry about Ella’s future—and for OA and Isobel to worry even more about Maggie.
Thematically, “Family Affair” is repetitive. It comes right after the FBI episode where Scola worried about his and Nina’s son, and the show isn’t that far removed from being concerned about Tiffany’s mental health. Basically, the general idea running through the last few episodes is that being an FBI agent is difficult personally—which is also a concept that every TV crime drama has incorporated for decades.
There’s also a pretty big trope in the plot, in the form of an ATF agent whose team already has an open investigation into the cult and so she wants to second-guess Isobel’s decision-making every step of the way. Having two law enforcement teams work together on a TV procedural without at least some acrimony is like finding a unicorn.
There are enough action-packed moments in “Family Affair” to keep viewers interested, though, including Maggie’s brawl with the security guard, two foot chases and the standoff at the Sacred Testament compound. But the moments that actually have any real value past the case of the week have nothing to do with any of that. They’re the opening and closing scenes between Isobel and OA as they discuss their mutual concern about Maggie. By the end of the episode, hearing Maggie talk about how she could have orphaned Ella again, OA tells Isobel that his partner needs to be forced into some time off.
The moments when FBI breaks the mold are always the most intriguing. To have OA bypass the standard “partners always cover for partners” archetype and say that his partner needs help is refreshing. It’s the scene that would have been great between Scola and Tiffany in “Phantom,” but the show never gave it to them. If FBI is going to focus on the personal difficulties that its main characters go through to do their jobs, then it also needs to show the consequences. That’s more than just people talking or brooding. There need to be actual changes or mistakes or effects that happen.
Of course, because of the show’s history, there might be a slight feeling of deja vu. Maggie has already been gone twice, in FBI Season 2 for an undercover assignment and in Season 4 when she was hospitalized; even though those plots were in order for Missy Peregrym to take maternity leave, canonically it still means Maggie is away a lot. Assuming that Isobel follows through on OA’s suggestion, Maggie’s headed for a third significant absence in six seasons.
But Peregrym still deserves credit for a solid performance, and OA and Isobel deserve points for being characters willing to ask the tough questions. OA is one of the best-developed characters in any Dick Wolf universe; he’s been through a lot of self-discovery and seems to have a great awareness of himself and those closest to him. And Isobel deserves more props for being a hands-on boss instead of popping up to give orders and going away until someone needs to be yelled at. Between this and “Phantom,” she’s reminded viewers that she actually manages her team. Alana de la Garza has been underrated since she played Connie Rubirosa on Law & Order, anyway.
“Family Affair” may not be the most memorable FBI episode, and everyone knows what point it’s trying to get to. But perhaps it’s laying the groundwork for Maggie to go in a new direction.
FBI airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on CBS.
