Okay, I really, really love FBI: International, I do. But sometimes this show leaves me so confused that I think that I am on some sort of drug or my memory is going, because I don’t understand what just happened.
With a new show, we are learning about the characters, the world and everything in between. But in episodes, we are usually given clues as to be able to draw some conclusions. This episode left me going, HUH over Jamie and her actions.
Jamie is a strong force of nature. She’s a survivor – we know that. But I am not sure we really have a grasp on just what she’s survived. She’s in Europe for her job but during a phone conversation with her Mom, I have to wonder if there are also other reasons. Her Mom wants her to come home, implies she’s dated her boss before, and that she’s running from something.
But what’s she running from? Your guess is as good as mine.
The case tonight definitely triggered whatever was going on with Jamie because she was in peak form. And I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. I just know it’s a thing and whatever she is hiding is tearing her apart.
THE CASE
I had no idea that Prague was the porn capital of Europe, but these are things you learn. The basics are that these two scuzzy older American men have preyed on women for years. They make them think – through recruiters – that they are getting chosen to be models, but in the fine print they are also signing on to make porn.
Okay, let me say this – fuck no. Like no. If you’re telling me that I contractually obligated my vagina, no. Sue me.
And yes, I know that I am saying this not in that position and we can’t judge how other people handle situations all the time, but I just don’t even know. I also have a hard time dealing with people taking advantage of others and these men are not only taking advantage, they are exploiting these women.
And it is disgusting.
These men would trick these girls into being in videos and then they would blackmail them into doing what they wanted by threatening to send the videos to their families. Several women in the USA sued them, but the gross dudes fled and the videos were unable to be removed, because they were hosted on a server in another country.
It drove a girl in the states to commit suicide, unable to live with what happened. She was tormented by what happened and by the two gross dudes tormented her. Their psychological warfare was cold, calculated, and drove her to feel like death was the only way out.
So anyhow dudes have fled to Prague and they are trying to restart the porn business, but while Eckersley (one of they men I refer to as gross dudes) was having issues with the girl there. She was nervous. This is porn and she wasn’t sure about it. The recruiter – a woman (who should know that there is a special place in hell for her) tries to tell her to get her shit together, she’s embarrassing her.
No sweetie – you’re recruiting young girls to porn – you’re the embarrassment. You’re also disgusting.
When Eckersly goes to answer the door, someone shoots him in the dick. Now I am not advocating violence, ever, but the truth is I am not upset that dude is on the ground clutching his groin and I am like well…
The girl that was in there and the recruiter got out as quickly as possible.
So who shot him?
THE FLY TEAM COMES IN
Forrester and his team come to Prague and well, I have to say after watching this show for the few episodes I have, I am shocked that it was so easy and the countries police department was working with them happily.
Forrester is in a particularly good mood, which again is something shocking.
But in this episode, you will be staring at Jamie, because there is something off about her. She seems distant, but angry. She seems to be in pain, but not the kind of pain that comes from her gun shot scar, but the emotional kind. There is something about this case that makes her angry.
Or maybe it’s life. We really don’t get an answer.
The team is quickly able to find out that one of women who sued the gross men, the woman who committed suicide, her father is in town. He’s a former police officer and so sure – obvious suspect.
Seeing him, I feel so bad for him. His name is Jim Clancy and you can see that he’s in pain. He’s definitely hiding something, but as a man who was a law enforcement officer, who is shocked? He says that he’s been planning this trip for awhile. He says all the right things, but Forrester and Jamie know that all the right things are wrong.
It’s through catching gross man number two that they find out that Clancy has another daughter. Ella.
Ella has posted on social media how angry she is. She’s posted over and over again how hurt she is. You can look at her face and see that the death of her sister has taken over her life. She wants revenge, she wants justice for her sister – which is something that I can definitely understand.
But Ella is in pain and needs help. Her wanting revenge isn’t something that will help her.
The team figures out what they think will be Ella’s next move and go looking for her. Jami sees her and follows her into an apartment complex. She finds Ella with a bag, and when she hears Forrester coming she tells Ella to throw the bag behind the trash cans.
I am just not understanding what Jamie is doing. We know because of a call with her Mom that there is an anniversary of something that week. What it is, we don’t know. But she’s protecting Ella for some reason – and it has something to do with what is going on in her own life.
There is something about Jamie that I am not getting here, but that’s both frustrating and intriguing. Like I feel like we’re going to get a different insight to the agents than we do on the other FBI series, but I am frustrated, because we have no fucking clue what it is.
DAD IS THERE FOR YOU
Ella is brought in, so the team brings in her Dad also. They are kept separate, unable to see each other.
Jamie wants to take a run at the Dad on her own. Forrester agrees – which I have to admit shocks me, because he’s a control freak. But I think that his love for Jamie and his trust in her blinds him.
He can tell that something is off about Jamie, but he lets her go and interview Clancy on her own. Watching her take a pass at him, she softballs him and hands him all the answers – setting him up for a self defense plea.
I can’t even imagine what he is going through, because his oldest daughter committed suicide and he’s now taking the fall for his younger daughter. Though Ella never admits to shooting anyone, it’s just implied that she did it.
But Clancy isn’t about to loose his daughter. He’s not about to let his daughter go to jail. Seeing him take the fall, I cried. That’s a fathers love, but I am also hoping that he told her to get help.
Cause Ella needs to find a way to heal.
I am not saying that she can easily. It is going to take time and what she has done has and seeing her father in prison for it – well, that’s going to be a lot to deal with.
GONNA STAY BEHIND
As the team wraps everything up, Jamie tells Forrester that she’s going to take a few days. He knows her. He knows that something is up.
Forrester and Jamie at the beginning made absolutely no sense to me, but as time goes on I have come to see that they feel a genuine connection. Am I thinking it’s forever? Well, who knows.
But seeing him ask her if she wants to tell him anything, and her shutting him out, I got a little angry at the whole situation. I feel like he let down his guard and let her in about his Mom. But she won’t let him in.
And maybe it’s because what she’s doing can cost her, her job. But I honestly believe that Forrester would protect her. He wants to be there for her. And when she again repeats that she has nothing to tell him – I am just annoyed with her.
She lets the team go and we see her helping Ella get on a bus to Norway. Ella asks her if she has a sister, and Jamie says that she did.
Ok, is it the anniversary of her sisters death? What is happening here? I don’t have a clue.
Jamie has been a FBI agent that you root for and even with this – you don’t change that. Hell, you are rooting for her more. You are sitting there watching and scared of her getting caught, excited for her strength, and wanting to know more about her.
There is so much that makes me frustrated and ready to give up. Yet, mama didn’t raise no quitter.
When that backpack that she had Ella drop, when Jamie is alone and drops it into the river… I was like wait, what?
FBI: International has roped me in and made me want to watch more. I want to see what happened. I want to know these characters.
And that’s what good TV is.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Love Vo and Raines friendship
- Raines being able to erase all of the videos from the women suing the gross men, I cheered.
- Vo dating the coffee dude.. go her.
FBI: International airs Tuesdays on CBS.
This episode left me with so many questions that I came here looking for answers. Thank you, your post did provide some clarity like- Thank goodness, it wasnt just me imagining or overthinking things! But damn! Jamie did take some big risks.
And where you have written how you felt annoyed when Jamie doesn’t share her thoughts with Scott, I, on the other hand, feel like she did that to protect him. She has definitely interfered with law by taking justice into her own hands. And if she reveals it to Scott then that makes her actions real. And he would have to either make things right according to law by letting her face consequences of her actions or let it slide because of his feelings for her, which would weigh down on his career forever. So, I feel she was protecting him by refusing to share. I hope I’m making sense.