It is hard for me to review this episode of FBI, not because it wasn’t great. It was. It’s because I feel like I would never be able to do it justice or ever be able to understand everything that is happening in this episode.
As the episode opens, a man is walking along the street, on the phone, when he realizes that there is a car there, one that obviously terrifies him and he takes off running. He is terrified, but when he gets home, his brother keeps asking what is wrong. He says he’s okay, but he’s not. He keeps telling him to close the door, but he doesn’t and enter a man who slit his throat.
His brother tries to run, but is attacked at the top of the stairs and dragged back into the apartment. The attackers don’t look to make sure he’s dead.
What makes this episode so hard is seeing OA’s struggle and the pull between his faith and his job. It is a hard line for anyone to walk and seeing him struggle from the beginning of the episode is a lot to see and I feel like we genuinely saw . When speaking to the FBI recruits, to picking up this case, to interactions with his Imam, and to dealing with a fellow FBI agent who seems to be towing a line that well, just is overwhelming.
FBI has always taken an approach of being honest and showing truths even when they are a hard thing to watch. Especially when they are a hard thing to watch.
Maggie and OA are investigating and the NYPD says that they brought them in when it was decided it was a hate crime. But what made them think that? The Imam had told the NYPD and had previously called the FBI. But no one did anything. And that leads Maggie and OA right to Bashir, a fellow FBI agent, and a fellow Muslim.
OA and Bashar have two very distinct ways of looking at their faith, as well as doing their jobs. Bashars is well… lets just say he’s an asshole. He says that he investigated the Imams complaint and found no merit in it. But he continues to allude to it being something more, yet won’t share with Maggie and OA what that is.
Maggie and OA aren’t about to give up on their case – these two are determined to find answers. They don’t give up on things and that’s part of what we love about them.
As the two investigate the victims and who may have had it out for them, it leads them to James, a wannabe cop with a really shitty attitude and who is a racist dick. Like I want to smack him into the middle of next week. It infuriated me to watch him talk to Maggie and OA.
Jame swears he didn’t attack them. Kosey and him had had an altercation prior, because James had seen him printing something on the 3D printer that he shouldn’t have.
Every clue leads back to the mosque, which had already been under investigation for terrorism. And when Amir wakes, it is confirmed that the men that attacked them are from the mosque. While this is hard for OA and something that really is tearing at him, for Bashir this is an easy thing to deal with. He believes that his dislike for the Imam and the mosque is justified. But not to speak out of line, I am just really not sure that hate on that level is ever justified.
And what Bashir did right after that sure as hell wasn’t justified.
While OA heads to the mosque to try and reason with the Imam, Isabel sends Bashir along with him. OA doesn’t want him with and definitely doesn’t want to do his whole good cop/bad cop thing, but Bashir has no fucks to give over what OA wants. It’s disgusting to watch him deal with OA and talk down like he’s above him.
Bashir provokes the Imam, showing him a picture of his brother with terrorists, telling him that the next time they are on the streets, drones will take him out. He doesn’t tell him or OA that the picture is a fake (well he tells OA after OA leaves).
OA is able to get some information, but the whole thing leaves the Imam feeling defeated and broken. It’s a sad thing to see. Bashirs conduct was completely out of line, so its not shocking to anyone that the Imam is like I am going to file a complaint.
We think he should.
The information that he gives OA leads to a break in the case, but as OA goes outside to tell Bashir you can see that he feels somewhat defeated by it. Breaking down the Imam is not what OA wanted to do. He respects the Imam and his religion. Bashir tries to justify himself to OA, saying that he did it because another terrorist attack on US soil could set Muslims back 20 years. His methods may leave a lot to be desired, but they are both going about the same goal different ways is how Bashir tries to justify it.
I just don’t think that his actions are justifiable.
They are able to track the assailants – two Chechen brothers who are looking to avenge their families death. A war criminal is coming to give a speech and they are looking to assassinate him over their families death.
As Maggie and OA head to apprehend the brothers a chase ensue and one ends up dead. The other they head to where the speech is being given and they can’t stop the man before he takes the stage. But this is the FBI and OA is able to tackle him and take him out.
Seriously would not want to fuck with OA, ever.
But what I am confused about is how the episode ends. I know that there are always politics involved in any job, but when Isabel confronts Bashir over the Imam’s complaint, OA stands up for Bashir. He says that everything he did was by the book. We – I – expected more from OA.
The pull between religion and life can sometimes (in my opinion almost all the time) be hard. But seeing OA put the job first and knowing that he can’t ever return to the mosque, I just really am not sure has to feel.
He’s empowering Bashir to continue to do wrong. To be wrong. To treat people as less than.
And we’re not sure that is something he’s ever going to be able to live with.
THIS SEASONS REVIEWS
- ‘FBI’ 4×01 Review: “All That Glitters”
- ‘FBI’ 4×02 Review: “Hacktivist”
- ‘FBI’ 4×03 Review: “Trauma”
- ‘FBI’ 4×04 Review: “Know Thyself”
- ‘FBI’ 4×05 Review: “Charlotte’s Web”
- ‘FBI’ 4×06 Review: “Allegiance”
- ‘FBI’ 4×07 Review: “Gone Baby Gone”
- ‘FBI’ 4×08 Review: “Fire And Rain”
- ‘FBI’ 4×09 Review: “Unfinished Business”
- ‘FBI’ 4×10 Review: “Fostered”
- ‘FBI’ 4×12 Review: “Under Pressure”
- ‘FBI’ 4×13 Review: “Pride and Prejudice”
