After the previous episode of FBI highlighted Maggie Bell’s internal conflicts, the CBS show returns from its brief hiatus with the same theme for Maggie’s partner OA Zidan. The exploration of OA’s pain, however, is bigger and much, much bloodier.
The chaotic episode—which takes place over the course of a single day—has a plot that requires some suspension of disbelief: the United States government has secretly allowed members of the Taliban into New York so that they can negotiate a mineral rights deal with Afghanistan for “the future of technology.” Whether or not you buy that premise, it boils down to the Taliban leader Sayeed being kidnapped by a group of American soldiers, who are determined to exchange Sayeed for their imprisoned colleague. There’s so much on the world stage here that it threatens to overwhelm the actual procedural story. Viewers even see the Deputy Secretary of State (played by Scandal alum Kate Burton) working in the FBI office.
But the military angle allows FBI to revisit OA’s service as an Army Ranger, and his own trauma from that period. His girlfriend Gemma is frustrated by OA’s desire to keep certain things private, and actually does an unintentionally good job of making him feel guilty about that. When she says “It’s really hard being in a relationship with someone who doesn’t open up,” she’s being honest about her feelings but it also feels like a bit of a jab. Like Season 6, Episode 10, “Family Affair,” this plot is clearly designed to push the main hero into a personal revelation. For OA, that’s opening up to Gemma about having been a prisoner of war.
Zeeko Zaki carries this episode, not only because it orbits around OA but with how he navigates each of the emotional steps that OA has to go through. He makes all of them believable and relatable, such as when OA decides to negotiate with the kidnappers rather than simply go in and arrest them. (This is the second episode in the last four where someone has intentionally disobeyed Isobel’s orders. One thinks that at some point, there has to be a discussion about that, right? She doesn’t seem like the type to ignore her authority being undermined, even if her agents turn out to have a point.) There are moments Zaki could have overplayed, but his entire performance is measured and doles out just the right amount of emotion at each turning point, up to and including the end when OA finally gets to tell Gemma about looking out for the widow of a fellow Ranger who didn’t survive. That could have been a big, emotional scene, but that’s not who OA is. It’s poignant but also restrained.
The big issue with “No One Left Behind” comes from the international stakes it sets up and then doesn’t resolve. Even if the audience decides to majorly suspend their disbelief by going along with the whole U.S. letting Taliban members into New York idea, the consequences that come out of it just get handwaved away. The POW is rescued and has to deal with the fact that his father and friends have all faced the consequences for bringing him home. But that’s as far as FBI goes. Part of the hour includes a national news story about the Taliban leader’s death, and while all of his men on the ground are subsequently killed in a shootout with OA and company, that story isn’t going to go away.
This episode could (and likely would) result in the global impact Jubal warns about, but the writers just forget that part because all that matters is James Garrett coming home. It’s a noble sentiment, but also totally unrealistic. If the show wants fans to buy into this scenario being a massive deal, then even a line or two about what may happened next would be enough. There’s also a little bit of an unintentional laugh, as FBI uses the same “fool the enemies with fake video” idea that was included in the NCIS: Hawai’i series finale. But small plot coincidences and giant plot holes aside, at least this is another episode that makes viewers appreciate both OA Zidan and Zeeko Zaki.
FBI airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on CBS. This article is exclusive to Fangirlish and if reproduced or excerpted anywhere else, has been stolen without the author’s permission.
