Lately, there seems to be a trend in procedurals, where one of the main characters is confronting their past. It may not be a past that they want to ever think of again, but it’s a past that is there. In FBI: International Season 4, Episode 11, Smitty is confronted with the truth about her past while The Fly Team works to solve a case at her old school.
And what a case it was.
An American student in the United Kingdom was found dead and the Fly Team comes in to solve her murder. The case is complex though because it involves secret societies, blackmail, old money, sexual assault, and coverups.
There was a lot that happened in the forty-plus minutes of television, but it moved at a pace that didn’t feel rushed or too much. Instead, it felt as if the Fly Team was a well-oiled machine that had grown to understand each other and their commitment to the job that they did.
THE SECRET WELL KNOWN CLUB
Blackmore University was prestigious and for an American named Emma, it had been her dream school since she was a kid. However, I have to admit that when we meet Emma she doesn’t look as though her dream had come true. She looks in pain – like physical and emotional gut-wrenching pain.
Emma is preparing to go somewhere and her roommate is trying to talk her out of going. She said that she had made her point and automatically, I had to wonder what that point was. You see, at first, we have no idea why Emma finds a club event so important to attend.
Blackmore is filled with old money and the Covington Club seems to be the epitome of the spoiled rich bros who are less than human. It’s supposed to be a secret society but it’s very well known.
Emma is their first woman member.
That night’s event is filled with alcohol and chaos. There is drinking and destroying the room. There is also the pressure that the man’s children inflict upon Emma to prove that she is one of them.
Before we know it though, Emma Byers has been found dead and has a white sheet over her. The local police are calling it an accident and do plan on leaving it at that. Maybe that is why I stood up and cheered as Smitty entered the scene.
VISITING FAMILY
One thing that I always love – in any show – is getting to know the characters on a level that is outside the job. With FBI: International, I do get that it is hard for some characters, as the show is set in Europe and most of the characters grew up in the States. Learning about Smitty in FBI: International Season 4, Episode 11 feels like an honor.
You may be asking yourself why I would say honor. Well, it’s because she’s private about a lot and what we learn in this episode is about one of the worst moments of her life. Her being that vulnerable and facing her past – well, that is an honor.
Smitty shows up on campus and the local police are surprised that she is there. Why would Europol show up? Well, Smitty had been back in the United Kingdom visiting family.
Taking a look at Emma, Smitty immediately recognizes this wasn’t an accident. This was something else. The local police may want to tie it up as an accident, but Smitty knows it’s something more. She tells them that they need to order an autopsy.
It was when she called Wes and told him that she thinks that they have a case that I really begin to understand why she’s taken an interest. This is her old school and she knows that nothing on that campus is as it seems.
The Fly Team doesn’t waste time heading to join Smitty. I believe that The Fly Team has found its footing and I do think that we’re watching that unfold. However, that being said – the way that FBI: International Season 4, Episode 11 balances the old with the new was done so flawlessly that I have a huge new respect for this show.
SECRETS AND LIES
As Smitty briefs the team on the case, Mitchell can tell that there is something wrong. Though she does say she’s good, you can tell she’s not. What we do find out eventually about Smitty and this school is that she was once a student.
A scholarship student who was expelled.
She had gotten expelled because in room checks, there was a bottle of gin found and that was against the rules. Getting expelled was hard on her, but even harder on her parents. That one act had changed everything for Smitty, including her relationship with her parents.
Andre and Smitty go to talk to the head of the school, while Vo and Mitchell go to talk to Emma’s roommate. The head of the school remembers Smitty and tries to shame her into making sure that things are covered up. The roommate gives them the connection between Emma and the Covington Club.
When mentioning the club around Smitty, you can tell that she’s bothered by them. However, she’s able to inform the team about what it is and why they are feared. It’s the richest of the richest and the people in the club feel invincible.
The Covington Club has a lot of secrets to keep. Apparently, the brotherhood is built on secrets – with the club having videos on its members to hold over them. When Smitty and Raines go to the club to talk to the boys, they lawyer up quickly. Their lawyer is an alumnus and a member of the club.
Seeing Smitty stand up to him, you can see just how angry this club made her. The lawyer isn’t about to let her have anything she wants and Smitty isn’t about to give up.
NO FORMAL STATEMENT
Over the course of the season, one thing that I have recognized is that they have really made an effort to distinguish Forrester’s leadership from Mitchell’s. Forrester was more political and he really didn’t have a choice but to be anything but that. He had his mother’s past to outrun. Mitchell is less political and is more about justice at any cost.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again – I was originally mad about a new leader of the Fly Team, but I do believe that the addition of Jesse Lee Soffer has been a plus to the show overall.
FBI: International Season 4, Episode 11 proves that.
When the team returns to the police station, Mitchell has a conversation with the sergeant. Well, more like a screaming match because Mitchell is not afraid to call the sergeant out. It fits though, because the sergeant is a sell-out.
Finding out that Emma had tried to report her assault and was basically talked out of it made me want to vomit. The sergeant did everything that he could to rationalize it to himself, but Mitchell, well he’s not afraid to tell him just how off base he was.
Two kids are dead now. Emma and Harry are dead.
COVERUPS
When pieces start to fall into place, I have to cheer. The team being able to get a warrant and get into the Head of Schools office, I cheered. You could tell that lady was shady.
It’s because she erased something from Emma’s school file, that they were able to get the warrant. It was the start of a coverup and they were able to prove that. So yes, I cheered that they were there.
What was hard to watch was Raines finding Smitty’s file was accessed and having to tell her that she was set up. Her friend’s Dad didn’t like something that she had done and set her up to be expelled.
You could tell how that knowledge broke Smitty’s heart. Seeing her choke back tears, I wanted to hug her. Luckily, Raines was there to do just that for all of us.
The trajectory of Smitty’s life had been changed by people who threw around money versus her own merit. Yes, she is in a place in life where she should be – you can tell that she was meant to be in Europol. But it still breaks her apart.
And it keeps getting worse for her. Luckily for her, she’s got a team that wants to be there for her. I loved Mitchell and Raines’s scenes with her – they were touching. However, I feel like there was a missed opportunity for a moment with Vo. Vo is a girls girl and Smitty needs one in her life. That friendship should be explored, because we all need good friends.
The sergeant isn’t pleased with how the Fly Team has gone about things but does throw them a bone with a burner phone that had been found.
WHERE IS HE?
The boys of the Covington Club may have money, but some lack common sense. The team was able to find who bought the phone. I am not even joking when I say that I had a belly laugh when Wes called that person an idiot.
Cause he was.
He had bought the burner with his credit card in town.
It was him being an idiot though that we were able to get some justice for Emma and that was something that made me stand up and clap. Common sense seems to not be common.
The boy is able to tell more about what happened to Emma that night. Emma had found out that James was her rapist and she had no trouble calling him one. James and Harry had gone after Emma. Harry’s video had been sent to him to keep him quiet, but the only people who knew what happened to Emma were Harry and James.
It was this account that made the team able to get a warrant. Only, by the time they get to the club, James is gone. When their lawyer wouldn’t tell them where he was – Mitchell proves just how great he is. The warrant covers all computers, and with the lawyer being a member, he can’t wait to see what the blackmail/video on him is.
A FRIEND RETURNS
James is already on a private jet to Moscow, with the team about to lose him. They weren’t about to let that happen. While trying to figure out what to do unfortunately the only thing that they can do is practically start an international incident.
The team though – they don’t care about the international incident – especially since Smitty is on board. The flight is diverted to Germany. But who will be there to get James?
Europol Agent Katrin Jaeger returns in FBI: International Season 4, Episode 11. I didn’t really realize how much I missed her and yet I did. I was happy to see her back.
Even if for a second.
James’s father had made a call from the airplane and purchased James, German citizenship. Of course, that person with James’s passport shows up just as Jaeger is about to take him into custody. This is a problem.
It may be a problem, but Amanda Tate to the rescue. She can find anything. She finds a connection between James’s father and Russia that implies he’s breaking sanctions and gets his bank accounts frozen. No German citizenship.
Christiane Paul returning at Europol Agent Katrin Jaeger was something that I didn’t expect, but it’s something that I needed. It was paying homage to the past, but also solidifying its move forward. She is this powerhouse, but she does it so flawlessly and with such wit that you can’t help but appreciate her.
Jaeger knowing what the fly team can do, is willing to stall and fight and get them whatever they need. When she takes in James, after his German citizenship was revoked, I smiled. She makes things happen in a calm, cool, and IDGAF manner. You can’t help but appreciate and love her.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- The scene with Emma’s Mom broke me. That was devastating
- Harry killing himself over the video was a lot. This secret society was BS
- The lawyer is skeezy
- It’s shows like this where I have to admit that I would be afraid to go to some fancy school
- Raines is the bestie and/or boyfriend we’d all want – suave, caring, and hot. He’s always there
- Love how the team back in Hungary is still making things happen. I would not be able to look anymore at a computer
- Amanda Tate is the best and we should all worship her
- Smitty writing Emma’s name on the wall – beautiful
- The head of the school being fired – THAT IS WHAT WE NEEDED
- The club being closed was also PERFECT
- Visits from Jaeger will always be welcome
FBI: International airs Tuesdays on CBS.
Smitty episodes are always great I started watching reruns of when she joined during the writers strike. Jager is okay but she’s more better as a politician than a field agent the way she has pull across many counties.
One of Smitty’s best traits is her snark like when she gave discount Umbridge that gin bottle as a goodbye present knowing that was what got her expelled.
Rains truly is the team’s rock and I enjoy his BroTP moments with Smitty.
Still iffy on Mitchell but I like how he appreciates Smitty now than he did before.