SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for FBI Season 8, Episode 1.
The FBI Season 8 premiere, “Takeover,” isn’t a bad episode—it just has the odds stacked against it. The CBS show wants to deliver a huge first hour, and it certainly does, blowing up a whole bridge and racking up a body count. Yet its shocking twist ending isn’t one to fans who keep up with the show in the offseason.
“Takeover” ends with the death of Special Agent Dani Rhodes, the recurring character portrayed by Emily Alabi in the last few episodes of FBI Season 7. Dani takes a bullet that she believes was stopped by her Kevlar vest, but realizes that wasn’t the case in the last few minutes, and the episode ends with her body being covered up by the tell-tale white coroner’s sheet. There are two issues with what could’ve been a genuinely sad ending. The first is that informed viewers knew it was coming. Law & Order: SVU actor Juliana Alden Martinez was announced to be playing Stuart Scola’s new partner back in July, so that meant his current partner had to go.
The second is that the whole handling of the “Scola’s new partner” arc has been uneven from the start. Since Tiffany Wallace was written out in the Season 7 premiere, Scola has gone through three partners. Lisette Olivera was originally cast, and then her character, Syd Ortiz, was quickly written out, as it was obvious that Syd didn’t work. Alabi came in and did a solid job as Dani, yet was replaced by Martinez. Dani’s on-screen death just keeps Scola in this cycle of not having a stable partner, now with the added grief of one of them dying next to him. It would have been far better for the FBI creative team to take their time figuring out Tiffany’s replacement and getting it right the first time.
Showrunner Mike Weiss, the writer of “Takeover,” tries to do a little fakeout by making viewers think that Isobel Castille—who collapsed in the Season 7 finale—will be the one to die. Isobel’s husband tearfully calls Jubal Valentine from her hospital room to inform him about an emergency craniotomy. (Kudos to actor Tom Cavanagh for showing up to film one scene.) Luckily, FBI keeps Alana de la Garza around. But one of the things that the FBI Season 8 premiere does really well is show the difference between Isobel’s leadership style and Jubal in charge. Jubal is quicker to action and genuinely angry for a few moments, compared to Isobel generally being calm. Yet this gives Jeremy Sisto a whole emotional arc to play, even though Jubal never leaves the office.
The general plot of the premiere is solid, if not remarkable. A group of citizens angry at being ignored by law enforcement has taken over their small island community, with an added racism angle because they’re white and the young man they’re blaming for the robberies is Black. FBI reveals that the true perpetrator is one of their own, robbing his own neighbors and then stirring up their distrust to create a scapegoat. That may not shock viewers either, but it provides enough action to keep the episode moving. It’s worth saying yet again that Zeeko Zaki has an incredible screen presence as OA Zidan. The scene in which OA is holding his rifle while having a staredown with the armed mayor works because Zaki wordlessly conveys both anger and determination.
“Takeover” is a decent episode with a scale big enough for a season premiere. However, it would have been much better if the news of Martinez’s casting had been kept under wraps. One can’t blame Weiss and company for that, but it’s an unfortunate fact of the TV world today that it’s near impossible to keep cast departures or additions quiet. If FBI had been able to pull a Good Wife, then this episode would have accomplished its goal of stunning viewers. As it is, the prevailing thought is just that Dani and Scola both deserve better. And that airing a promo spot for the new NCIS on Tuesdays during FBI is unintentionally awkward.
FBI airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
