SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for FBI Season 8, Episode 3.
FBI Season 8, Episode 3 is the debut of Juliana Aidén Martinez as new main character Eva Ramos. But in “Boy Scout,” Eva gets overshadowed by the whole rest of her team—and veteran actor Max Martini steals the show as undercover DEA agent Bobby Galloway. Viewers are going to be surprised, just not in the way they expected.
Partly, that’s because Eva’s arrival is underwhelming in a few ways. Her backstory of being a former federal prosecutor turned FBI agent is an odd device that Wolf Entertainment fans will find too familiar. Anyone who watched Martinez on Law & Order: SVU might call it “the reverse Carisi.” The real deep cut is from Law & Order: LA, which as part of its creative revamp had Alfred Molina’s character quit being Deputy District Attorney and return to work as a detective. That idea wasn’t convincing then either. It’s also a weird coincidence that both new female characters on Wolf shows this season are named Eva—Eva Ramos and Eva Imani on Chicago PD.
But comparing the two also highlights another reason why the Eva Ramos character doesn’t yet work. Over on Chicago PD, Arienne Mandi plays a very outwardly tough character, but has already been able to crack that exterior. “Boy Scout” writes Eva Ramos as a one-note tough agent until her final scene—which makes her backstory even more of a mess. Eva reveals that she was dating her partner, who turned out to be part of the terrorist organization ForeFront. It would be fine if FBI wanted to go with that, or wanted to go with the lawyer-turned-cop bit (even if it is awkward), but doing both feels like trying to cram too much into one character, hoping that something sticks. Viewers may find themselves missing Emily Alabi as Dani Rhodes already.
Eva not standing out isn’t entirely the character’s fault, though. “Boy Scout” is not the Eva Ramos episode. It’s a Stuart Scola episode—and truthfully, it’s really the Bobby Galloway episode. Criminally underrated actor Max Martini (The Unit, Lioness) guest stars as Galloway, a DEA agent from Scola’s past who is now at the center of the FBI’s murder investigation. And Martini runs away with the episode. Viewers have seen the “someone a main character was close to / looked up to / had a relationship with comes back and turns out to let them down” story before, but Martini takes Galloway through a whole emotional roller coaster on top of the hero-to-villain journey. He pours the character’s emotions out onto the table. John Boyd is the perfect scene partner for Martini, too, with Scola’s inherent calmness balancing out Galloway’s short fuse. If there’s one thing Eva’s end-of-show monologue gets right, it’s calling out how much value Scola (and therefore Boyd) brings to the team.
FBI also winds up making this a whole-team episode by the end. Scola is understandably given the bulk of the screen time, and it’s refreshing to see him approach the problem with an open mind, not just because he happens to know Galloway. But it’s OA Zidan who actually defuses the bomb that Galloway is expected to detonate. OA, Maggie Bell, and Eva all contribute to the solution. So an episode that would normally focus on showing off the new character turns out to be about everyone, and it’s the guest star who makes the biggest positive impression. FBI may have just made the argument for why Max Martini deserves to lead a TV show again.
“Boy Scout” is the best episode of FBI Season 8 so far, thanks to Martini and John Boyd. It’s not the best introduction for Eva Ramos or Juliana Aidén Martinez, but there’s obviously time to change that. It’s far more satisfying to have a great all-around episode than one that’s just great for a single character.
FBI airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
