SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for FBI Season 8, Episode 14.
Third time’s the charm for FBI, which wraps up the saga between Maggie Bell and Ray Distefano in Season 8, Episode 14, “Forgiven.” The CBS show doesn’t have much of a choice—there are only so many episodes any TV show can do with a recurring villain before the heroes start looking incompetent for not catching them. Thus “Forgiven” is a definite swan song for Ray, and it is every bit as big as longtime fans expect it to be.
Those same fans probably saw this coming because they’ll remember the end of FBI Season 7, Episode 15, “Acolyte.” It was clear that Maggie not informing Ray about his father’s death was going to come back around, in the same way that the show revisited the Oslo story. So it’s no shock that lie by omission prompts Ray to plot revenge. In fact, the scene in which Jubal Valentine wonders aloud how Ray even got out of prison seems to be speaking for both him and the audience. But if one can set aside those few instances of dramatic license, “Forgiven” is an emotionally satisfying episode.
That’s because it’s not just a Missy Peregrym-centric episode, even though Peregrym is on her A-game—particularly in the scene where Maggie admits that Erin “scares me” because she can’t control her sister. That reveals an awful lot about who Maggie is, and Peregrym conveys that combination of fear and self-loathing really well. But the script remembers that what happens to Maggie doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so there’s also space for OA Zidan to have his emotional moment worrying about his partner. Zeeko Zaki is likewise great as this episode is another reminder of how well-acted the partnership between Maggie and OA is. The audience really feels it, instead of so many TV cop pairings where viewers are mostly told how close the two characters are. And another 24 alum, Zach Grenier, returns as Maggie’s old friend Peter Olsen to have his biggest episode yet. It’s actually very efficient to fold the recurring subplot of Maggie’s profiling stuff into this story, making that idea immediately relevant.
But it all has to come down to a final confrontation between Maggie and Ray, which feels like it’s straight out of Backcountry with the pair in the woods and Maggie hanging off a cliff. Ray going over the edge makes it very clear this story is over, and bringing things back around to Maggie and OA is a nice touch. For all the emphasis on negative relationships in Maggie’s life in the episode, there’s still that one bond that is positive at all times. Unfortunately, it’s followed by a reveal that the audience not only will see coming but has a fair reason to complain about.
Erin being found dead feels like another one of those fourth-act “but” moments that Dick Wolf series like to use. They have a habit of going for some reveal just to shock the audience one last time, but it isn’t always the right one. There would’ve been absolutely nothing wrong with Erin living and Maggie being able to repair that relationship—not just for Maggie, but because what’s revealed in “Forgiven” about Erin shows a lot of potential. With her having turned her life around, that’s a good story on its own and opens up more ideas for the character. They’re just not dramatic ideas, which might be why she winds up as collateral damage instead.
There are a few other plot moments that require suspension of disbelief just to get Maggie to that last stand. Viewers know it’s a reach for Ray to get out of prison. They know that OA and Jubal Valentine will be chasing the wrong suspect from the fact that FBI insists on only showing the man from behind the whole time. They know that Peter going down into a basement alone will result in him being knocked out, and that in turn will lead to something happening to Maggie. It’s basic knowledge that it’s not a good idea for anyone to go into a dark basement alone. So “Forgiven” does ask more of the fans than a normal FBI episode, but the acting and the chance to finally finish up the Ray Distefano saga makes the dramatic license more palatable.
Overall, FBI viewers are treated to an action-packed, well-acted episode that puts an effective period on this recurring plotline. In that sense it’s far better than “Daybreak,” which technically ended the Oslo story but didn’t actually resolve much of anything. It’s not the perfect episode (it would have been interesting to see the conversation between Ray and Maggie actually end as a battle of wits instead of her choking him out), but it does what it came to do and fans will be satisfied when the credits roll.
FBI airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
