SPOILER ALERT AND WARNING: The following contains spoilers for FBI Season 9, Episode 6. It also contains discussion of domestic violence.
FBI Season 9, Episode 6, “Ultimatum” is really a domestic violence story wrapped in a terrorism story. What also seems like a solo episode for actor Juliana Aidén Martinez is also much more of an ensemble piece. And those distinctions are what make the CBS drama work.
Firstly, it’s interesting that FBI wrote an entire episode around the AI data center controversy. For anyone who’s not familiar with the subject, the PBS series Breaking the Deadlock had an incredible discussion about AI and the effects of data centers just two weeks ago. Obviously FBI has to shape the topic into a “case of the week” format, but it’s timely to see this episode so soon after such an incisive examination of the issue. The general plot within “Ultimatum” is that a group of protesters plan to launch a radiological attack on Manhattan in retribution for a planned data center project. But all of that largely feels secondary to the personal storylines, both of which are driven by Martinez’s character Eva Ramos.
The episode begins and ends with Eva’s mother Vicky, whom the audience learns has been in an abusive relationship for the last four years. More than once she’s called her daughter claiming that she’s ready to leave, only to recant when Eva arrives, which is what happens again in “Ultimatum.” Eva finally puts her foot down with her mother, only to come back and apologize at the end. It’s an uncomfortable and disappointing ending, both for the characters and for the audience; it feels like FBI decided Vicky’s story had to end badly, since the case of the week had a happy ending. But at least FBI didn’t simply kill off Eva’s mom for dramatic effect, and viewers learn more about Eva’s backstory. For a character who occasionally got overshadowed in her first season, Eva is coming into her own during her second season.
She’s also front and center in the main plot, when Eva tries to talk down a woman named Jessica who threatens to jump off the Staten Island Ferry, and who is also in an abusive relationship. FBI viewers will be able to suss out early on that Jessica must have something to do with the attack—in fact the whole last fifteen minutes are not that difficult to deduce—but it doesn’t matter because of how well the episode comes together. Martinez is the glue, giving an earnest performance that never feels too overdone. At the same time, FBI proves that it can do what a lot of other crime shows can’t: give one character a featured episode while still remembering that the other characters exist.
Every crime show usually has a few episodes that delve into one character’s specific backstory, allowing that character to grow and that actor to get their due. However, that usually also comes with a hurdle: there’s so much emphasis on that one person that everyone else feels like they’re there just to move the plot along. That refreshingly isn’t the case with “Ultimatum.” Since Eva is physically stuck on the ferry, the other agents still have plenty to do investigating the rest of the crime. Several of them also have good character development moments. It’s lovely to see Stuart Scola taking a moment to support his partner, and Scola and Eva working toward what Scola had with Tiffany Wallace, or what Maggie Bell has with OA Zidan. And speaking of Maggie, she gets to provide a sounding board for Eva. This is an Eva-centric episode, but it’s not solely her episode.
There’s also some appreciated nuance in that Maggie and Eva scene. Eva wonders why she was able to find the right words to save Jess, but not her mother. It’s a fair question and it’s meaningful that FBI acknowledges that. Another show might not have bothered with the parallel and just ended with Eva brooding over her mom. That would’ve been the simple way out, the more dramatic ending, but this show chooses the more layered way to look at it and asks the question that viewers might also be asking.
Which prompts one last note: given that both plots in the episode revolve around domestic violence, it would have been appreciated for FBI to have an end card displaying some domestic violence resources, as other TV series have done when dealing with sensitive subjects. It’s disappointing that it doesn’t, especially since this show is usually incredibly thoughtful. But as far as the fictional story, “Ultimatum” is one of the season’s better efforts.
FBI airs Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
