FBI Season 7, Episode 3, “Detente” feels like the CBS show settling back into a normal procedural rhythm. After the first two episodes of the season shook things up, this one features a case of the week that is relatively easy to follow — despite the multiple explosions and one implied murder. There’s nothing terrible about this episode, but there’s also nothing that makes it stick in viewers’ minds, either.
What saves “Detente” is that FBI wastes no time dropping the other shoe when it comes to OA Zidan’s reunion with his old friend Clay. Clay’s connection to the case, and how OA chooses to handle that, gives the episode its bite. Amidst the story of a gang war turning into a real estate nightmare, it’s the more one-on-one moments that have the most impact.
FBI Season 7, Episode 3 Sets up Very High Stakes
Audiences Have Heard This One Before
FBI Season 7, Episode 3 is one of those procedural episodes that wants audiences to think the sky is falling. The original premise is that a violent gang war is breaking out, but then it transforms into one of those stories about the heroes messing with a rich and powerful person they should not be messing with. The problem with episodes that have such massive stakes — whether it’s the size of the case or some kind of professional peril — is it’s very hard to pay those off in a satisfying way within 42 minutes. Giant plots don’t quickly wrap up well, or at least they shouldn’t. And that’s the biggest issue with “Detente.” While the audience hears repeatedly how much is on the line, the tension never quite gets to those same heights.
There’s no shortage of action in the episode, including two explosions, a foot chase and a conclusion that suggests another murder. But what goes on around those beats plays with several crime drama tropes. There’s the scene where Maggie interrogates a gang member about the possibility of retaliation against the other gang. There’s the bit about how an adorable young kid was caught in one of the blasts (although the episode fleshes that out by having Maggie counsel his predictably rage-filled brother). And when the real culprit is revealed as a high-powered real estate mogul, of course he’s described as “the mayor’s best friend.” Audiences hear more than once how powerful Fernando Perez is, and when he appears on-screen, he’s exactly as arrogant as those kinds of characters always are.
Isobel Castillo: One misstep, it is all of our careers.
Yet it never feels like any of the characters are actually in danger of Perez ruining their careers; there’s one moment where he briefly raises his voice at Isobel when his son Fernando Junior is arrested, but that’s as far as that goes. His lawyer later threatens to report Jubal Valentine, but the line is delivered as if the lawyer’s more bored than annoyed. “Detente” eventually explains that Junior is the mastermnd, who wanted to get his father’s respect by pushing out the tenants who refused to sell their businesses to the elder Perez. It’s a fine twist, but one viewers can see coming from his first scene, when he mouths off to OA and Maggie. Even the ending beat — in which the angry brother shoots Perez before Maggie can stop him — isn’t that shocking; the script makes his growing frustration pretty clear. This is an episode executed well but playing largely by the numbers.
FBI Continues Scola’s New Partner Search
But the Story Is Already Getting Old
The main subplot in Season 7, Episode 2 is supposed to be Scola working with another new partner, but that story actually doesn’t get a ton of screen time — which is fine because it’s also not that interesting. The next one-shot character is Ulrich, an ex-SWAT cop who arrives full of testosterone and is played by Jersey Boys alum Cory Jeacoma. Scola having a very temporary partner made sense in Season 7, Episode 2, “Trusted,” because the character’s presence added some extra shading to that episode. In this case, the new guy isn’t developed at all; he just likes to mention his SWAT background a lot. His biggest scene is fumbling the identification of a suspect. And he doesn’t even get an on-screen sendoff; Scola just tells Maggie that Ulrich is drinking at the bar with his buddies.
FBI not introducing Scola’s actual new partner right away was smart storytelling, because it allowed for fans still missing Tiffany Wallace to feel that she wasn’t immediately forgotten after her last episode. “Detente” shows that the writers want to make this a multi-episode story arc, so there’s a big choice to make. Doing an “agent of the week” could be a great way to get some fun guest stars in and bounce them off John Boyd, similar to how Dick Wolf’s Law & Order has recognizable names like Katee Sackhoff and Raphael Sbarge playing defense attorneys. But if those guest characters are as underdeveloped as Ulrich, or if this goes on too long, the audience is just going to get bored. The only way this subplot keeps from feeling played out is if the folks coming through the revolving door are worth watching. Luckily, OA’s subplot makes up for the missing excitement.
What Will FBI Season 7 Do With OA and Clay?
Episode 3 Opens up Long-Term Possibilities
Audiences knew there was a “but” coming with OA’s Army pal Clay from the end of “Trusted,” which saw him convince OA to help him plant a spy device in a local restaurant. It was a moment that felt out of character for OA — but “Detente” gets him back on the right track and explains why viewers were right to suspect Clay’s ulterior motives. One piece of the bombing plot is that the app Fernando Junior uses to communicate is eventually traced back to Clay’s employers at Pyramid Security. OA naturally confronts Clay, and gets him to admit that the app has a back door the FBI can use. Yet OA simply claims this critical piece of information came from an anonymous source.
OA Zidan: I enforce the law. I help people. You enrich corporations. Why are we even having this conversation?
OA’s desire to shield Clay makes a lot more sense in “Trusted,” because it’s obvious that Pyramid’s reach is bigger than the audience first thought, so it’s plausible that Clay could lose far more than his job if he’s exposed. Plus, it’s also not good business for the FBI, since the app is stated to be used for many different things beyond this one case (read: future episodes). So after a solid scene of Missy Peregrym’s Maggie and OA having another good talk — another reminder of how these two have one of TV’s most well fleshed-out partnerships — the episode concludes with OA making Clay his new confidential informant. FBI is clearly laying the groundwork for an ongoing story, perhaps even to a midseason finale-type plot in which the Bureau takes on the big, bad private security group with Clay caught in the middle.
That’s more interesting than toppling another corrupt businessman, because the idea of this app could be spun off into all kinds of stories, while there’s also a chance to keep exploring OA’s past through his interactions with Clay. The only weird thing is that the last line in the whole episode is “Except there’s nobody shooting at us,” which is awkward given that just a few minutes before, FBI showed Perez being shot and presumably killed. But other than that, FBI Season 7, Episode 3 is a workmanlike hour that does its job without much fanfare — even though it could have used some.
