FBI Season 7, Episode 4, “Doubted” is a surprisingly underwhelming episode of the CBS show, but the surprise wears off when one learns the circumstances around it. The installment is the debut of National Treasure: Edge of History star Lisette Olivera, who was cast to fill the vacancy created when Katherine Renee Kane left the series. As such, “Doubted” is truly constructed around Olivera’s character Sydney “Syd” Ortiz and everyone else feels like they’re just along for the ride. But then there’s a catch that makes it even more complicated.
“Doubted” begins when Sydney’s sister Melanie Ortiz is attacked by a stranger in her apartment. Dissatisfied with the police response, Sydney convinces Isobel Castille to make it an FBI case, and naturally uncovers a much larger crime. “Doubted” is built with the sole intention of making Sydney Ortiz part of the team, but that’s the reason why it never gels, and news that leaked before the episode even aired makes it even harder to invest into.
FBI Season 7, Episode 4 Introduces Sydney Ortiz
But Lisette Olivera’s Character Won’t Last
“Doubted” is essentially Sydney Ortiz’s story, with the existing FBI characters in support roles — which wouldn’t be as noticeable if Sydney was a more unique character. News broke on Halloween that Olivera had already been let go from the series, with the initial Deadline report giving the reason as “she played too young for an FBI Special Agent.” Watching this episode, that’s very clear, as is that the character just isn’t that interesting.
Every one of the FBI characters has something about them that separates them from the usual character types found in TV crime dramas. Sydney doesn’t have that. There’s a relationship with her sister that provides some color, but nothing about her as an individual resonates. “Doubted” wants the audience to take her seriously as an FBI profiler, while mostly showing her as an overeager rookie field agent, and the two sides don’t mesh. Profilers have become an overdone role in procedurals anyway, thanks to the popularity of shows like Criminal Minds and an overall interest in the field, but Sydney is a particularly flat version of one. Of course she’s great at her job but doesn’t play well with others. Her father also happens to be a well-known law enforcement officer who conveniently helped Isobel Castille with one of the biggest cases of her career. She’s a character made mostly out of tropes.
Sydney Ortiz: If there’s one person I don’t like to disappoint, it’s a taxpayer.
That’s not Olivera’s problem, but it doesn’t do her any favors, and the spoilers set her back permanently. Any viewer who keeps up on entertainment news has no reason to invest in Sydney as a character, because they know that she’ll be leaving in a few episodes. And that’s a huge issue when the entirety of “Doubted” is designed to make audiences invest in Sydney.
Season 7, Episode 4 Is Centered Around Sydney
Most of the Characters Don’t Have Enough to Do
TV episodes that introduce a new main character always revolve around that character to a certain extent, because the writers have to explain who they are and then make them look good, so that the viewer wants them to come back. However, the best such episodes don’t forget about everyone else while doing that. They find a way to incorporate the new arrival and their origin story into the bigger picture. A strong example was when FBI: International introduced Brian Lange in Season 3. Audiences learned about Lange, but he slipped seamlessly into working with the Fly Team. FBI Season 7, Episode 4, “Doubted” goes too far in the other direction.
While not the most heavily skewed introduction, it goes well out of its way to show how smart and tough Sydney Ortiz is. It’s her profiling input that helps break the case open early on. In the fourth act, she finds the one victim who doesn’t fit the pattern. She gets a foot chase as well as the big, climactic scene at the end, when she’s the one abducted by the real suspect and tries to talk him down. Her interactions with Isobel are particularly awkward. Not only does Isobel know Sydney’s father, but she then has no qualms about stretching the truth in order to take the case, despite reminding Maggie Bell two episodes ago that the unit is under a microscope. Plus, audiences never hear Isobel’s justification for adding Sydney to the unit; the scene cuts away to show everyone else at a bar, before Sydney shows up and calls them her “new teammates.”
Stuart Scola (to Sydney Ortiz): Are you always this sure about everything?
Her transfer makes no sense, primarily because the one thing that Sydney does well is admit to making mistakes. She tells Isobel that she feels like she made “a hundred mistakes” in the field on this case. But some of them have nothing to do with her lack of field experience; they’re just common sense. To go from that to Isobel offering Sydney a job is a huge leap left unexplained. And everyone else is mostly around to correct said mistakes, whether it’s Maggie giving interviewing tips or OA Zidan intervening at the end of the chase. There are no other subplots and nobody else gets any character development. “Doubted” sets up the basics for Sydney, but it could have done much more with everybody else already at the table.
FBI Delivers a Decent Serial Predator Story
It’s Entertaining, but Also Predictable
FBI Season 7, Episode 3 is not a complete loss. The action scenes keep the plot moving along at a good clip, even as some viewers will be able to figure out which suspects are red herrings quite quickly. Olivera does her best with what she’s given, although it is true that she doesn’t mesh with the rest of the cast, who are as dependable as they’ve ever been. When the real bad guys are caught there’s still that sense of satisfaction.
But it’s an episode undone by what’s behind the curtain. The character of Sydney Ortiz needs vast improvement, yet that might have come with future episodes (and viewers will find out, as Deadline also reported that the episodes Olivera had already filmed will air as planned). And while it could have done much better by Maggie, OA and the rest of the team, that’s a common problem many shows struggle with. The fatal flaw is the overall inability to keep any entertainment news under wraps anymore. Knowing that Sydney is a proverbial lame duck removes all of the sakes and any of the interest in this episode, because without caring about her, “Doubted” doesn’t have anything else to offer.
