‘FBI’ Season 1, Episode 1 ‘Pilot’ Premiere Recap: Explosive Truths

CBS kick-starts another crime series from Emmy Award Winning producer of the Law and Order franchise Dick Wolf. FBI premiered its first ever pilot episode today, and it packs a ton of action shrouded by mystery and conspiracy that only these special agents can handle. Explosions and gang wars are just the tip of the iceberg this series has to offer.

The FBI series pilot episode kicks off with much of what was seen in the official trailer. It follows FBI Special Agent Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym) and her partner Special Agent Omar Adom a.k.a. ‘OA’ Zidan (Zeeko Zaki) as they investigate a series of bomb explosions that occurred in the Bronx. With the loss of many lives including that of a young boy, the dynamic duo does everything to put an end to it. Not everybody can go through the hardships of catching bad guys with a cluster of emotional baggage looming over their shoulders. But somebody’s got to do it, right?

The Investigation Begins

The series pilot begins with an ordinary day. A young boy sees a classmate of his walk by. His younger brother walks in, and they have a seemingly normal chat. Then a massive explosion hits the apartment building. Special Agent Maggie Bell shows up and orders the fire department to get everyone to safety. A distraught mother arrives at the scene and demands that she go in to rescue her son. Agent Bell tries to calm her down until another explosion occurs that causes the building to collapse from top to bottom, covering all of them in a cloud of debris.

Bell and OA head back to their boss Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) to update him about the crime scene. They interview residents and catch a lead on a drug dealer that lived in the building. They go through the blown up building where a worker found a body with a cellphone melted into his leg.

The Gang War

Headquarters pick up a lead. They get a tip on a gang member by the name of Felton. Bell and OA bring the cell phone to where they find Wayne Clinton, a new possible suspect. The suspicion is that he may have bombed Felton’s building to raise his gang’s rap sheet. The duo goes on a stakeout to follow the suspect’s whereabouts. He comes out of the club but dies after his car exploded.

They begin to suspect that this was a war between two gangs.  They get another lead when a local recreational center was caught for having explosives. They suspected it had something to do with MS-13, a well-known group. They pick up the name Wilmur, a worker from El Salvador. They take the man in as they review footage of him taking a bag from someone. After harsh interrogation, he gives up the name of Bernardo. The SWAT team rushes in a building but doesn’t find him. The team heads to a local prison to interrogate an MS-13 member, only to find him dead with his heart ripped out of his chest.

Criminal Pursuit

They watch the footage one more time but fail to find Bernardo. They release his name to get some tips. During their stakeout, they talk about the guilt Bell felt when the mother had lost her child in the explosion. Just before the emotional baggage was about to pour out, they spot Wilmur on the street who makes a run for it. The team head into a building where they find Bernardo. They arrest him when they see his arsenal of bomb-making equipment. However, he wouldn’t give up the name of the person he works with.

The agents examined the bombs and linked it to a politician named Lawrence, who was related to several bombings before. Despite his inappropriate and suspicious behavior, they didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him yet.

They go through the sleazy politician’s account statements and find out that he financed MS-13 and other gangs to start wars on each other. They find a lead on the director of the recreational center. He has a military background of building bombs. They bring him in, but he won’t speak unless he gets immunity. They head to the local diner where the rec director’s mother owned. They searched the place and found out that Lawrence has one more bomb that will go off during the local summit. Agents evacuate the area as Bell and OA find Lawrence. He asks to speak to his lawyer, and they let him. When Lawrence makes a call with the intention to tell the bomb to go off, agent Kristen Chazal (Ebonee Noel) picks up instead. He is then arrested.

Sentiments and Sympathies

There were points throughout the episode when agent Bell could not get away from the guilt of not being able to save the distraught mother’s child. She reveals to her partner that she knows how painful it is to lose someone because she too had lost her husband. OA expresses his sympathy towards this tough woman. By the end of the episode, OA drives Bell to the funeral of the young boy who was killed in the explosion.

FBI continues next Tuesday, October 2nd, with “Green Birds” at 9/8c on CBS