FBI: International Season 4, Episode 15, “They May Get Their Wish,” is an uncomfortable episode that will mostly be remembered for being creepy. The CBS show serves up a case of the week that is satisfying because of how completely hateable the villain is, and there’s plenty of action in it. But there’s no significant character development, no surprises, and viewers might even roll their eyes at the subplot that is set up along the way.
“They May Get Their Wish” is titled after a line spoken by Jesse Lee Soffer’s character Wes Mitchell, as the Fly Team hunts down self-proclaimed prophet Bakti Santoso. The goal is to arrest Santoso not only for his numerous white-collar crimes, but for the sexual assaults he’s committed under the cover of his religion. Yet this requires going through Santoso’s devoted followers in a story that wades into uncomfortable territory.
FBI: International Season 4, Episode 15 Keeps Its Story Straightforward
There’s Little Mystery in the Case of the Week
There are a few reasons that FBI: International Season 4, Episode 15 is not an easy watch. The first is the religion-slash-cult angle, because religion is a sensitive topic for many people and here it is being used as the justification for heinous crimes. It’s cringe-worthy every time Santoso says something that manipulates people’s faith. However, the episode makes clear that Santoso’s church is in no way to be taken seriously, and also cites a few examples of real-life intersections between religion and criminal cases, including those of David Koresh — who also inspired a Criminal Minds villain — and Warren Jeffs. There’s no judgment made about religion in general; it’s just made very clear that this one fictional guy is most definitely not an emissary of God.
The second level of discomfort is the sexual assault component of the story, which gets progressively worse. The audience knows what’s going on from the moment Baktoso wants 16-year-old Millie Hewitt to stay with him overnight. But every detail that comes out adds to the shock and horror. The team reveals that not only did Baktoso film the assaults, but there’s video of over 230 victims. And in another scene, Aminah Karana — one of his earlier victims and an important player in the story — explains that Baktoso got her pregnant at 15 and forced her to terminate the pregnancy. FBI: International doesn’t show anything or go into any graphic detail, but it makes its point about Baktoso’s villainy and then some. It could have even scaled back and still been enough.
Underneath all these details, though, is a pretty basic plot structure. There’s no doubt who did what; it’s just how the Fly Team is going to catch Baktoso that’s up for debate. The guest characters mostly remain undeveloped beyond the basics. Episode 15 also includes the usual bureaucratic disagreement with a foreign officer — which lasts about 30 seconds because it’s handwaved away by FBI main character Jubal Valentine calling someone else who happens to know a Spanish dignitary. Viewers will walk away satisfied, but it’s just because they know that a truly bad guy is panicking in prison, not because the episode itself is particularly impressive.
FBI: International Gives Cameron Vo More of the Spotlight
Vinessa Vidotto’s Character Plays a Pivotal Role in Season 4, Episode 15
Since being shot in FBI: International Season 4, Episode 8, “You’ll Never See It Coming,” Cameron Vo hasn’t had any big developments. She’s been back with the Fly Team and assisted other characters, most recently acting as a psuedo-mentor for Riley Quinn, but there hasn’t been a Cameron-centric storyline. “They Might Get Their Wish” isn’t really a Cameron episode either, but it does give her some of the biggest scenes, as she makes contact with Millie and her mother Isla.
Cameron is the character who gets Isla to sit down with Aminah, which results eventually in Isla deciding to help the FBI by planting a device in Baktoso’s apartment. Cameron is also the character who connects with Isla and Millie after the case is over, telling them that the Bureau has found one of their relatives in Maryland who will take them in, and that the U.S. government is providing them passports and relocation funds to make that happen. She’s always been a great character, so it’s always nice to see her at the heart of the action.
Isla Hewitt: There’s no coming back from this, is there?
Cameron Vo: You really want to go back?
Aminah also has a significant role to play, trying to convince Isla to turn sides, and getting her own closure when Wes brings her to confront Baktoso in prison. She’s the character who gives the audience that moment they so want of the bad guy squirming and realizing he’s been beaten. Smitty Garretson also has a fun beat where she overacts while pretending to have been mugged. This episode may center on terrible things happening to young women, but it also has some big scenes for women in it, too. And those moments help ameliorate the feelings that come from hearing about all that Baktoso has seemingly gotten away with.
FBI: International Continues to Torment Wes Mitchell
Is the Focus on Wes Too Much for the Final Season?
The largest criticism of “They May Get Their Wish” concerns the episode’s beginning and ending scenes, which serve as the start of a new subplot. Except it feels exactly like the same subplot FBI: International has been doing all season. Once again, it’s a Wes-centric story. First, it was Wes looking for revenge for the death of his partner Mike Brooks, who was killed in the Season 4 premiere. Then viewers followed the subplot of Riley being sent to investigate Wes. Now, in the very next episode after Riley’s departure, Wes’ ex-girlfriend Ella Driscoll is back in the picture. Episode 15 opens with Ella wanting to talk to Wes about a case, and it ends with her standing in his office.
The first two were understandable, since Mike’s death was Wes’ way into the Fly Team, and his rogue tactics seemed to be the way that the writers separated him from his predecessor Scott Forrester. Having Wes on the hot seat was at least an avenue to explore his character. But to have a third plotline that is directly connected to Wes feels like a bit much, especially now knowing that this is FBI: International’s final season. There’s only a handful of episodes left to set up any other personal plotline for Cameron, Smitty, Andre Raines or Amanda Tate.
Wes has more than proven his worth to the show, and viewers have learned a lot about him. But he deserves a break from drama after what he’s already been through, and other characters can step into that void. FBI: International Season 4, Episode 16 is an episode that plays by the numbers, and that includes going back to the well of making Wes’ life difficult.
FBI: International airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. on CBS.
