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FBI Season 7, Episode 11, “Shelter” has the potential to be a great episode, but the CBS procedural simply runs out of time to make that happen. What begins as a bog-standard story about drug cartels gets very interesting with the introduction of a DEA.deputy chief, and actor Zeeko Zaki is once again in excellent form. Yet the best twists are left too late.

“Shelter” begins with a mass shooting at an Astoria homeless shelter, which turns out to be a place close to OA Zidan’s heart. Similar to Episode 10, “Redoubt,” this is a way for FBI to dig into the personal feelings of one character. Unlike “Redoubt,” the story is better developed, but the development happens in the back half of the episode — so everything gets wrapped up too quickly.

FBI Season 7, Episode 11 Holds Its Plot Twists Back

The Elements That Make the Story Different Happen Too Late

Every TV crime drama episode has that moment where the heroes find out what’s really going on. That plot pivot is essential, because the characters need something to investigate and uncover. The best shows in the genre make that transition naturally while less successful ones tend to make the twist feel forced or random. FBI Season 7, Episode 11 is somewhere in between. The episode starts with a story type that audiences will be familiar with: the agents suspect the shooting was a hate crime, since the shelter houses undocumented migrants and their prime suspect has a violent history. Then it transitions to something even more common: the ongoing battle against drug cartels.

And when it’s revealed that the ex-mistress of cartel leader Jorge Ortega was in the shelter, along with their young son Miguel, the episode reaches peak “haven’t we seen this before?” levels. There are plenty of stories about the evil drug dealer who’ll do anything to get their wife, mistress or particularly their child back. “Shelter” only gets interesting when it digs into Ortega’s history and reveals that the abduction was actually carried out by a former “good guy” named Nestor Cruz, who wants to use Jorge’s kid as human leverage. It turns out that Ortega had Cruz’s wife and children murdered, so Cruz intends to trade the child for the drug lord — and then kill Ortega. Adding another level to this is that Ortega has since forged an alliance with the DEA, who want to protect their valuable asset.

The meat of the story is in the moral conflicts between Cruz and the FBI, as well as between the FBI and the DEA. These aspects of the story also give the cast members the most to play with. However, because “Shelter” not only has to spend time on the initial theory plus identifying and finding Ortega’s mistress Ines Madera, all of this information comes out pretty late in the episode. There’s only time left for a quick standoff with Nestor and the almost inevitable unhappy ending. This is one of those cases where if the crime drama had showed its cards earlier, the lack of suspense would have easily been made up for with an emotionally compelling story.

FBI Lets OA Zidan Take Center Stage Again

Zeeko Zaki Is the Show’s Most Reliable Actor

The best part of “Shelter” is the performance by Zeeko Zaki as Special Agent OA Zidan. Zaki has always been a standout actor, able to show off multiple layers to OA in episodes like Season 7, Episode 8, “Riptide.” Even when the writing isn’t fully behind him, he gives OA extra depth and compassion. This particular story makes things personal for OA by revealing that his sister did volunteer work at the shelter, and he knows the security guard who’s among the deceased. There’s a very cliche scene in which OA gets too rough with one of the initial suspects because he’s enraged about the attack on his community.

But even if the motions OA goes through are some of the same that TV crime shows always use when something is personal for a main character, Zaki makes everything work. He conveys OA’s frustration, but doesn’t overdo it the way so many other actors would. Even at his lowest point, OA still has some poise and control. The conversation he has with Maggie — in which she tells him that he shouldn’t be involved in the subsequent interrogation — could have been snippy, but the two characters treat one another with respect. And the best moments are the ones in which Zaki conveys things without a word, whether it’s OA thinking about Isobel’s advice to him or his expression as he arrives at the shelter to deliver dinner.

A lot of TV detectives fit a mold, but OA Zidan has always felt like a unique protagonist, and “Shelter” illustrates why. Even when he’s having a bad day, he’s still a character the audience can look up to. And instead of the episode being heavy-handed about OA’s history with the shelter or even his history in general, the writers just focus on that idea of a good guy having a bad day. That final moment, adding a little bit of hope after a terrible ending to the case, is just so perfectly in character.

FBI Reminds Viewers Why Maggie & OA Are Great Partners

Episode 11 Highlights Their Shared Values

Image via CBS

Another weak spot in “Shelter” is in the episode’s reveal that Isobel Castille secretly got married two months earlier to someone that at least OA knows nothing about. It feels like something dropped in just for shock value, especially since Isobel’s point about keeping personal feelings out of the office could easily have been made without that reveal. The only way that makes sense is if FBI is planning on making Isobel’s husband part of a future episode; after all, her love life has been integrated into the plot before. What works better is the dynamic the show doesn’t spell out: the one between OA and Maggie.

After seven seasons, Maggie and OA should absolutely have a very close partnership. But “Shelter” provides one more example of how they’re successful. They don’t simply come together to support one another in the big, tragic moments like the one in Season 7, Episode 6, “Perfect.” They are always playing off one another. Maggie knows OA shouldn’t be in that interview room and honestly tells him so, and he accepts that. Yet at the end, when both of them are distraught over the DEA handing Miguel back to Ortega — knowing that the child is in the worst possible situation — they come together to talk about their feelings and with Maggie inviting OA out for a drink. FBI Season 7, Episode 11, “Shelter” has potential to be one of the season’s best stories, and it doesn’t get there, but it does have strong acting and an even stronger partnership at its core.