FBI Cast’s Hearts Are Broken: Jeremy Sisto Dies at 51 md20

FBI Season 7, Episode 10, “Redoubt” is one of the most predictable episodes in the history of the CBS show. Audiences will know every plot point before it happens, so none of them are particularly satisfying. And the underdeveloped nature of the story winds up wasting some great work from actor Jeremy Sisto, who does his best as a beleaguered Jubal Valentine, but could have done much more if the writing had been stronger.

“Redoubt” centers on one of Jubal’s longtime confidental informants, who claims to have details regarding a potential terrorist attack. It’s the second week in a row that FBI has done a terrorism story, and this one is the lesser of the two. The clear goal is to explore a little bit more of Jubal’s character, but the episode never gets there. And what does come out about Jubal emerges through Sisto’s performance.

FBI Season 7, Episode 10 Is One of the Season’s Weakest Episodes

The Episode’s Plot Is Far Too Easy to Decipher

Image via CBS

“Redoubt” struggles because its script is predictable and thus, feels uninspired. It’s a collection of TV crime drama tropes and plot twists that viewers know well. From the very first scene — in which a cybersecurity expert is murdered shortly after squeezing more money out of the bad guys he’s selling technology to — the whole story is far too obvious. Of course the flash drive that Jubal’s informant Faheem Ellahi gives him secretly contains a nasty computer code that could’ve taken over all of the FBI’s servers. Of course one of the U.S. Marshals in the prisoner transport van containing Faheem’s half-brother Daanish is actually a secret henchman. The only cliche that the episode misses is having the code actually infect the FBI computers and cause everyone to panic.

None of the characters in the case of the week feel like people. The real criminal masterminds are never directly identified (their group just gets a name), so the villains are simply a collection of largely nameless folks wearing black and shooting people. Maggie Bell and OA Zidan are kept busy by some action sequences, but even a moment where Maggie steps on a pressure plate attached to a bomb is devoid of tension because it doesn’t last long enough. Daanish is more of a goal than a person, and while Faheem gets a fair amount of screen time, it’s full of cliches like reminding Jubal how much he’s done for him.

The best episodes of FBI, or any crime drama, fill out the entire story so that the audience either gets attached to the innocent people in the middle, becomes afraid of the antagonists, or both. “Redoubt” does neither of these things. By only identifying the villain group as an extremist organization named Forefront in the final minutes, and then passing the case to another department, the episode feels like it either can’t be bothered to finish its own story or is trying to set up some kind of multi-episode arc. Yet if it’s the latter, there’s not enough investment in the threat for the audience to care. At least this episode isn’t borderline offensive like Season 7, Episode 6, “Perfect,” but it’s far below what this series is capable of.

Jeremy Sisto Is the Star of FBI Season 7, Episode 10

Sisto’s Work as Jubal Valentine Is the Sole Reason to Watch

On the positive side, it’s always great to see an FBI episode that gets Jubal Valentine out of the office and into the field. Jeremy Sisto’s character spends most of his time standing in a big room, giving orders to a collection of analysts, so it’s appreciated whenever Sisto gets a chance to show off more of his talent. The Law & Order alum doesn’t disappoint — hitting every note from Jubal angsting about his past, to getting angry about the situation going sideways, to trying to reassure Daanish that everything will be fine when it’s absolutely not fine. Sisto is in the majority of “Redoubt,” and watching him work makes some of those aforementioned plot weaknesses more palatable.

He turns in a great performance, despite the episode pretty much retreading what the audience already knows about Jubal. Jubal-centric stories love to hit on his struggles in just about every category — whether it’s as an FBI agent, an ex-husband or a father. “Redoubt” is no exception, bringing up the first two and another reminder of Jubal’s alcoholism that nearly tanked his career. The only thing that’s new is audiences get a few more details about one specific instance of this drinking problem: Faheem says that Jubal showed up for a meet with someone on the FBI’s Most Wanted list so drunk that Faheem had to call off the meeting. The subject escaped back to Pakistan, and Faheem had to deal with an intoxicated Jubal. It’s an emotional story, but it doesn’t add much to the picture of Jubal Valentine.

The other main characters don’t have anything to write home about. Maggie and OA serve as the investigative muscle for the episode. Stuart Scola is missing from the episode, but he likely wouldn’t have had much to do anyway. Isobel Castille gets some fun moments with Jubal — she saves his bacon by cutting the interview room surveillance feed when Faheem starts bringing up Jubal’s past — but those scenes are also too brief to really have an emotional impact. It’s Sisto who does the heavy lifting, and he makes it all work.

Jubal’s Surprise Reunion With His Ex-Wife Is Unearned

Season 7, Episode 10 Throws Audiences a Curveball

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Early in “Redoubt,” there’s a scene where Faheem shows up at Jubal’s house. Jubal’s ex-wife Sam has no clue what’s going on, but Jubal is enraged and confronts Faheem in their living room before promising Sam that the situation will not happen again. FBI circles back to this at the end, when Jubal suggests he should move out after his work has brought a potential threat into their home. But Sam just reassures him and then kisses him — leaving viewers with the idea that the former couple might rekindle their romance. And while it’s great that the show wants to give Jubal something happy in the middle of all his angst, the moment feels out of the blue.

When the show had Jubal move back into the family home — with the explanation that doing so would allow the two of them to save money for college tuition — it seemed like this was going to happen. But FBI still has to build emotionally to that point where the characters are back on the same page, and they haven’t gotten there. There hasn’t been an in-depth, serious conversation about how their feelings have changed, or even how to mitigate the risks that this episode proves are out there. “Redoubt” could have had that conversation, or at least started it. Sam’s whole explanation is that Jubal is different since he came home, but why not let them spend those last few minutes deciding to try again instead of just jumping right to the kiss?

Especially when Jubal’s family and their safety is so important to him, a few sentences shouldn’t smooth over all of his (very valid) concerns. But that’s why FBI Season 7, Episode 10 never gets off the ground: it’s a collection of unfulfilling story points, leaving so much potential — and half the plot — on the table. “Redoubt” could have been a great character exploration for Jubal, but it’s not even worth a rewatch.