FBI: International Season 3, Episode 11, “Touts” is actor Luke Kleintank’s last episode as Scott Forrester… yet it’s not about Forrester at all.
When actor Luke Kleintank announced he was leaving FBI: International, his last episode was said to be Season 3, Episode 11. Audiences thus braced themselves for this episode being a huge one for Kleintank’s character Scott Forrester, especially since Forrester is the leader of the Fly Team around which the CBS show is based. Imagine their surprise when “Touts” ends up being almost completely about Megan “Smitty” Garretson, with Forrester relegated to a small supporting role which offers little action and no closure.
“Touts” is centered around the Irish Republican Army and an ex-IRA member named Alec Murphy, who’s now settled into a quiet life under the name Alec O’Brien. However, his past comes back to haunt him when he’s shot to death in front of his teenage son — and Smitty’s own history is dug up over the course of the investigation. Eva-Jane Willis gives a bang-up performance as Smitty is kept busy throughout the hour, but the question still remains: is this really the sendoff for Luke Kleintank and Scott Forrester?
FBI: International Puts Smitty Firmly in Control
Season 3, Episode 11 Is Driven by the Europol Agent
Anyone watching FBI: International for the first time with “Touts” would be forgiven for thinking that Smitty is the main character. She’s the one leading the case, getting most of the action scenes and around whom the entire personal subplot orbits. Once it becomes clear that there’s a plot to murder snitches (who are also called “touts,” hence the title), Smitty reaches out to her mother Scarlett, hoping that Scarlett will connect her with an old friend and ex-IRA member named Niall Walsh. Niall agrees to reconnect with his radical contacts to help Smitty, and it doesn’t take a government agent to deduce that he’s more than just a friend of the family. Scarlett and Niall had an affair, and Smitty learns that Niall is her biological father. It’s a true Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker moment, with some added backstory.
All of this means that a good 80 percent of the episode requires Eva-Jane Willis in one form or another, and the actress carries it off, whether it’s Smitty having to pursue an armed killer or having a tense confrontation with Scarlett about the affair. Willis has to play just about every type of scene that an actor can tackle in a procedural, short of Smitty getting into some kind of predicament herself, and she does it all with a stiff upper lip and just the right amount of indignance. It’s not until the last scene, which highlights Smitty’s friendship with Andre Raines, that Willis gets to show Smitty breaking down. Even then, the moment isn’t overdone; it tugs at the heartstrings just enough.
“Touts” raises the issue of redemption and how much someone is defined by their past; it’s explicitly stated in Forrester’s half of the hour, but it’s a clear theme in the entire episode. Even Smitty is looking at herself differently knowing that her biological father is a former radical. The beat in which she thanks the man she believed was her father — the man who has no idea he isn’t her dad — is bittersweet because it affirms that Niall being her biological parent doesn’t invalidate everything that she knew. It changes her self-image, but it doesn’t erase the love and support that she got from the family she had. The message comes through without being heavy-handed, but FBI: International runs into a problem because focusing so much on Smitty makes the episode one-dimensional.
FBI: International Delivers an Unbalanced Story
Most of the Main Characters Aren’t Utilized Enough
Every TV procedural has episodes that focus on one or two characters; it’s not a problem that FBI: International Season 3, Episode 11 chooses to devote its plot to Smitty. The problem comes from not knowing how to effectively use almost everyone else — and that problem has bells and a siren surrounding it because of Kleintank’s departure. There may as well be a countdown clock every time Scott Forrester pops up on screen, as the viewer has one going in the back of their head, waiting for some big Scott-related development that never comes. That’s not to say Luke Kleintank is wasted; he gets a subplot as Forrester clashes with the MI5 agent in charge, who makes clear that he still considers the victim a terrorist, even though Alec Murphy’s past was well behind him.
It’s Forrester’s job to figure out the overall conspiracy and to cut through the bureaucratic red tape, which is important. He’s piecing together the big picture and providing the context that allows Smitty’s more individual story to resonate, and there’s a little lesson in there about agencies learning to work together. It is so refreshing to see FBI: International minimize the TV crime drama trope of agencies getting territorial with one another, and always good to see the elements of law enforcement that aren’t just shootouts, car chases and interrogations. The downside of this is that Luke Kleintank spends most of the episode away from the rest of the Fly Team, save a few conversations. He doesn’t feel like part of the team, let alone its leader.
The only person other than Willis who gets a reasonable amount to do is Carter Redwood, since Raines is working alongside Smitty most of the episode. Vanessa Vidotto has some scenes with the victim’s family, but they’re more about moving information along. Christina Wolfe’s Amanda Tate is present, but not for very long. “Touts” would have been a better episode if it had let the other characters in further. There are ways to not take away from Smitty’s story, while either having the team supporting her more or having more engagement in the case. The scene in which Smitty tells Forrester about Niall’s predicament, for example, begs to be longer because even in that relatively short exchange, Scott’s leadership as an agent and his concern for Smitty both come through.
Will FBI: International Fans See Luke Kleintank Again?
Season 3 Teases Explanation for Forrester’s Exit
The elephant that never leaves the room in “Touts” is the fact that it’s supposed to be Luke Kleintank’s last episode, yet there’s not even a hint that Scott Forrester is leaving the Fly Team. That doesn’t happen until the preview for the next FBI: International hour, which claims that Scott is on a super-secret case, and that the plot will involve the unit — and Colin Donnell’s soon-to-be-introduced character — looking for him. But that idea raises even more questions that might not have satisfying answers for Kleintank and Forrester fans. Since Episode 12 revolves around Scott, does that mean “Touts” really isn’t his last episode, and he’ll be seen again? Or will this be like what happened to Donnell’s Dr. Connor Rhodes on Chicago Med, and Scott will turn up for only a brief goodbye?
The worst-case scenario is that Episode 12 is a lot of talking about Scott and he’s never actually seen, which would explain why “Touts” was reported as Kleintank’s last episode — since it would be the last one in which the actor stars. But that would be a disaster, since it would deny Scott a proper on-screen farewell with the Fly Team, and the audience a chance to say goodbye to him, too. It would feel very strange to have a character’s last episode center on them, but without the actor who brought them to life and who helped create FBI: International’s fan base. And that leads to even more questions about how Kleintank’s exit came to be. Namely, did the producers not know in enough time to give Forrester the big last episode that most TV procedural leads get? Or did they choose to tell this roundabout story?
Audiences may never know the timeline of it all — but what they do know is that FBI: International Season 3, Episode 11, “Touts” is weighed down by the off-screen situation. Divorced from the news, it’s a perfectly fine episode with Eva-Jane Willis driving it. But because Luke Kleintank is the captain of the proverbial ship, it suffers from viewers waiting for him to do much more. It’s too soon to tell if the show will go downhill after this departure, but “Touts” can’t get out from under Kleintank’s shadow.
FBI: International airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. on CBS.
