FBI Season 7, Episode 16, “Covered” is the debut episode for Special Agent Dani Rhodes, the newest member of the team played by Emily Alabi. But importantly, that’s not all it is. The introduction of Stuart Scola’s new partner is just one part of a larger story, which is what allows the episode to feel like exciting business as usual for the CBS procedural.
“Covered” sees the New York Field Office racing to find out who sold the files of eight undercover agents, which resulted in one of them being murdered. This is a compelling premise for an episode that quickly evolves into a story about violent activism instead. It’s not the most together episode of the show, but it makes sense from a character standpoint and gets audiences to actually care about Rhodes.
FBI Season 7, Episode 16 Has a Stronger Overall Plot
The Transition From Episode 15 Is Awkward
The initial premise of “Covered” is a compelling one because it has immediately high stakes. Special Agent Gavin Rice is killed while trying to infiltrate the Irish Mob, and Rice’s killer makes an attempt to save himself by confessing that his boss bought the agent’s personnel file on the black market. Truthfully, FBI could have done an entire episode searching for the person who leaked classified information, and running around trying to save other agents without blowing their cover. That’s something with an incredible amount of tension and all kinds of story possibilities. However, the creative team pivots to something easier.
The eighth undercover agent is revealed to be Maggie Bell, who is inside a militant environmentalist group called the Planet Liberation Front. At this point, the episode becomes a more simplistic story about saving Maggie and then letting Maggie stop the people that she was supposed to take down. It’s unknown if this episode was intended to run specifically after Season 7, Episode 15, “Acolyte,” but it is somewhat strange to see Maggie having disappeared off to an undercover gig and carrying so much angst on her shoulders when the end of “Acolyte” had her smiling and seemingly fine. This episode would have made more sense if “Acolyte” had intended in a more convincing fashion.
Yet for its characterization flaws, “Covered” at least has an overall story. The last time FBI tried to introduce another partner for Scola, that episode pretty much revolved around Special Agent Sydney Ortiz, and there were plenty of plot contrivances to make Sydney seem like a good fit for the team. In this episode, the arrival of Dani Rhodes is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, and the story is thus much stronger because it’s not serving anyone specifically.
FBI Successfully Introduces Its New Agent Dani Rhodes
Emily Alabi’s Character Gets a Fair Shake
FBI viewers are well aware of how Special Agent Sydney Ortiz was introduced earlier in Season 7, only for the show’s creative team to decide actor Lisette Olivera wasn’t the right choice after all. Olivera was dismissed from the show before her character’s first episode had even aired, which made all of Sydney’s appearances feel like lame duck episodes. “Covered” does a much better job with the character of Dani Rhodes, who does feel much more mature and experienced than Sydney — but that’s also due to the way the character is written, not just Alabi’s work in the role.
Season 7, Episode 4, “Doubted” was built to make Sydney look as good as possible and also emphasized her total lack of field experience. The victim featured in the story was one of Sydney’s family members, Isobel Castille just happened to have a past with Sydney’s father, and Sydney was the character who made the biggest impact in the case. The entire thing felt contrived, especially Isobel’s choice to offer Sydney a position on the team after Sydney’s own admission that she made a mistake in the field. By contrast, Dani does have a stake in the case — she’s one of the agents whose files were sold — but that’s all she has. There isn’t any connection to the main cast to give her credibility, she’s not the one who has the episode’s “hero moment” (that’d be Maggie), and she’s the one who campaigns for a job on the team.
Dani Rhodes (to Isobel): You guys don’t have a weak link.
This works out so much better, because aside from the way it frees the writers up to tell a bigger story, it gives the audience a chance to slowly accept Dani on their terms, They’re not being told that a main character likes her or seeing her doing amazing things right away. In fact, she and her new partner Scola butt heads when Dani screws up herself by turning what could’ve been the quiet arrest of a suspect into a chase. No one will ever be Tiffany Wallace (and frankly, Kristen Chazal is still missed), but Dani just does her job and does it generally well, and she’s going to be allowed to grow into her place on the team. That’s how new character introductions should be handled.
FBI Season 7, Episode 16 Revisits OA and Maggie’s Partnership
The Two Share an Important Scene Together
“Covered” also welcomes back OA Zidan after his train adventure in Episode 14, and tries to make up for his absence in “Acolyte” by reminding fans how close OA and Maggie are. After her cover is blown, Maggie is restrained and dumped inside a van that is set on fire — but it’s OA who literally carries her to safety at the last minute. (A consequence of the show wanting to essentially tell two stories in the same episode is that the tension of whether or not Maggie will be found, which would be huge at any other time, is short-lived.) And the last scene of the hour involves the two partners sharing an elevator, with OA commenting that Maggie’s undercover efforts are either because she’s looking for something or running from something.
The episode intentionally ends before Maggie answers, but the implication is whether or not she’s going to tell OA what happened in “Acolyte.” That’s something that does deserve to be shown on-screen, because these two have always had an incredible partnership — but that’s because FBI has invested the screen time into letting fans see them have hard conversations together. Viewers have been there to watch them help one another, and not just in the action-packed rescue moments. FBI Season 7, Episode 16 is truly a Maggie Bell episode more than anything else, and OA deserves to be an important part of whatever the writers have planned for his partner.
FBI airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on CBS.
