CBS is running out of episodes from the FBI franchise in the spring 2025 TV schedule, although the original series will be coming back in the fall while the two spinoffs will not. Still, there are another couple episodes left before the credits roll on Season 7 this spring, so I was surprised by all the finale vibes I was getting from Maggie’s storyline in “Startup.” Not only did she split from Joel despite the relationship going well just a few weeks ago, but she was caught in an explosion that stopped her heart.
Normally, I know better than to start fretting over the fate of a lead character in an episode that’s not a finale or a premiere, but another primetime TV show’s latest drastic twist has me on edge… even though it airs on another network. Spoilers for ABC’s 9-1-1 Season 8 are ahead.
If 9-1-1 Could Kill Off Bobby, Who Else Could Die?
Even if you never watched 9-1-1 in its Fox days or since it moved over to ABC, you may have heard the grim news from back in April. The hit drama killed off leading man Bobby Nash, played by Parenthood and Six Feet Under alum Peter Krause. Logically, I know what happens on ABC’s 9-1-1 doesn’t apply to CBS’ FBI, but emotionally… well, I’m on higher alert than usual for main characters. It was a shock that has had the internet abuzz for good reason, as the first responders of 9-1-1 are regularly in ridiculous life-or-death situations that end in miraculous escapes.
I’m talking about a show that delivered an emergency that combined The Poseidon Adventure with cyber-pirates and then a bee-nado – which, yes, was a tornado of bees – less than a year later, with no major characters biting the dust. Peter Krause’s character being killed off with weeks left before the Season 8 finale? If you’d asked me this time last month, I would have laughed off the very idea, and one of Krause’s co-stars was “sobbing uncontrollably” while filming it.
Obviously 9-1-1 and FBI are very different shows, and I would probably check to make sure I was watching the right channel if Missy Peregrym’s show so much as suggested a tornado of bees, but seeing one major network TV show killing off a key character before a finale has me just a little more freaked out than usual that near-deaths could become real deaths. Besides, other shows in the Dick Wolf TV universe have been cutting cast members, with Chicago Fire down two and Law & Order: SVU cutting Juliana Martinez and Octavio Pisano as series regulars before fall premiere season.
Was I overreacting to think that maybe Maggie could really stay dead? Sure, but I think it was a reasonable reaction!
Maggie’s Near-Death Experience Was A Great Twist
Fortunately, FBI did not pull a 9-1-1 and kill off a lead character with weeks left before the season finale, and OA’s CPR was enough to get Maggie breathing again. She was actually in better shape than I expected after the drone explosion seemingly blasted her up against a wall without any head protection, but she was lucky enough to survive without more than bumps and bruises once OA brought her back. If only 9-1-1 fans were so lucky with Bobby!
But it didn’t feel like a bait-and-switch to me, because her near-death was paid off at the end of the episode with a pretty sweet scene. OA seemed to be settling Maggie in with the best blankets and over-the-counter painkillers she had before leaving; instead, he arranged for Scola and newcomer Dani Rhodes to drop by with wine, company, and burgers. OA wasn’t going to let Maggie be alone after her ordeal, and it was a lovely character moment in a show that is so often about the job.
“Devoted” will be the penultimate episode of FBI this spring, with the Season 7 finale airing the next week. For now, keep tuning in to CBS on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET for Maggie and Co.’s latest cases on FBI. It remains to be seen if CBS keeps it in the same time slot for Season 8 in the fall, since the network cut its FBI Tuesdays with the cancellations of FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted. With the FBI: CIA spinoff in the works, however, FBI won’t be the only show left in the franchise.
