After leaving Isobel’s fate up in the air, FBI returned on Monday with a deadly Season 8 premiere — but the life that was lost was not the one fans were expecting.
The start of the episode kept viewers in the dark about what happened to Isobel after last season’s shocking cliffhanger. Jubal just stared at Isobel’s empty office, remembering the harrowing moment when she collapsed. When the Assistant Director sat in Isobel’s chair and asked Jubal how he was doing, he could only stammer, “Well, you know, given the circumstances… I don’t know.”
The Assistant Director continued to keep his comments vague, saying that what happened to Isobel was “unthinkable,” without specifying her condition. He then named Jubal Acting Special Agent in Charge until they can find a permanent replacement, which surprised Jubal because it’s only been three days since Isobel’s incident. “The wheel is yours,” the Assistant Director declared, presenting him with Isobel’s chair, but Jubal seemed somewhat unsure in his new position.
So if a permanent replacement is needed for Isobel, that spells bad news for her health, right? Well, not so fast. Her husband Phillip told Jubal that the doctors think a brain bleed might be why she’s not waking up, and they’re prepping her for surgery. So Isobel is alive, but her chances of making it are… Phillip couldn’t even finish that sentence. Jubal replied that Isobel has a long-standing tradition of defying the odds, and that’s just what she did.
Toward the end of the episode, Jubal visited an awake Isobel in the hospital and shared that it had been a tough day for the team. She heard, she replied. While they were taking fire from a group of citizens who had declared martial law on their island and taken OA and Maggie hostage, Dani took a bullet to the abdomen, which she thought her vest had caught. But several scenes later, after she saved Maggie’s life by shooting down one of the armed gunmen, Dani suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed. Scola peeled back her vest and shirt to reveal that she was bleeding from her abdomen. He continued to hold her hand, even as a lifeless Dani was covered with a white sheet.
Dani’s tragic demise is the latest in a serious of partner shakeups for Scola: After his partner Tiffany Wallace (Katherine Renee Kane) exited in the Season 7 premiere, Lisette Olivera boarded the show in the series-regular role of Scola’s new partner, FBI SA Sydney Ortiz, but she was written out after just five episodes. Since then, Emily Alabi has recurred as Scola’s temporary partner, Dani Rhodes. In May, it was announced that Juliana Aidén Martinez, who played Det. Kate Silva on Law & order: SVU, is joining the CBS drama as a series regular and likely agent replacement, so it appears Scola has himself yet another new partner.
As for Isobel, while she survived, the question remains when and if she will return to work as Special Agent in Charge. Phillip mentioned to Jubal that before all this happened, Isobel was practically begging him to ask her to retire. Could that be a hint that Jubal will be taking on the SAC role permanently?