FBI front man Zeeko Zaki had told us that the Season 7 finale was a “very different” episode of the CBS procedural, and that it’d end with a “cliffhanger” — and he told no lies.
“A New Day” opened with Jubal (Jeremy Sisto) meeting with a whistleblower named Kevin (Big Bang Theory vet/upcoming spinoff star Kevin Sussman) at a secret FBI intake facility (that I’m 90% sure was used as a consulate in The Night Agent Season 2). Alas, before Kevin could say much more than Forefront (the terrorist group Jubal dealt with at midseason) was planning an attack on the FBI office, Forefront operatives stormed the building, guns a-blazing. The cold open left us thinking that Jubal had been shot dead as well, but after the credits we saw that he’d only been wounded, and now was darting down the street to find some bandaging.
After ducking into a bodega, Jubal found himself face to face with an FBI agent claiming to offer help, but she turned out to be a Forefront mole — meaning, they have cunningly infiltrated the bureau. Jubal got into a struggle with this agent, and wound up shooting her dead. Afterwards, he was grilled back at the office by ADIC Reynolds (Ben Shenkman), who had to wonder if Jubal himself had been leveraged into joining Forefront. We in turn were led to suspect that Reynolds was actually the sus one.
Ill-fated whistleblower Kevin left behind a USB drive that led Jubal’s team to discover that any bureau cell phones issued in the past month were at risk of being rigged with an explosive. Soon enough, booms were heard within the building. Isobel (Alana de la Garza) was meeting with/confronting Reynolds when his phone blew up in their faces. Maggie (Missy Peregrym) arrived at Reynolds’ office immediately after, then hid around a corner when Reynolds’ boss, Keane (hey, it’s Campbell Scott!), showed up with an FBI agent to survey the damage. Eavesdropping, Maggie confirmed that Keane is leading the Forefront operation there at their office!
Both Reynolds and Castille were reported dead to JOC, but — after an agonizing few minutes where we too were asked to mourn Isobel — we saw that the latter in fact had survived. A bruised, bloodied Isobel revealed herself to the team in a defunct subway station meet-up location, after Keane ordered JOC to turn in their guns and badges and disband. With Maggie confirming Keane’s complicity, it was decided that the JOC gang — Taylor, Lim and Moran included! — would arm themselves best they could and lie in wait. An alive Isobel in turn revealed herself to Keane, pretended to want in on Forefront, and snitched on JOC’s whereabouts to prove her disloyalty. Keane dispatched agents to take out JOC at the subway station, but they got picked off one by one by OA (Zaki), Scola (John Boyd) et al.
Afterwards, Isobel showed up at the JOC office with police to arrest Keane, having 1) secretly recorded their meeting from earlier, and 2) secured testimony from his lead henchman.
Some time later, Jubal rallied and cheered the troops back inside HQ, then turned the floor over to Isobel to relay her own kudos. But early into her speech, Isobel began repeating herself, then scrambling her words. She then paused, clearly addled, and collapsed to the floor. Maggie raced to Isobel’s side and found no pulse, beckoning the others to call 911….
