Sometimes, being on the same side doesn’t make everyone allies.
After the shocking firing of Jaeger by her boss Smit last week, the FBI: International team had to handle a case of major political implications.
However, the ending of last night’s episode titled Black Penguin helped wrap up a big subplot for the penultimate episode of the season.
A party goes badly
In Berlin, a party was in full swing at a posh penthouse. A young man named Thomas Watts (Milo Callaghan) led a woman to a private room, talking about how he wanted a life free of his wealthy parents as they bantered.
Coming to the apartment the next day, Gabriel (Matt Corboy) and Marian Watts (Nicole Forester) were at first upset to find the apartment a mess. But then they found Thomas overdosing on the floor with a drawing of that woman nearby.
Kellett was angry about Jaeger being fired as Jaeger shared the real reason why. Years before, Smit had busted a major crime ring in Germany, but Jaeger suspected he was working both sides. She filed a report, but nothing happened and when Smit was promoted at Europol, she knew it was a matter of time before he came after her.
They were then surprised to meet both the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, Frank DeLillo (Marcus Ho) and the ambassador to Germany, Amy Schwartz (Diedrie Henry).
The pair brought Forrester up to speed on how Watts, a noted billionaire, wanted answers to his son’s fate. Forrester was wary as this wasn’t really a criminal case until he heard the President of the United States was making it a “request” that couldn’t be turned down.
The team wasn’t happy about this but traveled to Berlin, where Inspector Leon Honsel (Chris Rogers) welcomed them. Thomas’ tox screen had shown drugs, including fentanyl which was rare in Germany. Forrester and Jaeger both found Honsel denying there were any local overdoses as suspicious.
Forrester and Kellett went to Thomas’ hospital room to meet the Wattses family and their security chief, Mark Levinson (T.J. Ramini). The Wattses said Thomas was a rebellious type, but they loved him and would give anything to keep Thomas safe.
The Wattses couldn’t give any suspects but felt Thomas must have had friends. Vo and Raines checked out Thomas’ apartment, intrigued by the portrait of the woman.
They talked to a couple of the partygoers, who mentioned Thomas being pretty straight-laced. One admitted the party got out of hand and identified the woman in the drawing as talking to Thomas. Raines realized this wasn’t Thomas’ actual flat but used by a friend.
Forrester and Kellett checked out Thomas’ real place only to find some men already searching it, leading to a Mexican type standoff in Berlin.
They’re agents, not employees
After a tense standoff, Levinson showed up to reveal this was Watts’ personal security team doing their own investigation. Forrester and Kellett were ticked and more so when Levinson stated they also “worked” for Watts.
Watts defended himself on putting out more resources, with Forrester arguing they could crack Thomas’ laptop faster than Watts’ guys. Watts agreed to give it to them while Forrester made it clear they were not his employees.
Jaeger met Ilsa Meier (Annabell Mandeng), an old contact, who shared that Honsel was in over his head as he only had this job because his father was in Parliament. Meier shared how Thomas’s supplier might have been a user themselves to lead to the drug lord.
Smit was on scene to snap at Jaeger, who coldly told him, “this is my last case and I intend to solve it,” before marching away.
Thomas’ laptop showed he had a secret account for his artwork as he wanted to be judged by it, not his family wealth. They recognized one photo as the woman from the portrait who was Tanja Kessler (Carlotta Banat), a local student/artist.
Tanja talked of just meeting Thomas at the party and didn’t know who his family was. She admitted they’d done some drugs together, but Thomas became manic, insisting on drawing her. He was still okay when she left in the morning.
The team soon realized the dealer was Finn Mueller (Raphael Zari), one of Thomas’ “friends” who had a history of dealing and once overdosed himself. Mueller admitted feeling the addiction and would never help someone else fall into that.
Mueller confessed to knowing an app code-named “Black Penguin” used to score drugs on the Berlin black market. There was no record on Thomas’ computer of him using it.
Forrester and Kellett arrived at the hospital only to discover Thomas had flatlined and the doctors were unable to revive him. They could only watch as the Wattses mourned their son.
The final bust and a comeuppance delivered
The Wattses were devastated, with Gabriel saying his team would handle this. But Forrester argued with Schwartz they were not quitting until they found who was responsible and was ready to call the director himself over this.
Honsel was still out of his league, working with Watts’ group on any leads. Raines decided to use the app to try and lure out the dealer with a buy.
The team staked out the club where the buy was to take place, a dealer approached but ran when he realized it was a trap. Levinson captured him to ruin the bust, thinking the job was done.
Forrester was tearing into Honsel about this, with Jaeger trying to play peacemaker but pointing out Honsels’ incompetence making things worse. A check of Thomas’ phone confirmed he had ordered the pills that were cut with fentanyl. The delivery man claimed to know nothing of this.
Levinson thanked the team for their help, but Forrester was interested in how Levinson had known about Thomas’ secret apartment when the team didn’t to get there first.
Finding the Wattses leaving, Forrester confronted Levinson on being at Thomas’ apartment with video footage confirming it. The Wattses were shocked to see the interrogation to realize Levinson was the one who scored the drugs for Thomas. Gabriel stormed into the room to nearly throttle Levinson himself before being dragged out.
Schwartz apologized to Forrester for doubting him and promised if there was anything he needed, he just had to ask. Forrester called in the favor on the spot to ask if Schwartz had any pull with Interpol.
Smit was shocked to discover he’d just been fired, and Jaeger was given her job back. Jaeger literally sang her way past a dumbstruck Smit.
The Wattses were surprised to be brought to a gallery filled with Thomas’ paintings. They were amazed at the special talent their son had.
It was a good way for the show to solve the Jaeger problem while also showing a clash involving politics.
FBI: International Season 1 finale airs Tuesday May 24 at 9/8c on CBS.