Murder isn’t a very fashionable event, no matter how good it may look.
After a case of a kidnapping tied to a con man, the FBI: International team hit Milan to investigate a model’s death.
They had to do it without Forrester, who was on a special assignment and suspicious of the reasons.
The case had Vo going undercover only to run into a dangerous foe and a less-than-helpful Italian police force.
That left Smitty to find a way to save the case with a unique move.
That summarized Hail Mary as a tricky assignment for the team without their usual leader.
A less than model event
In Milan, a woman named Emma Staley (Mia Challis) was at a fancy party. She was pushed by Luca Rossi (Tommaso Basili) to mingle with the guests.
Emma tried at first but decided she was going home. As she left, a woman fell from above and crashed into a car in front of her.
Kellett was surprised to come to the office to find Dandrige (Michael Torpey) waiting to tell her that Forrester’s training in Quantico as “supervisor in-service training” was being extended, so Kellett was in charge. He was also in charge of any agent duties.
The team sensed something was wrong before Raines got a note on Jocelyn Bell’s death as Emma claimed Jocelyn had been murdered, not jumped. Luca owned the modeling agency Emma and Jocelyn worked for, with Smitty saying the man had a bad reputation.
Smitty warned the team that Italy let their prosecutors take charge on cases rather than the police to complicate things. They met Captain Sindona (Antonio Zavetteri), who was friendly but insisted this was a suicide and Emma had been drunk. Kellett said they were still going to investigate.
Vo and Kellett talked to Emma about seeing her in a fight with an older man. She’d been doing Instagram posts when she was discovered and admitted that she was unprepared for how she had to “pay the bills” with her party work.
The agents could tell Emma was nervous even as she denied being drunk. Smitty and Raines met prosecutor Nunzia Linari (Elsa Mollien), who had brought Luca to where Jocelyn had died and likewise didn’t think this was a murder.
Smitty questioned Rossi, who was evasive as she said he was about to drop Jocelyn as a client. He was also interested if Emma was their witness before his lawyer ended the interview. The crime scene was hopelessly contaminated and had no security footage. However, it did look like Jocelyn had been pushed.
Smitty realized there was a neighbor (Natasha Cashman) across the street, and while the woman denied seeing anything, Smitty left her card behind.
The evidence indicated Jocelyn had been beaten. However, Emma turned out to be bipolar, making her a less than reliable witness. Smitty and Kellett headed to her room only to find Emma had fled.
Vo hits a rough party
The agents were outraged that the cop watching Emma took a lunch break, and Sindona didn’t think anything was wrong. Raines said Emma had left with two men in dark suits. Kellett snapped that Sindona had better hope he was just incompetent.
Another model, Rafaella (Francesca Tizzano), was readying for a party as she was more than happy to work for Rossi to escape her life. Vo pressed on what else Rossi had made his models do, with the model saying Jocelyn was popular, including with one rich guy.
They found a video of Jocelyn wearing an expensive necklace that wasn’t on her when she died. Her boyfriend was Walter Maldini (Thomas Kadman), a hedge fund manager Europol thought was guilty of fraud. He was also accused of assault on women but always managed to squeak out of it.
Vo figured they could find Emma to get Maldini, but Linari refused to authorize any investigation. However, Sindona seemed more open as he had experience with Maldini.
It turned out Maldini was attending one of Rossi’s parties and the team figured this was their way in. Meanwhile, Smitty had Raines print out photos of Jocelyn’s body to show the neighbor.
Vo pushed Rafaella to help Emma and any other woman in trouble. She had looked into Rafaella’s background and wanted her to be the girl in the village helping others.
Rafaella talked Rossi into hiring a “friend” of hers, who was Vo.
While Vo was ready for her job, Dandridge chimed in on how Linari wasn’t happy about the team working on this but was helping the team smooth things over. He also wanted them to run through anything they did.
Smitty and Kellett agreed Dandrige was up to something but were letting the investigation go forward.
Vo and Rafaella attended the party, with Vo talking up Maldini, bringing up Jocelyn to reel Maldini in, claiming that Jocelyn said her boyfriend was abusive. She also claimed Jocelyn had proof of Maldini’s behavior with him, saying they had to talk in private.
Vo went to find Rafaella, only for Maldini to have figured out who she was. Vo got into his face about how he treated women and accused Maldini of murdering Jocelyn.
He had to fight his temper as he had security throw Vo out and laughed about showing Emma “a good time.” Vo followed him to a room where Emma was with some rich men.
Smitty makes a bold play
It was obvious Emma was afraid of talking as Vo pressed her to talk. Maldini’s wife, Chiara (Helena Antonio), walked in, wearing Jocelyn’s necklace. Chiara claimed that Maldini was with her that night as they mockingly sent Vo out.
Sindona said the team was being ordered out as he agreed Maldini was guilty but was facing pressure from above. Kellett pressed him to be a good cop.
Smitty went to the older woman, pressing her to tell what she saw but got no answer. She returned to find Emma had been brought in, with Linari screaming at Sindona about it.
With lawyer Robert Baldwin hovering over her shoulder, Emma recited a clearly rehearsed story of Maldini picking her up. Vo brought up her witness statement, but Emma still refused to talk and had been off her medicine.
Just as it looked like Maldini would walk, Smitty got a “hail Mary” as the neighbor, Beatrice, decided to talk after all. She related she knew firsthand how abusive men could get away with it in Italy.
Smitty pushed Beatrice on how “with the way the world is, we have to do more than just sit and watch.” Beatrice shared how she just happened to have a camera recording the night of the party.
It showed Maldini hitting Jocelyn before throwing her off the roof. Vo threw a Dante quote at the man as he was led off.
Emma was happy for the help as she’d been too terrified to talk and wanted to get back to her old life. Rafaella was also going to testify about Rossi’s abuse as the two women thanked Vo for the help.
Sindona related they were going to go after Rossi as well as Maldini as Kellet cracked, “you’re actually good at being a cop.”
Smitty dropped by Beatrice again to share a bottle of wine as thanks. The pair watched the streets as they shared their drinks.
It was a unique case as the team was curious on Forrester’s whereabouts and a less-than-model boss in charge.
FBI: International Season 2 returns with new episodes Tuesday January 3 at 9/8c on CBS.