Sadly, you’re never too young to experience a crucible.
After the Season 2 premiere introduced new Europol liaison Megan “Smitty” Garretson, the FBI: International team had to take on a twisted hacker.
This predator who excelled at manipulating innocent young women into his clutches had the smarts to give the Fly Team a run for the money.
But one of his victims showed more courage than expected to aid the team in hunting the man down.
That had Kellett thinking of her past to bond with the girl even as there was a question of trust between them.
This made Don’t Say Her Name Again a dark but intense episode of FBI: International to keep the thrills going.
A twisted predator shows himself
In a room, a man was sending a message to a teenager demanding she makes a video, ignoring her pleas to stop, and threatening to send some photos to everyone in her school. The girl threatened to call the police, but he replied, “I’m not in the United States. They can’t touch me.”
He then threw open the curtains on the windows to show he was in Budapest.
At headquarters, Vo had to tell Kellett that she couldn’t move into her new apartment as planned. Smitty said she needed a place to live as Kellett gave her a “personality quiz” to judge her as a roommate.
Forrester shared how they had a case of a man with the handle of MenoKid tricking teenage women into giving up a risque photo and then threatening to release it unless they gave up more explicit ones. One victim, Charlotte Weston (Ruby Jay), managed to call the cops who tracked the signal to Budapest.
At the local police station, they met their contact Laszlo Lakatos (Gyuri Sarossy), to get information on the guy. Kellett got a call from Cybercrimes and was surprised to hear that Charlotte had landed alone in Budapest.
As Detective Beatrix Toth (Veronika Vas) warned the team that cybercrimes weren’t a high priority in Budapest, they found a link to Andor Molnar (Miklos Beres), already a convict pushing child pornography.
Raines and Vo found Molnar doing his work service and used a few threats to get him to admit that MenoKid wasn’t doing this for money but the thrill and had nearly a dozen different aliases, which meant far more victims.
Charlotte told Kellett she had met “Chet” online a few months earlier when she was still 16 and started sending him risque photos before realizing who he was. He’d bragged about his many “girls” as she sent the info to Cybercrimes.
Combining all of “Chet’s” aliases, the team was horrified to realize there were over 200 victims spread across the United States. Charlotte’s mother, Mimi (Marguerite Stimpson), called to say that Charlotte was in a relationship with “Chet” and to not believe or use her in their case.
Is she really a victim?
Charlotte was horrified her mother believed she could love this guy. She claimed she’d only acted being into him to lure him out, only for her mother to believe it was real. She insisted on being involved as “you don’t know what this guy took from me.”
The team was still debating whether or not Charlotte was telling the truth, with Vo suggesting Charlotte might have been a mole for the hacker. Kellett believed her as she had been through much the same as Charlotte at her age.
Smitty warned about using Charlotte with Kellet, saying she was their best bet. Kellett and Vo had Charlotte make a quick video to “Chet,” which had malware to track him.
The team tracked the signal only to find “Chet” had managed to reroute it to an innocent bar owner.
Charlotte was shaken hearing he’d gotten away as Kellett helped her cope. “Chet” called to ask if Charlotte was working with the cops and demanded a full nude video as proof she wasn’t.
The team arrived to figure “Chet” was watching the bar. Kellett and Smitty helped her calm the guy down as Raines tracked a new signal to a nearby apartment.
The agents and cops headed in with Smitty smashing down the door to the back to find a hacker’s paradise. It also triggered a “kill switch” that wiped all the computers of their data before Raines could stop it.
Stopping the predator’s reign
The hacker’s mother, Elke (Larissa Kouznetsova), insisted her son was “a good kid.” The team identified him as Horvath (Bastian Tyrko) but putting her face out there would only alert him to the manhunt.
Vo realized Charlotte had done her job well as Horvath was in love with her and could use that to lure him out.
Mimi arrived, ready to take Charlotte home, but she refused to leave. Mimi wasn’t happy about Charlotte doing another video even as she put on a good act of claiming to be in London.
Kellett found Vo shaken at how it was hard for women to “roll the dice” without worrying any man was a possible predator and harder for a teenager. Kellett agreed as they both wanted to catch Horvath.
Horvath replied with a text knowing Charlotte was lying, but they tracked the signal to a bus station. Horvath spotted them running before Forrester and Smitty caught him.
While Horvath had wiped most of his phone’s files, he had enough from Charlotte alone to bust him and send him back to the U.S. for trial. Horvath had a counteroffer: he’d give up the names of other men involved in this ring for a lesser sentence.
Charlotte decided it was worth getting all these girls justice but wanted to see Horvath herself. Vo was shaken going through the man’s disgusting files as Kellett told Horvath never to say Charlotte’s name.
Charlotte confronted Horvath, saying he was her “crucible” to become a stronger person and was ready to leave him behind. “My future starts now, and you’re not touching it.”
Horvath tried to speak, but Kellett and Forrester forcibly stopped him as Kellett checked on an emotional Charlotte.
The team was soon helping the Hungarian police round up scores of online predators. They thanked Charlotte for her help, and she could help other victims heal via an outreach program.
The team hit the bar as Smitty asked Forrester for “inside info” on Kellett as Vo shared how Forrester and Kellett had been a couple while Raines offered to help that bartender upgrade her wi-fi with some sparks flying.
Kellett got a call from Charlotte at the airport to thank her for her help. Kellett said she wished her sister had been as strong as Charlotte to avoid her suicide. They ended the call with an emotional Kellett staring off.
It was a tough case that brought up some old wounds for Kellett but showed a tougher “victim” than most people the Fly Team meet.
FBI: International airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS.