In murder, as in so many things, it’s hard to top the original.
After taking on a case of a Hitchcockian murder plot, the FBI: Most Wanted team handled someone replicating some famous mob murders.
Meanwhile, there was more insight into Remy’s romantic past that made Greatest Hits a thriller to show how “old school” is often hard to beat.
The worst “greatest hits” collection ever
In 1989 Queens, New York, two men talked about how a man named “Jimmy” had been good to one, but his ally told him, “it’s just business.” He talked of how he’d already arranged a hit on their boss.
As they headed to a drive-thru, the clerk suddenly opened fire with a machine gun to take them all out.
Remy was woken up after a wild night by friend Georgie (Jacob Harran), who had his suits. Remy got a call about a woman and her two kids killed in a drive-thru in Massapequa, New York, and raced to the scene.
The victims were Brienna Morgan and her two sons as employee Kevin Williams had opened fire point-blank with an assault rifle. He was on the run with Remy shaken, examining the bodies. The cops were worried this was a gang hit and thus called in the team.
Brienna’s husband, Dave (Nick Reynolds), was naturally shocked at all this. He related that Brienna was supposed to be alone but was taking the kids for a snack before school because of a dental appointment. He had no idea why anyone would target them as he broke down crying.
Kevin’s boss, Ayala West (Latrisha Talley), revealed the man they thought was Kevin Williams was actually someone else using a stolen ID and was doing this just to get at the drive-thru window.
Elsewhere, Louie Moss (Mike Massimino) had an employee (Mike Donovan) asking about “off the books” jobs, convinced this was a mob operation. An outraged Louie said this was a legit operation to fire him.
The man stormed off while removing a license plate from a collection in his trunk of plates from different states to put on his car.
The real Kevin Williams had an alibi, and there was no sign as to why the Morgans were attacked. It seemed they were random victims as Hana found a murder matching that very drive-thru setup.
That murder was committed by Jackie “The Fox” Bianchi, a famous mob hitman responsible for scores of deaths. He was believed killed in a boat explosion in 1992, but the body was never identified.
As it happened, someone on a podcast was claiming to be a still alive Jackie airing from an undisclosed location on “My Greatest Hits.” Remy bantered on knowing how to download a podcast as the team looked into things.
A copycat of a deadly spree
Terry Daniels (Glynn Truman), the retired FBI agent who’d been hunting Jackie, listened to the podcast and was convinced it was really him. He was reluctant to get into this until Remy got a call about three people shot at a funeral, just like one of Jackie’s past hits.
The team noted how Jackie had only shot one person, but the copycat shot three in hopes one would fall into the open grave as Jackie’s victim did. They realized the killer was using civilians to recreate Jackie’s past hits.
The team theorized that the killer hoped to become a mobster himself by replicating Jackie’s work. Truman suggested Lucca Patino Jr, son of a former informant taking over the family business, while Remy thought Jackie’s wife might have clues.
The podcast owners admitted they didn’t know where Jackie broadcast from but refused to give up more on legal grounds unless they had a warrant. Truman and Scott met Lucca (Michael Romero Ruocco), who was into renewable energy. He said he’d heard about the killer and put them on the track of Louie.
Remy met Judge April Brooks (Wendy Moniz) for a warrant to get the podcast’s information. Scott tried to turn on the charm, but Brooks turned him and the application down.
The agents talked to Louie, who identified the sketch of the killer as the guy he’d fired, Joey Messina, a wannabe gangster everyone thought was a joke. They raided his apartment to find his “soon to be ex-girlfriend” and her child there, the woman hoping “you do us all a favor and shoot him.”
As Jackie had committed 14 murders (that the feds knew of), that meant still a dozen for Joey to copy. However, he was committing the murders out of order that Jackie had, making it hard to figure out his next target.
Daniels suggested, “Jesse Lamps” (John Palumbo), an older mobster who might have info. He was sure the guy on the podcast was Jackie but couldn’t give more information.
Across town, Joey strangled a man in a cigar club and shot two people who tried to interfere. The team was worried he was escalating as Daniels said all this attention was the last thing the mob wanted and would never hire Joey.
Hana found Jackie’s wife, Dolce (Marianne Ferrari), who didn’t believe the podcaster was Jackie. Ortiz’s food knowledge came in handy as he realized Dolce was the woman in some cooking videos he liked to watch.
The same video showed her and a man with their faces hidden, but Daniels recognized the man as having a scar just like Jackie had gotten from surgery. They realized all this time Jackie had been hiding in Las Vegas.
Old school meets modern-day
It just so happened Remy had someone in Vegas who could help them: His ex-wife Det. Carmen Schmidt (Lisa Datz). The pair were on good terms as the cops had tracked Jackie down to an apartment to finally catch Jackie (Paul Ben-Victor).
Jackie acted surprised to hear about Joey, but they found emails of him congratulating Joey on his actions. He wasn’t helpful, openly threatening the entire team but managed to talk them into a plea deal in exchange for his help.
Carmen and Remy bantered a bit about her new boyfriend and sending Remy’s stuff over. She asked if he’d met anyone and “make space for someone. You deserve to be happy too.”
Remy and Hana went to Brooks’ apartment with coffee and a request for the deal on Jackie. She headed in to read with Remy, impressed by her toughness.
Jackie was brought to New York for a reunion with Daniels, who mocked him once, saying “you’d never be a rat.” Jackie tried to spell out a message to Joey, but they were suspicious he was trying to warn the kid.
Jackie claimed Joey had changed the meeting place, using Jackie’s own words on being unpredictable. The new spot was a park by the waterfront, which made it harder for the agents to blend in.
Joey showed up, but Jackie told him to run while he took off as well. The agents took moments to capture Jackie and corner Joey, who decided to follow Jackie’s way of escaping into the water.
Remy offered him a chance to live in jail, but Joey tried to take a fed down with him, forcing Ortiz to shoot him.
The deal was off, which meant Jackie was headed to jail for the rest of his life. Remy returned home to find the rest of his stuff from Vegas had arrived. It included a bottle of vodka.
Remy headed to Brooks’ home with her, at first annoyed as Remy offered a drink. He wanted to know her better as “I do impulsive. Life’s more fun that way.” She had to laugh as she was intrigued by Scott’s daring.
The murder hunt was thrilling enough but more intriguing to get insight to Scott’s past and a possible new romance.
FBI: Most Wanted Season 3 airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS.