“Too much too soon” can be deadly when you’re an FBI agent.
After Nina bid goodbye, the FBI team welcomed back an old face to the roster.
Following months of recovery, Maggie finally returned to duty on this week’s FBI. She was immediately put into the deep end in a tough case involving two murdered youths.
That had Maggie going undercover while also helping a wayward gang member and insisting she was fine.
However, OA was rightly concerned Maggie was rushing too fast and ignoring her problems.
The fact Maggie was tempted to use some pills to help her cope just added to his fears she wasn’t ready to work.
Thus, while the episode was titled Ready Or Not, the question remains if Maggie truly is ready to come back.
Maggie making her big return
In a park in the Bronx, a woman was finishing up a jog as a man talked to her. Without warning, someone came up to shoot them both dead.
At headquarters, Maggie entered to a warm welcome back from the team. Isobel interrupted the good feelings with news of the double homicide on federal land.
OA was unsure of Maggie coming back, but she assured him she was fine and ready to go.
The victims were Enrique Cortez and Marisol Lugo with their cash on them, so it wasn’t a robbery. Marisol was born in the neighborhood, a top law student, so the community was upset. It also turned out she’d been preparing to go to Quantico.
There didn’t seem to be any connection between Marisol and Enrique, with the agents figuring someone from Enrique’s criminal past came calling, and Marisol was caught in the crossfire.
The weapon matched the one used by a local gang called the Mott Haven Boys, who were known for multiple murders. They were run by Jose Florial (Robert Lee Hart).
Enrique’s girlfriend Brianna (Briana Aponte) was afraid of talking, thanks to the power MHB had over the neighborhood. She admitted Enrique was selling some dope to get money and might have been selling on MHB territory.
Brianna relayed that Enrique and some guy had gotten into a fight and video showed the man attacking Enrique without warning. The attacker was Mateo Diaz (Jeff Lima), a local low-level dealer on probation for assault. He also had the same MHB tattoo the shooter had.
As OA and Maggie got ready, OA found a vial of pills in Maggie’s bag. She admitted she was nervous about coming back to work, and a psychiatrist had prescribed these. However, she hadn’t actually taken any yet, with OA warning her that taking unlicensed medication could cost her her job.
Maggie once more insisted she was fine as she and OA headed into Mateo’s house. As they looked around, Maggie had a flashback to the gas attack.
They spotted Mateo running out and chased him outside, quickly arresting him with a bag of drugs and a gun.
The partners get testy
After putting Mateo in a car, OA talked to Maggie about freezing at the apartment. She tried to brush it off, but as he pressed, she said she just needed time to adjust to being back on the job.
Mateo denied the murder and was tired of cops and others persecuting him. Wallace interrupted to relate the gun wasn’t the murder weapon, and Mateo’s burner phone had been at a warehouse the previous night.
Scola and Wallace checked the warehouse out, discovering it was actually an illegal club. The inhabitants were a bit too high to realize how much trouble they were in.
The place was run by Sam Sloan (Corey Militzok), who used the raves as a cover for drug sales. The video showed Mateo was at the club and was close enough to make it to the murder scene.
Facing charges of cocaine possession, Sam quickly confessed Mateo was gay, which he had to keep secret, or MHB would kill him. He’d told Mateo to get out of the life, but he was too afraid. He also had photos of him and Mateo together all night.
OA and Maggie talked to Mateo about how he was still facing charges of drug dealing unless he helped them. Mateo asked to talk to Maggie alone to beg her to keep this quiet because he and Sam were dead if MHB found out about them.
Maggie said Mateo could trust her to help if he had information. Mateo said Jose killed Enrique for selling on his territory. Maggie told Mateo to wear a wire for a confession, but he said he was too low-level to deal with Jose.
Maggie suggested using Mateo’s contact Frankie to get closer to Jose. She volunteered to go undercover with OA immediately, saying he’d do it. The two began talking about the “machismo” thing, with Maggie insisting she could handle it.
After Isobel agreed, Maggie snapped at OA for trying to stop her. He said he wanted to make sure she was okay as she’d been close to death and frozen up before. Maggie insisted she wouldn’t be here unless she were sure she was good.
OA pointed out Maggie had forgotten her gun, and when he asked if she was 100%, she snapped at him to back off.
At a park, the agents were getting antsy about Frankie not showing up. He called to say he was changing it to indoors. OA wanted to call it off as it was too deep in MHB’s turf while Maggie said she was doing it, OA reluctantly agreeing.
Maggie gets in deeper
Mateo and Maggie met Frankie (Mathew Montalvo), with Maggie posing as “Lydia,” a club owner looking for product.
Frankie was naturally suspicious of Maggie’s cover story but eventually accepted her. He showed some drugs with Maggie testing them. Frankie wanted to see Maggie use the drugs herself, with OA wanting to call the whole thing off.
Frankie pulled a gun as OA headed inside. Maggie was about to take a hit when OA hit the alarm. Frankie and Mateo fought, with Maggie revealing herself as an agent. OA entered just as Frankie ended up being shot.
Maggie tried to pull herself together in a staircase, pouring some pills into her hand as she once more remembered the gas attack. It cut to her telling Isobel about the op going south and Mateo shouldn’t be blamed for the accidental shooting.
OA said he had to make a judgment call even as Maggie didn’t look happy. Jose sent a message to Mateo’s phone, and with Frankie in surgery, they had a small window.
Maggie told Mateo he had to keep working with them if he wanted to avoid jail time. She promised Mateo would be put in witness protection if he could get Jose to incriminate himself.
“You live under constant pressure. How many times a day do you wish you didn’t have to hide?” Maggie asked as Mateo agreed. A second text from Jose demanded that Mateo bring “Lydia” along.
Maggie was set with the distress word of “payback.” The team watched her and Mateo as OA admitted he hated this, as even the best agents could have things go bad for them. Wallace and Scola assured him they had Maggie’s back.
Mateo and Maggie entered a warehouse, with OA deciding to get a bit closer to the scene. Jose entered with Mateo, nervous around him. Maggie claimed she and Frankie had a disagreement, and she ended up shooting him.
OA wanted to go in immediately with Wallace and Scola, telling him no. Jose told Mateo he had a chance to move up by shooting Maggie or die with her.
Mateo tried to use Jose’s own line on caring about money first and “She’s a white lady from the real world.” Jose just snorted; he killed a lady from the real world.
Maggie dropped in “payback” to alert the agents to charge in. With Jose distracted, Maggie grabbed his gun and began chasing him. The agents arrested the rest of MHB while Maggie headed deeper into the warehouse.
OA stopped Maggie from firing her gun before realizing Jose had fled through a tunnel. She and OA blew the door to follow him, entering another warehouse as Jose tried to flee in a car but was hemmed in by agents to be arrested.
Maggie told Mateo he and Sam would be okay with Jose going to prison and “Trust me, it’s not easy to start over.”
OA told Maggie he didn’t want her to shoot Jose as he was worried a review board would see the signs she wasn’t ready. Maggie was upset about this, snapping OA didn’t trust her, showing the bottle of pills with none having been used. She stormed away as OA realized he’d pushed her too far.
So while the case may have been handled, it’s obvious Maggie is far from fine, and the fallout may affect her and OA for a while.
FBI Season 5 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.