A personal matter nearly got the best of Maggie on FBI this week.
Last week Wallace found herself in a tough spot regarding split loyalties when hunting a cop killer. This week’s episode, Gone Baby Gone, saw the team working on an equally serious case as they tried to find a kidnapped child.
Once again, personal feelings got in the way when Maggie’s returning sister almost caused her to make a huge mistake.
At a small daycare apartment, a woman talked on the phone while a group of kids watched TV. She was startled by a masked man with a gun making her lie down with the kids, then grabbing young Lucia Diaz (Ava Wrubel), warning everyone not to follow him.
A sisterly reunion for Maggie on FBI
At her apartment, Maggie was reuniting with her sister Erin (Adrienne Rose Bengtsson), fresh out of rehab. Rather, she’d been kicked out for drinking at a party. Maggie was unhappy but had to bail for work first.
Lucia’s parents Hugo (Gil Perez-Abraham) and Jenny (Iliana Garcia), were hard-working and honest parents, with Jenny unsure who could have done this. The nanny said the abductor had a tattoo matching the Latin Kings street gang.
Tito Velasquez (Daniel Alatorre), a registered sex offender, lived nearby. OA and Scola dropped by with Tito, of course, trying to run but quickly arrested. He claimed to have no idea about Lucia and that his ex made up the accusations against him. He also had an alibi, being at a diner when the abduction occurred.
It turned out Hugo had walked off his last construction job, which was suspicious. Unfortunately, Maggie was distracted by her doorman calling to inform her Erin had invited a shady-looking man over. Maggie confessed to OA that she wasn’t sure she could trust her sister.
Maggie and OA went to Jenny’s apartment only to find she’d vanished. She’d left a message for Olivia Robinson, who she’d worked for as a nanny.
Maggie and OA hit her apartment to find Olivia (Stephanie Janssen) bound and gagged, saying Jenny had cleaned out her safe of a hundred thousand dollars. The team figured she had to be collecting for a ransom demand.
A deadly distraction
Scola and Wallace tracked Jenny, who took off running and, when caught, hissed, “we don’t want your help.” Facing some serious charges, Jenny finally confessed Hugo had once been into selling drugs to make ends meet. When she found some powder in his room, she flushed it down the toilet, not realizing Hugo now owed someone $80,000.
Jenny had given the money to Hugo to pay off the ransom. Scola and Wallace found Hugo at a park, high as a kite, to “calm down” and began overdosing. The two quickly gave him a drug to save his life.
Hugo gave up the abductor was Ricky Moreno (Sean Michael Gloria), and that he needed the FBI’s help to make the money drop. Isobel was obviously worried about letting an addict do this in a crowded area but let it go ahead. She was also curious why Maggie ran a check on the man her sister was meeting.
Hugo assured Jenny he’d get their daughter back with Jenny telling Maggie she couldn’t judge Hugo for his addictions. Maggie obviously understood her given her own situation with Erin but warned Jenny about trusting him too much.
Jubal confronted Maggie about her tracking that guy and that he had several drug priors. He warned her about using FBI resources with Maggie assuring him she was okay.
The drop took place at a park with the agents surrounding the area. Just as Hugo showed up, Maggie got a phone call telling her an ambulance had pulled up to her apartment. A thuggish man confronted Wallace and Scola to send them off. Maggie was unaware of this, having removed her earpiece when told Erin had overdosed and flatlined.
Ricky met with Hugo, who said he’d keep Lucia until he could sell off the jewels Hugo was giving him. Hugo tackled Ricky down to punch him, with Ricky shooting him. Finally realizing what was happening, Maggie raced out but not before Ricky fatally shot Hugo and then ran past her.
You can’t save everyone
Maggie and Wallace chased after Ricky, who shot a policeman before escaping. Maggie confessed to OA about Erin and he urged her to go check on her.
Ricky had dropped a cell phone that turned out to belong to Tito’s sister, meaning Tito was working with Ricky all along. Tito soon gave up Ricky’s location.
The agents raided the house, quickly subduing Ricky’s gang and finding Lucia hiding in a closet before arresting Ricky.
Jubal found Maggie at the hospital with Erin still unconscious. She wasn’t happy to hear that Jenny, on top of losing her husband, would be charged for the robbery. Maggie took responsibility for taking her eye off the ball, Jubal using his own past drinking problem to point out, “the people who thought they were helping me the most, weren’t.”
Erin awoke with Maggie upset, but her sister brushed this off as a “rough patch.” Maggie said Erin needed help, and until that happened, “I can’t be in your life like this” before walking out.
It was a brutal hour for Maggie to realize too late that sometimes the only way to help someone you love is to stop trying to save them all the time.
FBI Season 4 returns with new episodes Tuesday, December 7 on CBS.