How far would you go to fight for what you believe in?
Last time on FBI, OA found himself put on the spot between his job and his faith which clashed with long-time friend Bashar.
This week, the search for the attackers on an anti-gun activist had Wallace also choosing between what was right and what was convenient.
But, just like the activist, Wallace found fighting for your beliefs can have harsh consequences in the episode titled Ambition.
An explosive start
On a street, a man raced toward a building holding a sign on ending gun violence. It turned out he was just surprising his girlfriend as they walked off. But then the building behind them exploded.
Bashar met with OA to offer a promotion that would lead to a top-level position. OA was surprised as he’d never considered that. He was open as Bashar told him the best thing to do was get to know the brass and “don’t make waves.”
OA arrived at the crime scene, which was Jamie’s Foundation, an anti-gun advocate. Thankfully, it was after hours, so no one was hurt. Ann Tasker (JoNell Kennedy), the head of the Foundation, was ready to blame “the gun nuts,” but vowed this wouldn’t stop her. Her daughter, Jamie, had been murdered, and Ann was determined to end the violence, for her.
With a vote to ban assault weapons coming up, there had been plenty of threats against the Foundation. Ann named the Gotham Freedom Front, a militant gun rights group that had threatened her. “This is what happens when you do nothing.”
OA and Wallace came up with a sign taped to a lamp saying that more bombs were coming. The Gotham Freedom Front had already posted a video from founder Paul Bogdan (Burke Moses), who called Ann an “enemy of the people who must be neutralized by any means necessary.”
Bogdan denied direct responsibility as the vote would fail anyway, so any attack on Ann would only aid her cause. He was aware of the bad press if one of his followers took his rhetoric seriously and named David Moder (Kyle Klaus), a “loose cannon” who threatened Ann.
As a former soldier with bomb training, Moder was posting that “patriots” should bring guns to defend the Front’s headquarters against protestors. The agents were quickly on the scene, with Moder trying to run and tackled by two cops who beat him down before Wallace and OA stopped them.
Wallace and OA clash on cops
Moder wasn’t talking with Wallace, noting the “unwritten rule” of cops roughing up suspects. OA seemed unsure as Wallace went on that she wasn’t happy about it herself and was putting in a report to Internal Affairs.
With hours until the vote closed, there was a search for any of Moder’s possible accomplices. He’d been checking out a storage locker in New Jersey where the team found a bomb-making lab with evidence of at least once more made explosive.
The locker manager revealed Moder had been with another man, and video showed them putting a bomb into a stolen car.
Someone posted Ann’s home address, making her the likely target. Ann refused to lay low as surrendering to threats would tarnish her daughter’s memory.
Wallace and OA pressed Moder on how he’d be charged with any bombing, which finally made him break on a man named “Wally,” who had hired him to make the bombs, but he didn’t know more than the name.
Jubal entered a bar to meet a man, claiming to be a friend of Moder’s, wanting to find Wally. He was led to the pool table in the back, where the group was instantly suspicious of him.
Jubal claimed he was just paying off Moder’s debt and got the info on Wally aka Walter Forrest (Bryan Kaplan). The team tracked him to a warehouse area, but Wally spotted them and took off running.
Hunting for the bomber and target
As the team continued the hunt, Isobel told Wallace the NYPD claimed it was a routine takedown and was nervous about making a bigger deal about this. Wallace refused to back down from what she saw, which Isobel was proud of.
A search showed Wally made some stops, with one near the address of Tammy Estes (Vanessa McMahan). She tried to play dumb, only for the agents to break in as Wally was trying to escape out the back and was intercepted by OA.
Bashar congratulated OA on the arrest and then brought up Wallace’s complaint. He not-so-subtly pressed OA to tell Internal Affairs that it was a “confusing situation” and that it was in OA’s best interests not to back what Wallace saw.
While Wally refused to talk, claiming he was fighting for his cause, Scola realized he had fresh tar on his shoe. A quick check focused on an independent paper called The Sentinel that had criticized the Gotham Freedom Front.
With the paper’s office closed down due to the pandemic, no one should have been inside. However, just as OA said some teenagers had broken in, the building exploded, killing two and injuring another.
Jubal brought the news to Wally, who was rocked to hear he was now on the hook for murder. He claimed someone on a chat board had contacted him, offering money just to blow up some empty buildings and scare Ann.
The ringleader had covered their tracks with the team putting a message supposedly from Wally. That got them a fix to the IP address, which came back to…Ann Tasker.
They headed to her place to find her gone with evidence of the Sentinel’s office. Maggie speculated Ann was pulling a “false flag,” making herself a supposed target of gun nuts to get the initiative passed. However, the news broke that the ballot had failed, which made her more dangerous.
Two sad conclusions occur
It seemed after years of trying to ban guns, Ann lost it after her efforts were in vain. They tracked her car to the headquarters of the Gotham Freedom Front with the agents quickly on the scene as Bogdan revealed Ann had broken into his office to take his assistant Susan hostage.
A gunshot was heard with Ann texting Maggie that she’d shoot Susan if Bogdan didn’t show up. Maggie offered to go inside, using her connection to Ann to get to her.
Maggie faced Ann in the office with her threatening Susan unless Bogdan was given to her. Jubal noted the irony of an anti-gun advocate now using a gun on another woman as they tried to find a way to reach her.
Ann couldn’t take her crusade failing and wanted Bogdan to know what losing someone to gun violence meant. Maggie reminded Ann this was about her daughter and all this would only disgrace her memory. She had to break it to Ann about the kids killed in the bombing, causing Ann to be horrified at what she’d done. She finally surrendered herself, wracked with guilt over her actions.
OA warned Wallace about the reactions to her report and it could cause friction between the FBI and the NYPD. Wallace admitted he was right, but she couldn’t back down after keeping silent about seeing this stuff for years.
OA was called before the IAB agents and, after hesitation, backed up Wallace calling it an assault by the cops. At a bar, he got a message from Bashar blowing him off and realized he’d just cost himself a promotion for standing up for his partner.
It was a rough hour to show doing the right thing doesn’t always work out right.
FBI Season 4 returns with new episodes Tuesday March 22 at 8/7c on CBS.