Spoilers ahead for the February 18 episode of FBI: International, called "Blood Doesn't Become Water" and available streaming with a Paramount+ subscription next day.
Just a couple episodes after FBI: International lost Agent Tyler Booth (Jay Hayden) from the Fly Team in the 2025 TV schedule, another newcomer has joined Wes and Co. This time, though, Special Agent Riley Quinn (La Brea's Veronica St. Clair) isn't anybody's old friend; instead, she's been sent on a secret mission to get dirt on Wes Mitchell (Jesse Lee Soffer). While that suggests that Wes is the one whose future is in jeopardy, Eva-Jane Willis' recent comments to CinemaBlend actually have me worried that Smitty could be collateral damage.
What Happened With Booth's Replacement Agent In Episode 12
In a fun twist, FBI: International is Veronica St. Clair's second time playing a character named Riley on a major network TV show after being part of the La Brea cast, but that's about where the fun ends when it comes to the position Agent Quinn is in on the FBI spinoff. At the Baltimore field office, she was approached by Dave Zaleski, a section chief for the inspection division. Unfortunately, he wasn't just there to wish her safe travels to Budapest, and instead leveraged her brother's precarious position with the ATF to pressure her to find dirt on Mitchell while working with the Fly Team.
And after working the case with him, she praised Mitchell to Zaleski and defended him as a "damn good agent, maybe one of the best." He wasn't satisfied with that, and arranged for Quinn to stay overseas, with the instructions to dig into Mitchell's most recent cases: Paris, Ukraine, and England, since he "must have slipped up somewhere." Zaleski didn't answer when she asked why he was going after Mitchell, and the episode ended with Quinn still on a reluctant mission to dig up dirt on the Fly Team leader.
Why Eva-Jane Willis Has Me Worried About Smitty
So, what does any of this have to do with Smitty? Well, if I hadn't had the opportunity to speak with Eva-Jane Willis about returning to England for a very personal case for Smitty and the "real treat" of Christiane Paul's surprise cameo, I probably wouldn't be concerned about the Europol agent in the slightest. After all, Wes was a headache to Smitty to start Season 4 with his more rebellious approach to cases. But in the England episode, Smitty agreed to bending the rules to stop a flight from carrying a killer beyond the FBI's grasp, with Mitchell commenting that he was rubbing off on her.
It was a cute moment in that episode, but it's possible that the timing couldn't be worse for Smitty to start embracing Mitchell's less by-the-book approach to investigations. Willis addressed that moment between Mitchell and Smitty in our interview ahead of "Blood Doesn't Become Water," saying:
I think [with] the new trust between them, the growing trust between them, she has allowed him to rub off on her a touch. He is rubbing off on her, and I think that we might see more of a rebellious side to her in the upcoming episodes. But having said that, this case is personal, and she feels that this kind of old world elitism that we come up against in the case, it's time for it to die. She doesn't stick to the rules so much when it comes to this particular case, because she knows that justice needs to be served.
Smitty might not be ready to go rogue on a weekly basis when she doesn't have a deep personal investment like she did in the case that required her to go back to her old university, but I can't help but wonder if seeing "more of a rebellious side to her" could backfire with Quinn in the mix. After all, her superior specifically mentioned looking into the Fly Team's investigation in England.
During our interview, I noted to Eva-Jane Willis that it's been fun to see Smitty and Mitchell getting along better despite their contrasting worldviews, and she responded:
Exactly. I feel like Mitchell and I are like chalk and cheese in that way, in terms of the experience that we've had and the worlds that we've come from. But I think that's going to be actually at the heart of the relationship that's going to get deeper and more trusting. The fact that what I don't know, he can teach me, and what he doesn't know, I can teach him.
Does any of this mean that FBI: International is 100% setting Smitty up for a fall? Definitely not, but I think it's fair to worry about more members of the Fly Team beyond just Wes for as long as Quinn is in the mix with her secret mission. The promo for the next episode on Tuesday, February 25 at 9 p.m. ET suggests that he's the one in the hot seat, though, and it does look like Riley at least feels bad for working against the other agents. Take a look:
As always, FBI: International airs in the middle of CBS' hit FBI block on Tuesday nights, between the original series at 8 p.m. ET and FBI: Most Wanted at 10 p.m. ET. All three shows' most recent seasons so far are streaming now via Paramount+, but you'll need a Peacock subscription if you want to revisit any of the pre-Wes Mitchell episodes of International.
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