Spoilers ahead for the Season 7 premiere of FBI, called "Abandoned."
FBI is finally back in the 2024 TV schedule to kick off Season 7, but it wasn't back to business as usual after Tiff endured some unhinged moments in the Season 6 finale in May. She decided to leave the FBI altogether as well as New York City, leading to a touching but understated parting between her and Scola. John Boyd spoke with CinemaBlend about the final scene between the partners and why it was the "obvious" choice to do something new with them.
Tiff's exit doesn't come as a surprise, and not just because she went through the wringer from the beginning to the end of the sixth season due to Hobbs' murder. News broke over the summer that Katherine Renee Kane wouldn't be returning to FBI as a series regular; the question was how FBI would say goodbye when she came back for the Season 7 premiere.
Fortunately, the way FBI said goodbye did not turn out to be by killing Tiff off, and the member of the team who was seriously injured in the Season 7 premiere (which you'll be able to find streaming with a Paramount+ subscription) was actually Scola when he was stabbed in the leg while trying to catch a bad guy. Before she headed down to Georgia to start a new life free of near-death experiences and gunfights, Tiff was on hand to tourniquet his wound and sit with him, and it turned out to be the last 1:1 scene between the partners.
John Boyd, who has been playing Scola since Season 2, opened up about filming that final scene with Katherine Renee Kane and why they did something physical they'd never done before for it. He shared:
It was so fun. It was really exciting to get to shoot that. That sequence was really something special, and we wouldn't have been able to shoot that if we hadn't all been working together as long. The shorthand communication that we all have to pull that off, it was great. The stabbing scene, we're really proud of it. It was an emotional, sad, sad day. It was Katherine and I's last scene together, and it was a really special moment for us as actors, saying goodbye. I had this idea for Tiff... as she's holding the tourniquet, for Scola to just put his hand on her hand as she's holding it, and they're waiting for emergency services. We've never seen them touch.
Not only was the stabbing the last one-on-one scene between Tiff and Scola, but also the last scene that the actors playing the partners filmed together. Plus, it was the climax – admittedly an understated one – of Scola's attempts to talk Tiff out of leaving the Bureau and their partnership. Boyd continued:
They don't hug. Who they are as a partnership, they were so in tune with each other, but it wasn't physical. There was never that type of closeness or intimacy, and I think Tiff was a partner that was able to to call Scola out, in a way, and teach him about letting people see into him. He was a guarded and hidden character. It has been really interesting to explore that. She changed who he was, so for him to hold her hand at the end, for me as an actor, it was just the clear and obvious choice of what to do.
It was clear over the years that even though Tiff and Scola weren't particularly affectionate, they respected and trusted each other. In fact, he might have quit the team at 26 Fed if she hadn't inspired him to stay back in Season 5. Their dynamic didn't really change for the goodbye, but Scola holding her hand was very sweet. The camera also didn't focus on the moment of physical contact, which I'd say makes it feel all the more private and important between the soon-to-be ex-partners. John Boyd concluded:
It was so fun to shoot, and she's an amazing actress. It's been an exciting journey after that to see how that changes, how it's changed Scola, and what he's ready for, and how he can serve the team going forward.
FBI isn't going to waste any time in introducing Scola's new partner, evidently doing so in Episode 2 of Season 7. At this point, I'm just relieved that Katherine Renee Kane returned for the Season 7 premiere so that her character could get a deserving sendoff and a last on-screen moment with Scola. FBI showrunner Mike Weiss shed some further light on why the stabbing scene and handhold was the right move for Tiff and Scola, telling CinemaBlend:
Talking with John about it, we wound up giving them a very them goodbye in that intense moment. They don't hug it out. He doesn't get up on a soapbox and profess his undying admiration for her. They have this really intense in the field moment, which winds up being their goodbye, but the few words that they speak to each other in that climactic moment, I think they really mean them.
All in all, FBI isn't really the show for characters giving grand speeches of admiration or affection, although I could potentially see Maggie and OA feeling comfortable as partners having those conversations with each other. I imagine Tiff and Scola never would have touched hands if she wasn't leaving and he wasn't actively bleeding from a stab wound! It's still a bummer that the show is losing Katherine Renee Kane, but I'm glad that the Season 7 premiere did right by Tiff.
See what FBI has in store for Scola with his new partner with new episodes on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, followed by FBI: International with new leading man Jesse Lee Soffer at 9 p.m. ET and FBI: Most Wanted with its shifting relationships at 10 p.m. ET. You can also revisit earlier episodes of FBI streaming via Paramount+.
