Spoilers ahead for Episode 19 of FBI: International Season 1, called “Get That Revolution Started.”
FBI: International recently got some very good news from CBS, but the Fly Team wasn’t doing so well by the end of “Get That Revolution Started” on May 10. The case of the week took them to Belgium after an American died in a sniper attack, but there were some complications that mean one member of the team might be gone by the end of the season unless something changes. In a surprise twist, it’s not one of the FBI agents in hot water, but Europol Agent Katrin Jaeger.
It was a tricky case this week, made all the trickier by the arrival of Europol Deputy Executive Director Willem Smit, a.k.a. Jaeger’s boss. While she usually seems smooth and in control when she and the Fly Team are out in the field, Smit wasted no time in putting her down in front of them. Of course, he also put them down by talking about how they bend the rules and their “habit of ignoring protocol,” and it was clear that he blamed Jaeger for not doing her assigned job to “rein in the Americans.” In fact, if the Fly Team wasn’t getting the right results, he would have already fired her.
Smit no longer had that reservation by the end of the episode, after he started interfering. He dismissed her from where she was protecting a family being hunted, and ended the hour by explicitly firing her right in front of Forrester, who recently learned a valuable lesson. He tried to come to Jaeger’s defense and say that anybody would have made the same call that she did, but that didn’t quite accomplish what he was going for, as Smit just said that he’d reprimand Forrester too if he had the power to do so. He ultimately told Jaeger:
Save your breath. I’ve already spoken to the Executive Director. It’s done. I’ve recommended Miss Jaeger’s immediate and permanent removal… It may take a week or two to work through the bureaucratic system, but make no mistake. You’re fired.
Jaeger shot back that his claim that he came to supervise her was never the truth, and he’d worked to present the facts of the case in a way designed to get her fired. He didn’t deny it, but walked out after telling her the news that she was fired. Of course, there may be some wiggle room in the fact that it’ll take a bit of time for her firing to be finalized, but on the whole, there doesn’t seem to be much hope.
The FBI agents don’t have any power over Europol, and even the favor that Kellett is owed by the attorney general might not be able to do anything even if she wanted to call it in for Jaeger. If anything, Jaeger was the one who was able to call in favors with her contacts across Europe. So, is FBI: International (available streaming with a Paramount+ subscription) really losing a member of the team before the end of the first season?
Personally, I hope not, because Jaeger has been a key part of the team’s chemistry all along, and it’s hard to imagine anybody filling her shoes quite the same way. I’m not sure what it would take for her to keep her job after Smit’s recommendation, however, unless Smit himself is discredited or he withdraws his rec.
See what’s next with the final episodes of FBI: International Season 1 on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, between FBI Season 4 at 8 p.m. and FBI: Most Wanted at 10 p.m. For when all three shows and many more will wrap for the season, check out our 2022 spring TV finale schedule, and take a look at our 2022 TV premiere schedule for shows that are still on the way this year.
