FBI International – Season 2 Episode 18 “Blood Feud” Recap & Review

Blood Feud

FBI: International Season 2 episode 18 begins with Vladislav in prison in Omsk Gulag, Russia. Later, Vladislav is at a chapel praying when he begins to attack the prison guards. He manages to get out of prison, and another guard drives him off from the premises. The guard gives him a picture of Forrester and asks where he is headed, and he says Budapest.

In Budapest, the team and Maya are at a restaurant. Maya gives Vo a gift for her recent birthday, and Vo is excited about the gift. She then tells Maya that she is just what Raines needs. But judging by how she’s looking at them, I’m still convinced she has a thing for Raines.

Forrester then gets an anonymous text and gets out of the restaurant. Kellet notices him leaving, and she follows her. But it turns out it’s a CIA agent who texted him, so he asks Forrester to signal Kellet that everything’s okay. The CIA agent then drives Forrester to meet none other than Pavel Novikoff.

Novikoff tells Forrester that Vladislav has escaped and is on his way to Budapest. Forrester appreciates Novikoff for the information but tells him that his team will handle everything. But Novikoff convinces Forrester that he will be of great help in finding Vladislav, so he allows him to stay and help.

Vo later updates the team on Vladislav and the prison guard, Sergei Diatchenko, who helped him escape. The rest of the team tries convincing Forrester to leave Hungary. But Forrester disagrees and tells them that his escaping will only put more people in danger. So, they resort to putting Forrester in a safe house in Budapest.

At the safe house, Forrester tells Kellet they’re blowing everything out of proportion by placing him there. But Kellet tells him it’s the right thing to do. She also voices her suspicions about Novikoff but, Forrester tells her that his mother trusted Novikoff so, he will do so as well. The team tracks Sergei’s phone and realizes that there’s a chance that he and Vladislav are already in Hungary and are on a train heading to Budapest.

The team gets to the train but finds Sergei handcuffed in a room inside the train and Vladislav missing. They also find a dead man inside the train. Smitty then calls Forrester and tells him that Vladislav isn’t on the train, meaning he’s on coming for him.

Raines and Vo bring in Sergei to question him. Sergei was helping Vladislav escape because he had a man take his two sons. And if he didn’t follow Vladislav’s orders, there’s no telling what he would do to his children.

Vo and Smitty then ask Forrester to talk to a Russian informant he knows, Gregor Lebedev, to see if he knows anything about Vladislav’s whereabouts. Raines calls Smitty and Vo aside to tell them the man they found dead inside the train Sergei and Vladislav were on is from the Russian government.

Raines points out that since Vladislav is a Russian criminal, he may be wanted by the Russian government. He also points out that the Russian government coincidentally started coming for Vladislav after Novikoff showed up. So, he suspects Novikoff is tipping off the Russian government to get on their good books again as he had betrayed them. They realize Novikoff possibly tipping off the Russian government about Vladislav’s whereabouts may put Forrester in danger.

Forrester meets with Gregor, who tells him to meet him at the park later on after he has done some digging to find out Vladislav’s whereabouts. As he and Kellet are driving away from Gregor’s shop, they realize a car is following them, so they pull over. It is two men from the Russian government following him. The men ask Forrester about Sergei’s whereabouts, and Forrester wonders why they aren’t looking for Vladislav instead.

After they leave, they realize that the CIA and the Russian government have other plans, as they want Vladislav alive. This means Novikoff coming to Budapest wasn’t to help Forrester catch Vladislav.

Later, Forrester meets Gregor at the park but finds him killed. He also discovers a file drive in his mouth. The team later checks the park’s CCTV footage and sees Vladislav, meaning he’s the one who killed Gregor and put that drive in his mouth.

They later check what’s inside the drive and discover photos of Forrester going about his daily endeavours. They check the photos’ time stamps and realize they were taken way before Vladislav escaped prison, meaning he had someone watch Forrester in Budapest while he was in prison.

Forrester and Kellet confront Novikoff about why he really is here, and they realize that the CIA and the Russian government want to trade Vladislav in exchange for Novikoff. So, Novikoff came to help Forrester take down Vladislav so he would have to be taken to Russia as he would be killed for betraying them to the US government.

Vo uses the photos on the drive to track the photographer’s location, and they find him. Raines and Forrester then go to find him.

They go to the photographer’s house and discover he took photos of the entire fly team and Maya, per Vladislav’s instructions. Raines tries calling Maya, but she doesn’t pick up. So, he and Forrester go to Maya’s bar to check on her.

Raines and Forrester reach the bar, and it’s obvious there was a struggle. They check the bar’s surveillance camera footage and see Vladislav kidnapping Maya, and this breaks Raines. They then realize there’s a camera in the bar, meaning Vladislav is watching them. Vladislav calls them via the phone at the bar. Forrester picks up, and Vladislav tells him to meet him alone, or he’ll kill Maya.

Forrester tells Raines what Vladislav said, but Raines insists on going with him. So, Forrester tricks Raines into meeting Vo and Kellet, thinking he’s going to save Maya. And as expected, he’s mad Forrester did this.

Meanwhile, Forrester goes to meet Vladislav alone. He comes out with Maya, placing a gun to her head. Forrester and Maya fight Vladislav, and Forrester finally shoots him dead. Later, the rest of the team, the local police, and paramedics come to the location where Maya, Vladislav, and Forrester were. It’s obvious Raines is mad at Forrester for tricking him into not accompanying him to rescue Maya earlier.

That night, the CIA agent who brought Novikoff comes to pick him up. Now that Vladislav is dead, there won’t be a trade between the CIA and the Russian government, meaning Novikoff is safe. Forrester asks the CIA agent what would happen if Vladislav was caught alive, and the CIA agent tells him they would never have traded Novikoff for Vladislav.

Elsewhere, Raines takes Maya back to the bar. And as expected, she’s scared to go in there. Maya then tells Raines that Vladislav told her that if he showed up at the location where he was kidnapped, he would have killed her. So, Forrester did the right thing by tricking him into not going with him earlier. The episode ends with Raines texting Forrester that they’re all good.

The Episode Review

This episode has once again shown just how difficult it is for people in law enforcement. I would have felt bad for Forrester if something happened to Maya because he’s the one who Vladislav was after in the first place. But, it would have been harder for Raines if something happened to Maya.

It’s more obvious now that Vo has feelings for Raines, but I respect her for respecting Raines and Maya’s relationship.