FBI International – Season 2 Episode 20 “A Tradition of Secrets” Recap & Review

A Tradition of Secrets

Episode 20 of FBI: International Season 2 starts at a bank in Geneva, Switzerland. A lady who works there returns to get something before she heads home. As she’s in her office, she notices important bank files being retrieved from the bank’s intranet. She asks her colleague what is happening and realizes he’s the one transferring the files. Realizing he’s been caught, the colleague locks the lady inside his office and runs away.

He gets home and asks his wife to pack up so they can leave. The bank administration arrives at the bank after news of what just happened. One of the administrators starts blaming a guy because he was the one who seemingly recommended the man who stole the bank’s confidential files to work at the bank. The guy assures that all this will be solved once he makes one phone call. The guy, who turns out to be Smitty’s brother, Christopher, then calls Smitty and asks her for help.

The next day in Budapest, Raines and Vo arrive at the fly team’s headquarters to find Powell sleeping on the couch. He hasn’t found a place to live yet. Vo isn’t too thrilled to have Powell on the team and even makes a bet with Raines that Powell won’t last for a week on the team.

Forrester updates the team on the bank robbery in Switzerland. The guy who stole the confidential files is named Phillippe Morand. He and his wife, Anne-Marie, who’s an American, are currently on the run.

The confidential files Phillippe stole from the bank are a list of the bank’s top clients’ names and account balances. So, the team has been called in on this case because the list Phillippe has most likely has the names of notorious US tax evaders, who are the bank’s clients. Forrester also mentions that Christopher asked Smitty for help on this case.

Smitty arrives in Geneva, and Christopher comes to pick her up. Smitty notices he’s doing well for himself. Christopher tells her he’ll lose everything if Phillippe isn’t caught, as he’s the one who vouched for him to be hired at the bank.

The rest of the team arrives at the bank and meets the bank’s chairman, who requests them to conduct the investigation discreetly, which is quite suspicious. They’re then introduced to Switzerland’s federal prosecutor, who’ll be working with them on this case.

Kellet then asks Smitty if Christopher may be behind this. Smitty tells Kellet that while Christopher is self-centred, he can’t do something like that.

Kellet and Forrester question Phillippe’s colleague, Celine, who caught him stealing the files earlier. Forrester asks her if his wife, Anne-Marie, could be an accomplice. Celine then tells them that Phillippe never mentioned he had a wife.

At Phillippe’s house, Raines finds Phillippe’s laptop, so he gains access to it. They find a video of Phillippe narrating how the list he has contains names of tax evaders and how the bank brought him to create a system that hides that information. He then says he will surrender the files if the bank administration is arrested.

Forrester shows the prosecutor the video, and she isn’t interested in knowing who’s on that list. All she wants is for Philippe to be arrested. Kellet informs Forrester and Smitty that Anne-Marie’s stepdad lives in Switzerland, so they go to his house to check on him. Unfortunately, they find him shot dead.

Forrester notices the surveillance camera outside the house is broken, so they hack into it. They see someone, who’s Anne-Marie’s stepdad’s killer shooting the surveillance camera. This means someone else is after the list Phillippe has.

Smitty and Forrester inform the prosecutor and the bank chairman of Anne-Marie’s stepdad’s killer and possibly being hired by one of the bank’s clients on that list. Forrester asks the chairman for the clients’ names on that list, and he refuses. The bank isn’t obligated to release the names on that list unless there’s proof that one of the clients hired the hitman that killed Anne-Marie’s stepdad.

The team are now tasked to find out who killed Anne-Marie’s stepdad without the names on that list. Kellet then suggests asking Attorney General Blair for help. Meanwhile, Raines discovers Phillippe has been to Johannesburg thrice while he’s worked at the bank. But it isn’t clear what he went to do there. Vo commends Raines on his computer skills, and Powell notices Vo’s flirty behavior towards Raines.

Attorney General Blair tells Kellet that while she can’t help with recovering that list, the team’s priority should be getting that list. It turns out one of the bank’s clients is a US tycoon family suspected of hiding their money in Switzerland to avoid paying taxes. Attorney General Blair also tells Kellet that the FBI and Europol aren’t on the same page with this case, so Smitty might not be on their side.

Outside, Powell asks Vo if she and Raines have a thing going on. She denies it but tells Powell that if the circumstances were different, there would be a thing going on between them. But she’s over that now. Well, how about that!

Elsewhere, Anne-Marie is arrested, trying to fly to Johannesburg with a fake passport. The team heads to the airport to question her. All this while, someone is watching from afar. Anne-Marie reveals that Phillippe was threatened by Christopher when he revealed the list of the bank clients because most of them were tax evaders.

Smitty confronts Christopher about Anne-Marie’s claims, but he denies it and tells Smitty he only meant it figuratively. He also tells Smitty that Phillippe wanted money in exchange for his silence. The team now suspects the bank is hiding something, so they resort to quietly investigating this case on their own.

Later, Kellet tells Smitty that Attorney General Blair suspects that she’ll hand over the list to Europol once they get it, and those suspicions hurt Smitty.

The team discovers that Phillippe is having an affair in Johannesburg. So, they tell Anne-Marie, who tells them where Phillippe is hiding. They find Phillippe, who now demands money and full immunity for himself and his mistress in exchange for the list. So, Christopher was right about Phillippe not being genuine about his intentions.

Later, the prosecutor and bank manager tell Smitty that they’ll report her to Europol if she doesn’t tell them where Phillippe is. Christopher had told on her after she told him earlier not to tell anyone the team had found Phillippe. Smitty tries to convince Christopher to testify against the bank for hiding tax evaders so she doesn’t lose her job, but he refuses.

Later, while Smitty is talking to Forrester about what’s happening, she receives a text from Christopher telling her he’ll testify. But it turns out the guy following the team earlier kidnapped Christopher and made him send that text to lure Smitty.

The guy demands to know where Phillippe is. Smitty pretends to tell the guy where Phillippe is, but she and Christopher start fighting him. The guy overpowers them, but Forrester comes just in time and shoots the man.

Christopher finally realizes he’s been selfish and agrees to testify against the bank. Raines and Vo go to inform Phillippe that Christopher will reveal some of the names on the list so the FBI doesn’t need him anymore. They also tell him that the FBI will be rewarding Anne-Marie instead.

The team reruns to Budapest, and Vo takes Powell to see an apartment she told him about earlier. The episode ends with them sharing a passionate kiss.

The Episode Review

Another episode rolls round exemplifying just how hard it is for people in law enforcement, especially when their family members are involved.

So, it turns out Vo really has, or rather had, feelings for Raines, and Raines may also have felt the same way before Maya came into the picture. Her and Powell making out at the end of this episode may suggest that they would be getting into a relationship, or maybe that’s just a one-time thing. However, if they get into a relationship, I’m sceptical as to whether it’ll last, judging by how things went between Kellet and Forrester.