FBI International – Season 3 Episode 1 “June” Recap & Review

June

Episode 1 of FBI: International Season 3 picks up where we left off in the finale. Remember, Yusif Sydin’s bodyguard had just bombed the team in an attempt to kill a witness, Olivia Thornton, currently being held by Forrester’s team. Olivia is an arms broker who has used her travel blog as a cover to hide from the authorities for twenty years.

However, recent events placed her on the radar, and now her testimony is the only way to put Sydin in prison for a long time. The team thought they finally had the case under control until things went boom! 

Presently, Raines, who was outside the building when the bomb went off, is the first to wake up. He rushes inside to the team and finds Olivia on her way out. However, his priority is his team, and there is no time to secure the witness. He finds the members also waking up and trying to find their footing. Everyone seems okay, but Smitty is struggling to stand.

As they try to come to terms with what just happened, Raines notices that a beam is about to fall on Damian and rushes to throw him out of the way. Unfortunately, Raines breaks his leg, and the team tries to pull him under the rumble.

Finally, help arrives, and Kellet rides with Smitty and Raines to the hospital. The rest of the team opts to remain back after getting first aid. First on the agenda is getting an office where they can run point and start looking for Olivia. Olivia took Vo’s phone and weapon and still has a target on her back. We are introduced to Tim Connelly, who agrees to lend Analyst Amanda Tate to the team. 

Forrester hits the ground running. He asks Amanda to do a list of things, but she is already a step ahead and anticipated all his requests. Forrester and his team worry that Demir, Sydin’s bodyguard, will get to Olivia before them. Vo argues that Olivia is not as amateurish as they think. She had a plan for when things went south, and her weakness is her family. Forrester requests that Olivia’s husband and six-year-old son be brought to them.

In the meantime, General Finley manages to bring Sydin to Forrester and his team. Sydin denies knowing about Demir’s latest actions, which sends Forrester off the edge. However, he keeps his cool and tries to reason with Sydin. Unfortunately, Sydin thinks all these are vague assurances.

Another problem arises as the DOJ pressures General Finley to release Sydin to them. Everyone seems more worried about Sydin walking away to do a legal technicality, and rightfully so. If Sydin walks free, he is more inclined to bomb America out of revenge. However, Forrester wants to nail Demir and thinks Sydin’s cooperation will make things easier. 

Forrester reaches out to Jubal and asks him to try to get something to level at Sydin and make him cooperate. Later, Olivia calls Forrester, and he tries to convince her to surrender. Olivia asks to revisit their last deal, and Forrester is happy to do so. She, however, is unsure if Forrester is capable of protecting her if he can’t even protect his team. That was a low blow from Olivia. Vo tries to pin her location, but the phone call is too short. 

A few minutes later, Kellet calls with an update on Smitty and Raines. Smitty is fine, but given the damage to Raines’ leg, the doctors might have to amputate it. However, Raines makes Kellet promise him that she will urge the doctors to find another solution. Thankfully, Jubal comes through and sends an expert doctor to save Raines’ leg. 

Back to the case,  Forrester interrogates Olivia’s husband, and he swears he knows nothing. He reckons Olivia is no longer the person he thought he knew. Forrester doesn’t believe him and threatens to interrogate the son. However, the husband insists he has no idea where Oliviia is. Meanwhile, Vo stays with the child and puts a tracker in the toy she gave him.

After sitting with the child for a while, he starts crying, and Forrester decides to let him and his dad go. This doesn’t sit well with Damian, who confronts him. Damian thinks they would be letting their best chance to find Olivia walk away. 

At the hospital, Smitty decides to leave against medical advice, but Kellet stays behind to look after Kellet. On the other hand, Olivia calls Forrester and promises to surrender to them in an hour. Forrester picks up that she is blabbering too much, which means she is lying. Vo believes Olivia will stop and pick up her family before leaving. They use the tracker Vo placed in the kid’s toy to see if they are on the move. The team also checks whether Olivia bought a place to lie down when things go south. They trace an old store to her. 

They end up finding Olivia and her family just as they are about to reunite. Unfortunately, Demir is also lurking around and does a drive-by shooting. Olivia is killed in the process while Demir drives off in a rush. Thankfully, Smitty arrives in time to pick up Damian and give chase.

After an intense car chase, a hostage situation and a heavy exchange of fire, Demir is arrested. Jubal comes through with leverage to blackmail Demir into cooperating with Forrester’s team. Ultimately, Demir chooses to protect his family and snitch on Synid. Upon realising the end is nigh, Synid agrees to surrender.

After Raines’ surgery, Kellet returns to the team and informs them she is leaving for Washington. She confides in Forrester that she promised her sister, June, that she would live vicariously for their sake. In hindsight, she thinks she joined the Fly team to escape her grief and her mom. She is now ready to face it head-on, and nothing Forrester could say would change her mind. 

After the case, the team visits Ranes at the hospital. Raines is happy for Kellet and wishes her the best. Damian promises to make Raines’ sacrifice worthwhile. Raines is optimistic he will soon be back on the job. However, he knows he will be on desk duty for at least until he fully recovers.

Later, Forrester asks if Amanda is happy at her current job and says he might have a preposition for her in the fly team. She seems jazzed by the idea. She also informs him that a mole among the Hungarian police was the one who betrayed them and sold their information to Synid. The episode ends with Kellet saying goodbye to Forrester at the train station, and we see she wrote her sister’s name on her hands.

The Episode Review

Sadly, we are saying goodbye to Kellet, but are happy to welcome Amanda. Of course, it won’t be the same, but we hope the Fly team will remain strong. Amanda seems like a great fit, but only time will tell. Come to think about it, she and Damian are new and will be adjusting to the job requirements. 

We also can’t wait to see how Raines readjusted to desk duty. It will also be fascinating to see how the team will react once they learn about Vo and Damian’s relationship. We didn’t see these two interact a lot in this episode. 

Season 3 starts on a solid note, with intense moments and loss. It perfectly sets the pace for the next episodes, and we will see how the team will adjust to all these new changes!