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I’ve been following FBI: International since the very beginning, and if there’s one thing that always drew me to the show, it was the unique setup. There’s something incredibly captivating about watching an elite FBI unit trying to navigate international laws, foreign diplomacy, and high-risk missions without the comfort, or firepower, they’d have back home.
That’s exactly why the season 4 finale felt like such a letdown. After everything this team has been through, they deserved a proper send-off. And honestly? It’s frustrating to see how little the Fly Team was actually used in their own finale. This episode had the potential to highlight everything that makes the show stand out, but instead, it sidelined the people we’ve been rooting for since day one.
A quick refresher, what is FBI: International?
For anyone who’s not fully caught up, FBI: International is the second spin-off in Dick Wolf’s FBI franchise. The show follows the Fly Team, an elite group of FBI agents based in Budapest, tasked with protecting American citizens around the globe. What sets this team apart is the fact that, thanks to international restrictions, they often can’t carry firearms, so they rely on pure strategy, diplomacy, and quick thinking to get the job done.
The current lineup includes Supervisory Special Agent Wes Mitchell (Jesse Lee Soffer), Special Agents Cameron Vo (Vinessa Vidotto) and Andre Raines (Carter Redwood), Europol liaison Megan Smitty Garretson (Eva-Jane Willis), and intelligence analyst Amanda Tate (Christina Wolfe).
Season 4 had so much potential… until it didn’t
Season 4 was set up to be big. With the addition of Mitchell stepping in as the new team leader, following Scott Forrester’s exit, the show had a real opportunity to shake things up. And for the most part, it did. The season had some genuinely intense moments: Vo getting shot, Raines being kidnapped, and the entire team chasing down Greg Csonka, a criminal exploiting vulnerable boys through a so-called youth center.
All of that built toward what should have been a tense, emotionally charged, and highly rewarding finale. But that payoff never really came.
So... what happened in the finale?
The final episode, Gaijin, sent the team to Tokyo to help catch an American serial killer targeting women overseas. On paper, that sounds like the kind of case tailor-made for the Fly Team. But here’s where things started to fall apart.
Instead of showcasing the team working together, the storyline focused almost entirely on Wes Mitchell and Japanese detective Reiko Isokawa. And while Reiko was a great character in her own right, this was supposed to be the Fly Team’s mission. Instead, Vo, Raines, Smitty, and Tate were basically background noise. They popped in here and there but were nowhere near as involved as they should’ve been.
This isn’t a one-time problem, either
And the worst part? This isn’t even the first time this has happened. The show has had a recurring habit of sidelining its own main characters when the stakes are highest. Too often, we see local law enforcement, guest characters, or random coincidences end up solving the case while the Fly Team stands by.
It’s frustrating. Not just because it takes away from the action, but because it robs the audience of the chance to see these characters shine in the way they were meant to.
A wasted opportunity to go out strong
With everything the team had been through this season, the betrayals, the near-death moments, the emotional fallout, this finale should’ve been their chance to show just how far they’d come. It could have been a perfect moment for Vo and Raines to step up, for Mitchell to fully solidify his role as the new leader, and for the whole team to operate at their absolute best.
But instead, the spotlight shifted somewhere else. And what could’ve been a powerful, character-driven ending turned into a pretty generic procedural end.
And what does that mean for the story?
It leaves a lot hanging, honestly. The whole thing with Vo and Raines competing for the GS-14 promotion? Never resolved. Mitchell reconnecting with his half-sister? Barely touched. Even the lingering threat of Greg Czonka felt weirdly unfinished.
For a season that had spent so much time building these arcs, the finale just didn’t deliver on any of them. And as a fan, that’s pretty disappointing.
Final thoughts, from someone who really cares about this show
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I still believe in what FBI: International is supposed to be. The concept is brilliant. The characters are compelling. But when the show forgets to let the Fly Team actually be the Fly Team, especially in something as important as a finale, it loses a little bit of what makes it special.
I really hope the writers take this to heart moving forward. Because fans like me aren’t just here for the cases, we’re here for the people solving them. And they deserve better than what this finale gave them.
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