Full disclosure – I have a love-hate relationship with television creator and producer Dick Wolfe. i love him law and order franchise but never entered his chicago series. i listen FBI: Most Wanted But found that I wasn’t interested in Wolfe’s other shows in this series FBIor FBI International. For me, watching TV is like finding companionship on a dating app. Both can be full of surprises and sometimes (most of the time) a little disappointing. You start with high expectations, browse and choose based on first impressions.
Varsity Blues – FBI: Most Wanted, pictured: Dylan McDermott as Supervisor Remy Scott. Photo: Mark Schafer/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.
The show opens with a young woman waiting for a train. The camera pans to her face and we see that she is in great pain. The audience knows she can dance. Not to be creepy, but this crime procedural is working because the audience immediately wants to know: who is she? Why did she jump? Why is the camera left on the backpack? Suicide is not a crime, so how will the FBI FTF get involved?
It turns out that the young woman who jumped from the building was not the victim. The victim was a young man who played a key role in the woman’s decision to end her life. When the child goes missing, Agent Scott and his team spring into action. I love his plucky team: agents Nina Chase, Ray Cannon, and Hana Gibson. They all have a gentle tenacity about them that makes them very compelling. While I generally find crime procedurals to be too shallow in their character development, FBI Most Wanted at least tries. For example, the episode includes a side story about Ray’s experiences as Cora and Caleb’s new husband and stepfather, respectively. In addition to being a valuable, positive representation of black men and boys in cop dramas, this subplot is also popular for its tragic storyline, but back to the crime.
“Varsity Blues” – FBI: Most Wanted, Pictured: (LR): Dylan McDermott as Agent Remy Scott, Shantel Van Santen ( Shantel VanSanten as Agent Nina Chase, Edwin Hodge as Agent Ray Cannon, Keisha Castle-Hughes ) plays Special Agent Hana Gibson. Mark Schafer/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved
A young man named Zack has disappeared. He is taken away by two teenage girls trying to avenge a friend (Maria) who committed suicide. Maria is the target of cyberbullying. Zach and his brother Will created and leaked deepfake nude photos of Mariah. We eventually learned through the FBI investigation that Maria’s father didn’t believe her when she denied posing for the photos and forced her to confess her non-existent sin in church. It was all too much for Maria…and she did what she did.
All of the teens in this episode made bad decisions. For example, teenage girls, or “mean girls” as Remy calls them, are terrible. They manipulated Zach into creating and sharing deepfake nude photos of his friend Will. They also tried to force Zack to make a deepfake sex film of him and Will. The video was designed to prevent him from betraying them. Well, they wanted Will to reap the consequences. But kidnapping and stabbing Zach to coerce him into cooperating? That’s an exaggeration.
Varsity Blues – FBI: Most Wanted, pictured: Dylan McDermott as Supervisor Remy Scott. Photo: Mark Schafer/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.
These behaviors suggest that because teenagers’ brains are still developing, they may lack impulse control, preventing them from making sound decisions or considering the long-term effects of their actions. Consider the evidence: Malia is dead; Brooke and Caitlin are kidnappers and (eventually) murderers; Will steals his father’s gun, contemplates suicide and possibly harms others. The kids are not okay.
Representatives of Generation Z, with their impressive technological acumen, are one hell of a mess! The impact of deepfakes, the targeting of young girls and the emotional toll it can take on family and friends is extremely devastating. As Remy and the FBI find themselves in Will’s crosshairs, we see how the teen’s deepfakes can also undermine public confidence in law enforcement. Agent Nina Chase asked, “Are deepfakes really considered a crime?” The answer is: “Maybe.”
“Varsity Blues” – FBI: The Most Wanted, Picture: (LR): Dylan McDermott as supervisory agent Remy Scott, Shantel VanSanten Plays agent Nina Chase. Photo: Mark Schafer/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved
Just like Hansel and Gretel leaving breadcrumbs to find their way home, Remy’s team deftly collects each one, leading them to the house where Brooke and Caitlin killed Zach. I love when the tiniest clues are revealed, like when Ray calculated that Zach wasn’t the last driver of his car based on the position of the driver’s seat. The satisfaction of a show like “FBI’s Most Wanted” is in consuming the crumbs—making a meal for the audience as they move from confusion (the crime) to clarity (the arrest). The power of this episode lies in its transition from disorder to order, but leaves viewers with a sense of the looming dangers of social engineering, artificial intelligence, and deepfakes, as well as the psychology of digital natives who have never lived in a world without being immersed in it. Health and fitness are unsettling.
Maybe this anxiety is just a baby boomer concern? How concerned are you about artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and Generation Z? Are you a fan of this show? If so, please tell me your comment and why?
Overall rating:
9/10
Lynette Jones