The fourth season of FBI has thrown a lot of curveballs at the agents when their personal lives crossed over into their professional lives, and the Season 4 finale – called “Prodigal Son” – will do just that for Jubal. Not even a full season after he had to deal with the shooting and then death of Rina, his son is being pulled into an investigation with high enough stakes that the case could go very wrong for the Valentine family. Actor Jeremy Sisto spoke with CinemaBlend about what’s on the way and how it could go very badly.
The episode description for “Prodigal Son” reveals that the team’s investigation into a deadly robbery that resulted in the killers getting their hands on some automatic weapons will have a tie to Jubal’s son, Tyler. One of the perps is Tyler’s classmate, but Tyler isn’t going to be eager to cooperate. Jeremy Sisto previewed what’s on the way with the episode and how Jubal’s son (who is also dealing with cancer) is mixed up in the mess, saying:
There is the threat of a school shooting and we find out that the kids who are the threat go to Jubal's son's school, and his son is actually friends with one of them. Rick [Eid], the writer, just channeled so much stuff. He wrote such a smart, nuanced script that really took into a lot of consideration the complications of being a parent in general, but also one with this job. One of the realities is when you have a job with these kinds of stakes, sometimes the family gets a little bit less of that energy. The other reality is it's hard to be a preteen and my son also has cancer and is feeling especially weak, and doesn't have a lot of friends. So the fact that this boy was nice to him is a big emotion for him, despite the fact that there's some stakes that might seem like they would on the surface usurp them, they don't.
Jubal’s family life was already complicated without his son befriending somebody who turns out to be a potential school shooter. Rick Eid, who is also the showrunner for FBI, previously shared that the Season 4 finale would be “really exciting” for Jubal, but it looks like that might not be good news for him and his son. Tyler is just a kid, and a peer being nice to him is evidently going to be powerful, even with high stakes of a possible shooting.
“Prodigal Son” will also include more people who are important in Jubal's life beyond his son, as his ex-wife will have a part to play in the situation with their son. Their relationship isn’t always the smoothest, but Jeremy Sisto shared that this situation will bring them together in an “interesting” way. He said:
It also goes into the relationship with his ex-wife, and they do lean on each other in a very interesting way and some of their dynamics regress to what they were like when they were together. So it's a really powerful episode and it's an episode that I feel like you really get to understand Jubal more than you have.
Jubal and his ex being able to lean on each other could be good for them and their family from an emotional perspective, but the overall stakes are higher than just Tyler and his struggles with making friends. The stakes are also incredibly high when it comes to the case, and the team seemingly has a big crisis to avert with the lives of kids in jeopardy.
Between the death of Rina and Maggie’s exposure to sarin gas, FBI has really established that nobody is 100% safe in the fourth season. Isobel was even hunted back to her own home not too long ago, so it’s hard to guess for sure whether or not the Valentine family will emerge from “Prodigal Son” unscathed.
Jeremy Sisto explained how Jubal will handle his personal life with his son overlapping onto the case of the week, and it’s not going to involve sticking around the office and overseeing the case from afar. The actor said:
There's times where you're like 'Alright, I need to be on the ground for this thing.' He's got an inside view to the suspects. It happens to be his son who's also going through a shit ton of emotionally-challenging circumstances, or just going through an emotionally challenging time. So he's got to be careful, but there's only one way through it. He's got to handle what his son is going through. It's serious, it's real. It's being a preteen and you know, oftentimes, the child is going to have to hate their parents for a time. To be able to accept that as a parent can be tough for some, and to not respond reflexively, which is extremely difficult to do sometimes.
Not responding “reflexively” might have been difficult for Jubal (or any parent) even under the most ideal circumstances; with automatic weapons in play and his son considering the possible shooter to be a friend, it’s easy to imagine that Jubal might not be at his calmest and coolest. Jeremy Sisto continued:
So [Jubal] has to deal with that, but also while he's there, he might be able to get some good stuff, some info to help prevent people dying, and he wants his son to help. Because if his son does help, that's a huge boost of confidence, so they can all tie in together, but you can also go terrifically wrong and he could forever regret [it]... It’s complicated.
All things considered, “Prodigal Son” sounds like a must-see episode of FBI, not least because it’s the last new one before the summer hiatus. The finale was originally scheduled for Tuesday, May 24 at 8 p.m., but it has since been bumped from the schedule following the school shooting in Texas.
The show – as well as FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted – received a two-season renewal ahead of the finale, so fans can look forward to more of the team in the 2022-2023 TV season, as well as revisit the shows streaming with a Paramount+ subscription.
For some viewing options once the FBIs wrap for the season, check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule, and don’t forget to take a look at our spring TV finale schedule for more important dates in the coming days and weeks.
