Spoilers ahead for Episode 7 of FBI Season 6, called "Behind the Veil."
Every episode of FBI has a lot going on, but "Behind the Veil" in the 2024 TV schedule raised the stakes after Isobel was on the scene of an explosion and Maggie was working her first case after getting custody of Ella. Maggie had to step up in a parental role on very short notice following the death of her friend Jess, and it didn't take long for the agent to discover that field work and motherhood don't really go together. Actress Missy Peregrym spoke with CinemaBlend about the latest development for her character, including what just "doesn't make sense" and the effects of her tragic past.
Maggie had a very close call with the case of the week in "Behind the Veil," when a few more moments might have meant her death along with OA, Tiff, and Scola in a devastating explosion. During the course of the investigation, Maggie was keeping in touch with Ella as much as possible. Unfortunately, that just might not have been as much as Ella needed, and the little girl saying "I just wanted to see you" when she video called Maggie was heartbreaking.
Speaking with Missy Peregrym about Maggie's new status as Ella's guardian, I asked the actress if the character's attempt at a work/life balance is permanently sustainable, and she responded with what Maggie will need to make sense of:
I don't know! That's a great question, and I think that's something that we have to explore. I think it doesn't make sense and it would never be done this way for Maggie, if she had it her way. Obviously, just all of the sudden, be a caretaker. And it's not just like having a baby. Ella is a person, like a full grown person who has feelings and emotions and knows loss now and has her own journey of grief that Maggie has to be there to facilitate, and when you're not there because you are working, that's a really tough thing to do.
It was a bit of cruel irony that Maggie suddenly found herself the guardian of her friend's daughter at the end of an episode that she'd started by floating the idea of possibly trying IVF to become a mom. She went from considering maybe having a baby someday to becoming caretaker for a kid who just lost her mom. Missy Peregrym went on:
I just think of single mothers who are out there doing this, by the way, all the time. And they've got kids and they're trying to provide childcare and the best education and all these things to give their kids opportunities, but they can only do that if they're working. But if they're working, then they're not available and they're not home to be there to walk through these things with their kids the way they want to, and that struggle is very difficult. It's very painful. And you know, I deal with that personally myself, with filming all the time and the guilt of not being with my kids as much as I'd like to, but also the work is important to me and also providing for the family.
Not many FBI viewers may be able to relate to Maggie when it comes to life-and-death situations on a daily basis, but Missy Peregrym found herself relating to some of her character's struggles. The actress has had two children herself over the six seasons of the show so far, with Maggie sent off on an undercover op for Peregrym's first maternity leave and then exposed to sarin gas for the second leave.
Clearly, Maggie has plenty to deal with that she didn't have time to prepare for. According to the actress, the character never felt that she had a choice other than to step up. Peregrym explained:
There's a lot of stuff for Maggie to have to deal with, but it's not like she can just go and say, 'You know what, I think Ella should be with so and so.' Jess asked Maggie to be the person and I know it wasn't intended that she was going to die, but she did ask and that's something that Maggie would take very, very, very seriously and she loves Ella. She cares about Ella, so emotionally Maggie is 100% in and wants to be that, but there's also a concern if this is the best thing for Ella. What if I die? You know, what if Maggie gets hurt on the job and also now can't be there for Ella? Now that's twice that she's lost somebody and I think that's a huge thing that weighs on Maggie.
The concern of whether she gets hurt or even dies isn't abstract for Maggie. The sarin gas exposure landed her in the hospital for months, and that was only one of the many brushes with death she has experienced over the years. With bullets flying, cars chasing, and bombs being planted, it's almost surprising that the character hasn't been seriously hurt more often. When I noted that Maggie has had these close calls, Peregrym said:
The other thing is that Maggie is a great person to have for Ella. Maggie lost her husband. I keep saying 'I.' Maggie lost her husband. That's how we meet her. She knows grief. She knows what it's like to love and lose, and so having that experience is something that I can be there for Ella with. I understand that I can't fix anything, which is very hard for me too, because I'm in the game of fixing, of there's a problem and I have a solution and I'll do whatever it takes to make things better, and it's just not the same thing.
While Season 1 of FBI may feel like a very long time ago, one of the first personal reveals about Maggie was that she'd lost her husband. While the death of a spouse and the death of a friend are of course two very different losses, the familiarity with tragedy could be helpful when it comes to raising Ella. Missy Peregrym went on:
I am pretty out of control in terms of meeting Ella's needs. I can do the basic things, but also I'm not the mother, so there's such a huge learning curve. I get excited about it, personally, as Missy, about hopefully being able to explore all these things. I think it's so relatable to a lot of people.
Fans will have to wait and see how FBI handles Maggie having Ella in her life, but Missy Peregrym's comment about "hopefully being able to explore all these things" gives me hope that this is a storyline that is going to be ongoing. As a procedural, FBI doesn't always carry storylines from episode to episode; that could be different now that Maggie is a mom of sorts. Plus, as Peregrym previously noted, she could always lean on Scola or even Jubal for parenting advice.
For now, keep tuning in to CBS on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET or via Paramount+ subscription for new episodes of FBI Season 6. As always, the series opens CBS' full night of FBI action, continuing at 9 p.m. ET with FBI: International and wrapping at 10 p.m. ET with FBI: Most Wanted.
