Spoilers ahead for the first half of FBI: International's two-part series finale, called "Herbivore Man" and available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.
Only one episode is left before the final credits roll on CBS' FBI: International, and that's still not fun to say even more than two months after the cancellation news broke. I went into the penultimate episode with mixed feelings, as I'm still bummed that the Fly Team's adventures are ending for good within a week, but a two-part finale seemed like a pretty epic way to go out.
International has set up a finale with Wes (Jesse Lee Soffer) traveling to Japan in pursuit of a serial killer, but I'm still thinking about how "Herbivore Man" gave me a nice scare about whether a character might actually be killed off. All bets are off even for major characters when a show is ending, after all, and it seemed possible that Agent Tyler Booth (played by Station 19's Jay Hayden) would die in the line of duty.
Now, I'm not saying that I wanted Tyler to die, as Jay Hayden was a fun addition to the fourth and final season, with the added behind-the-scenes humor from his real-life friendship with Jesse Lee Soffer. But with the recurring star's character establishing early in the episode that the death of an American sex worker was going to be his last case with the Fly Team, I genuinely thought that the writing might have been on the wall when Tyler started chasing a fleeing suspect across Budapest.
He was dodging cars with some very close calls, for one, and racing so quickly that there was no way he would have had time to defend himself or even dodge if somebody popped out in front of him with a weapon. Knowing that "Herbivore Man" was the first half of a two-parter, that the show itself was ending for good, and that Tyler was a notable character but Hayden's not a series regular, I could easily see that chase being his last scene as a living agent.
And I like having that kind of suspense in an episode of a procedural TV show! I still remember where I was when I watched FBI: Most Wanted kill off Julian McMahon's Jess LaCroix, and that was back in 2022. It's rare that a network TV show will have me genuinely on edge that a key character could die... although Chicago Med pulled it off elsewhere in the Dick Wolf TV universe this spring with Luke Mitchell's character in mortal peril.
I'm not mad that my fears were unfounded and Tyler actually gets a happy ending on FBI: International, but that very real suspense that perhaps he could be killed off had me on the edge of my seat, and that's always fun. Plus, there's no guarantee that the full Fly Team will make it out of the second half of the finale alive, with Wes heading to Japan. Check out the promo below:
Looking at the finale with a glass half full, I'm guessing that at least one member of the Fly Team might be leaving Budapest, although not in a body bag. Both Vo (Vinessa Vidotto) and Raines (Carter Redwood) are in the running for the same promotion, and I wouldn't be surprised if one of them gets it and heads back to the U.S. for the step up the ladder.
Find out with the series finale of FBI: International on Tuesday, May 20 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, between FBI's intense Season 7 finale for Jubal (Jeremy Sisto) and Isobel (Alana de la Garza) at 8 p.m. ET and FBI: Most Wanted's series finale at 10 p.m. ET.
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