FBI Review: Charlotte’s Web (Season 4 Episode 5)
On FBI Season 4 Episode 5, “Charlotte’s Web,” secrets are aplenty and OA stands firm in a very important decision.
It’s become like clockwork: a pretty (usually white) suburban woman is killed and/or kidnapped on a crime drama, thus, a sex-involved secret is exposed.
This time, on “Charlotte’s Web,” the secret is that our victim, Charlotte, is part of a sex club.
Gasps all around!
But wait, there’s more!
Charlotte’s husband is also cheating on Charlotte! Scandal! We never saw it coming! Except that he’s a man married to a rich woman, and of course, we saw this coming.
Another trope in the world of crime dramas is yelling across the room to your suspect. There’s also letting your suspect drive away instead of shooting their tires.
Sigh.
Our agents receive help from the BAU, and honestly, the BAU does most of the heavy lifting in “Charlotte’s Web”. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of chases to go around, but the BAU really figures out what’s going on.
This begs the question of why FBI: BAU doesn’t exist yet. Not that I want it to, but still.
There are a few minutes in the episode that feel more like info-dumping than actual TV progression, where even I got lost and had to rewind to figure out who Brenda was, but they wrap it up nicely enough for that to have glanced over.
I will say, I enjoyed the earlier episodes of FBI that centered around groups a lot more. This was a good episode, but there’s something about a six (ish) person team trying to catch a group of mercenaries that’s charming and frightening.
On the personal side of things, OA won’t tell his girlfriend he’s in love with that he doesn’t want the job she keeps suggesting.
Dude. My guy. Huh?
I want OA to be happy, and even though I would love an OA/Maggie endgame, I’m pretty sure we’re never getting that, so why does Mona have to be so… bland?
For all the times we’ve seen Mona on FBI, she and OA are fighting for a lot of it.
Which, sure, spats in relationships are normal, but how have they been together for over a year and Mona still wants him to change careers? Does she not know OA at all?
Even Maggie, who quite possibly does see OA more than Mona sometimes, knows he doesn’t want to switch careers and will never want to. Though clearly something they’ve discussed, Maggie says it in a way that insinuates that she’d know that regardless of what OA has said in the past.
“Charlotte’s Web” ends with a teary-eyed Mona telling OA she knows what he’s saying without saying it, and man, are they finally breaking up?
I sure hope so.
Stray thoughts:
- I absolutely love when suspects and/or people of interest flirt with Scola because he never knows how to respond. Ever.
- After Scola nearly hits the two cars that forced him into traffic, why don’t they move? He has his lights on, and then after hitting a clear FBI Agent, the two cars just sit there. Yikes.
- Does FBI exist in the same universe as Criminal Minds? We should discuss.
- When Maggie opens the freezer and sees Brenda, I audibly gasped, because I thought it would blow up, not hold a dead body!
What did you think of this episode of FBI? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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FBI airs Tuesday at 8/7c on CBS.
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Laura Wanberg
Laura is a homebody who loves everything about TV. Some of her favorite shows include Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Parks and Recreation, and The Morning Show. With her ever-growing list of new shows to watch and books to read, her favorite thing to do is to cuddle up with her cat and get lost in someone else's world.