FBI Season 5 Episode 16 Review: Family First

FBI Season 5 Episode 16, “Family First,” finally gives us an episode worthy of being in the fifth season of a show. 

In all honesty, seeing this episode’s title made me nervous. I feared we’d have to suffer through yet another episode where Jubal pretends to care about his family. But, thankfully, the episode is Tiffany focused!

While it could’ve been a lot worse, this episode is genuinely not bad in the grand scheme of things. A little out of character, sure. A bit dull and full of it? Absolutely. But objectively, not bad. 

The episode surrounds a man who served in Afghanistan and then developed PTSD and is discharged from the Army. Once he’s home, with nothing left to do, his mind wanders to his sister’s death and how he can avenge that. 

What Landry is doing is noble, as fighting for his sister is something she’ll never be able to do again, but he’s going about it in a way that will end up harming himself and everyone involved. 

Luke Marinkovich plays Michael Landry, and he plays him incredibly well. He’s heartfelt and relatable, and what happens to Landry brings us to the broader topic: mental illness. 

FBI often pairs Tiffany with Scola, and more often than not, both characters are better for it in the end. 

Sure, the show could’ve used Maggie as a talking head for mental illness, considering what she’s been through and what she’s even discussed with Elise, but seeing it come directly from Tiffany’s partner makes it much more impactful. 

Especially given that it’s coming from Scola — a man who openly admits his first time in therapy was when he was 12. 

Men are more likely to bottle up their emotions than attend therapy sessions or discuss problems they’re currently experiencing, and having Scola be the one to admit that struggling is OK is bold, and it pays off. 

Being in a family that lost her mother, Tiffany has had to learn to tough it out more than once. Tiffany has overlooked therapy and what it can offer, whether for her siblings or self-preservation.

On this episode, at least. 

Something else that works on “Family First” is Scola’s approach to Tiffany and the discussion of her brother. 

Scola is there for Bryan, and he doesn’t spin the focus on himself by giving Tiffany a sob story about his life and how much therapy helps, he tells her that it does indeed help and that it’s entirely OK for Bryan to ask for help. 

The episode still wraps up with Tiffany and her family, and none of it feels overpowered or overshadowed by anything Scola says. If anything, they intertwine together in a way that makes the episode flow better than one has in weeks, maybe months. 

Maggie and OA are the OG partners on FBI, but Scola and Tiffany care about each other in such a sibling-like way that, as someone with siblings, it means a lot when they get to have the focus on them. 

“Family First” begins a discussion about mental health within families — and the genetics of it — that could be played out across FBI in a meaningful way, so long as they don’t forget about this episode the second they release it. 

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FBI airs Tuesday at 8/7c on CBS.

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