Spoilers ahead for the April 12 episode of FBI: International on CBS, called “Left of Boom.”
FBI: International kept the action in Budapest in “Left of Boom,” but it wasn’t good news for Vo. After she reunited with a friend and former FBI comrade out of the blue in Hungary, she stumbled into a case that revealed he wasn’t who she thought he was, and she had to overlook their history to make some big decisions about pursuing justice with the Fly Team. Before the end of the hour (which involved some undercover work that meant dressing up again), she admitted that her friend – named Nick – had saved her life once, but didn’t drop any details about what that entailed. The actress weighed in with her own theory.
Vo hasn’t actually dropped too many details about her past overall, and her closest bonds seem to be with her coworkers like Raines and Kellett. Vinessa Vidotto revealed to Give Me My Remote that not even she knows what happened when Nick mysteriously saved her life, but shared her theory about the secret:
I think it has to do with her mental health. Because in one of the episodes, she was staring at the, ‘If you need help, call this number’ [sign]. And I think when she says, ‘He saved me once,’ and [then implies] that it’s too much to talk about, I don’t think she’ll ever talked about it. But who knows. [For right now,] I think it was something mentally going on; I think he saved her in some way like that.
In Vinessa Vidotto’s mind, Nick saved Vo in a way related to her mental health rather than leaping in front of a bullet or pushing her out of the way of a moving vehicle or something else that would be very dramatic and very literal. It would also explain some of her conflict about her loyalty to Nick in “Left of Boom.” FBI: International may or may not reveal this element of Vo’s past before the end of Season 1, but it’s nice to see that the actress has put some thought into what would make the most sense for her character.
It was also nice to see Kellett reach out to Vo, as she was ultimately the one to explain the phrase “left of boom” to the younger agent. Most of Vo’s social scenes (which you can revisit streaming with a Paramount+ subscription) have been with Raines, but there have been some memorable moments of Kellett taking Vo under her wing, and I know that I at least would love to see more of that as the series continues. Besides, most of Kellett’s personal scenes have been with Forrester, and she could probably use a break from that drama whenever there’s tension brewing between them!
Only time will tell how much the International installment of the FBI franchise will continue to focus on relationships, however. The next episode – called “Uprooting” – will take the action to France, when an American is shot and killed on his wine estate. A local protest group with a history of violence may be responsible, but it’ll be up to the Fly Team to crack the case. Tune in to CBS on Tuesday, April 19 to see this next episode of FBI: International.
All three FBI shows turned up the heat this week in the CBS leg of the nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe, with the original series setting the stage for OA to face some fears (including for Maggie’s safety) in the next episode and FBI: Most Wanted welcoming Dylan McDermott with a big reveal for his new character.
