[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the FBI: International series finale “Gaijin.”]
FBI: International heads to Japan for the conclusion of a two-parter as the Fly Team searches for a serial killer, with Mitchell (Jesse Lee Soffer) working boots on the ground with Reiko Isokawa (Yoriko Haraguchi) and Superintendent Kosuke Kubo (Shintaro Kanaoya).
It doesn’t take long for Mitchell to be in Japan for he and Isokawa to come face-to-face with the serial killer. He takes another victim, Heather, while Mitchell’s put on the clock by Kubo: He has three days. Back in Budapest, the Fly Team — Vo (Vinessa Vidotto), Raines (Carter Redwood), Smitty (Eva-Jane Willis), and Tate (Christina Wolfe) — is able to get an ID, Lloyd Acuff, based on an analysis of the conversation between the killer and his beta. He’s “the definition of average,” with an ex who filed a restraining order against him.
When Mitchell and Isokawa question him, he claims he wasn’t around the club the night the hostess disappeared, then asks to see a photo. Mitchell watches him look at it. The two bring up the fact that he likes bondage (he’s written about shibari, rope binding, online), but he claims that’s just a fantasy. He even offers to ask around and brings up the “dark underbelly” of the city. Before they leave, Lloyd tells a horrible joke, about three men who interview for the FBI and are told to kill their wives to prove they’ll do anything to keep a secret; two refuse, and the third beats his wife to death when he finds blanks in the gun he was given. Obviously, Mitchell knows this is their guy, but Kubo insists they need more, specifically a confession.
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It’s when Mitchell has the Fly Team look for more victims, going back earlier than they thought, that they get a lead: Risa, who escaped and withdrew her report about being drugged and abducted by an American man. She reluctantly tells Mitchell and Isokawa about the two men who held her (one American, one Japanese) and escaping — and reveals she kept the dress that she realized has the American’s blood on it from when he hit his head when she fought him off. But then Heather’s mom, now in Tokyo, calls: A man saw one of her fliers, did some digging, and thinks he can find her daughter. Sitting there waiting to meet with them is none other than Lloyd.
Mitchell tells her he’s their suspect, but he insists he’s just a cab driver and not a criminal mastermind. Mitchell gets in his face, but Lloyd walks off — and Heather’s mom follows him. The good news? They get his DNA, and with that, a search warrant for his place. But he’s cleared out and destroyed his electronic devices (and left one of the fliers for Heather on the table). Mitchell knows that the family of the beta partner has the answers they need, and while Kubo has been refusing to let him speak to them, Isokawa agrees to make that meeting happen. The partner’s mother, though she wants to protect her son, after Isokawa reminds her he’s gone, gives up the building where Heather could be held (someone’s been trying to enter it in the last two days) and tell them to tell the families she’s sorry.
When Mitchell and Isokawa get to the building, however, it’s empty. They do find what’s very obviously Lloyd’s disturbing serial killer lair, with ropes and lots of polaroids of his victims, with the count at least 54. But then Kubo tells Isokawa to hand over her badge and gun. She’s been suspended, and while he’ll do the best to protect her, Kubo warns Mitchell that there’s nothing he can do for him. He needs to be out of Japan in 12 hours … which means that’s all the time he has to find Heather. Kubo has given the Fly Team access to the CCTV network.
Mitchell, with the Fly Team directing him, is able to track down Lloyd, who runs, but the FBI agent catches up to him. And when Lloyd goes for his cyanide pill, Mitchell offers him a deal: Tell him where Heather is, and he’ll give him his way out once she’s safe. After Mitchell finds Heather, he does give Lloyd the button which contained the pill … but as the killer discovers, he took the cyanide.
Mitchell stops by to see Isokawa before leaving, and he finds out that she plans to leave the police force since she’s facing a demotion that would tie her to a desk. But he encourages her to keep fighting, even if it may not be easy. “Do everything you can and leave the rest to fate,” she says. She then shows him two ema (plaques with prayers and wishes, a way of connecting to the divine) she’s made to hang up with others: one for her daughter and one for his half-sister. And after that, the episode ends with Mitchell going to Pittsburgh and introducing himself to his half-sister, Delila.
Meanwhile, for Vo and Raines, the wait is over to find out who’s getting the GS-14 spot. When the call comes in, they stand and wait for it together, holding hands … and we don’t find out who got it?!
What did you think of how FBI: International ended? Let us know in the comments section below.