Dick Wolf is known as the mastermind behind one of the longest running shows on television, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. So when FBI was announced, the assumption was that it would have the same impact that the Mariska Hargitay-led drama would have. However, FBI fell completely flat in its series premiere. It left viewers with more questions about the main character’s background and motive than who committed the crime in question.
Missy Peregrym leads the drama and has a vast history playing law enforcement officers. For six seasons she led the ABC crime drama Rookie Blue as Officer Andy McNally so, in turn, big things were expected as she stepped into the role of FBI agent Maggie Bell.
There was little learned about Peregrym’s character except for the fact that she lost her husband, but we don’t know why. When that fact was revealed we also learned she went back to work immediately with no time to cope with his loss. Obviously, there is a layer of loss that I would assume the writers will dig into as the season progresses.
As for Peregrym’s partner on the show, Special Agent Omar Adom ‘OA’ Zidan is played by Zeeko Zaki. Again, we know little about his character aside from the fact he was recently undercover working to expose terrorists.
There is barely any chemistry between Peregrym and Zaki’s characters… unless that’s the point. It was assumed they recently became partners but it’s something that was never discussed or even really touched upon. They seemed uncomfortable with each other but that could easily be due to the fact they are new partners and getting to know someone takes time. Still, it’s hard to wrap your head around because often pilots bank on the fact that the characters will have some kind of chemistry between them.
For a show created by Dick Wolf, I assumed there would be more of a bang from the start. Instead, it felt like a basic episode of SVU just with a different law enforcement agency. There didn’t seem to be anything that made it stand out among the other shows about the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It was hinted in the premiere that there are layers to each character, but it seems we’ll have to rip them back one by one throughout the first season to get to know them better. That might take a bit of time.
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