I am no skilled, however I do know guidelines exist for establishing TV narratives. This week’s episode of FBI: Most Needed, “White Buffalo”, is impeccably plotted and paced as a result of it follows the FBI’s system for sequencing occasions — violation, complication, escalation, and apprehension. Nevertheless, the episode’s narrative construction, weighed down by too many competing themes, could disappoint some viewers, however it’s nonetheless value a stream. Allow me to elucidate.
“White Buffalo” – FBI: MOST WANTED, Pictured: Dylan McDermott as Supervisory Particular Agent Remy Scott. Photograph: Mark Schafer/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The violation. Emma and Trevor, two passionate younger folks, enter an artwork museum. Given how topical the present is, viewers know artwork defacing is imminent. Emma yells, “Art or the earth—which is more important?” Trevor information their public act of defiance as Emma splashes pigs’ blood on a portray.
The complication. Witnessing this horrible act, a docent calls safety for help. The guard attracts his weapon and approaches Trevor. A wrestle ensues. The gun goes off, killing the docent.
The escalation. Trevor and Emma flee the museum with the loaded gun. The duo kills a second man after they steal a CO2 tanker. They ignore the FBI’s order to cease and drive the tanker to a good full of households and kids. They provide up their pal, Tori, as cowl for his or her escape. Tori’s arrest provides Trevor and Emma time to launch the compressed fuel. Whereas Remy and his brokers are compelled to give attention to saving lives, Emma and Trevor slip away. The 2 dream up a brand new act of public defiance, figuring out the pipeline’s switch station as their new goal. Trevor convinces Emma (kind of) that violence is the one reply.
“White Buffalo” – FBI: MOST WANTED. Pictured: Edwin Hodge as Particular Agent Ray Cannon. Photograph: Mark Schafer/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The apprehension. Remy calls Trevor and Emma “piss aunt eco-terrorists,” and he and his brokers find them rapidly. Found, the duo abandons attacking the switch station. As an alternative, they gather a hostage and transfer on to the pipeline’s injection web site. It is a web site the place CO2 fuel as a substitute of a slurry of water, sand, and chemical compounds is used for fracking. This apply, unlawful and harmful, stokes Trevor’s anger. The hostage warns that in the event that they set fireplace to the injection web site, they may die. Ignoring the warning, Trevor begins the fireplace. Remy’s crew approaches. Ray sees smoke and asks Remy, “What should we do?” Remy says they have to ambush the duo or die. Trevor tries to cowboy up, however Remy shoots him. Emma holds her pistol to the hostage’s head, screaming, “Trevor is dead; what do I have to live for?” Nina lowers her gun and tells Emma, “You can do more alive than dead.” Emma surrenders. Remy handcuffs Emma and informs her that she’s being arrested for home terrorism and for being an confederate to homicide.
“White Buffalo” – FBI: MOST WANTED, Pictured (L-R): Shantel VanSanten as Particular Agent Nina Chase, Dylan McDermott as Supervisory Particular Agent Remy Scott, Keisha Fort-Hughes as Particular Agent Hana Gibson, and Edwin Hodge as Particular Agent Ray Cannon. Photograph: Mark Schafer/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
That was the story, but it surely wasn’t executed with out baffling distractions. The distractions stem from competing themes, together with activism versus terrorism, ladies with Daddy points, sexual fluidity and jealousy, and the appropriateness of the legend of the “White Buffalo.”
Activism and terrorism share the aim of driving social change. The distinction between these phrases is technique and intent. Whereas technique (violence) was clear, Emma and Trevor’s intents weren’t. Trevor’s motivations did not really feel real, and didn’t persuade me that Emma would observe him so simply when he was just a few pathetic man making up plans on the fly.
Early within the episode, Nina is struggling together with her father’s go to. Nina’s father grouses concerning the filth and noise in New York Metropolis. He’s insulted by her associate’s willingness to pay for issues. He questions Nina’s marital standing. Issues are so tense at residence that Nina feels relieved when she will get the decision to analyze the homicide. On the finish of the episode, Nina contradicts her father’s assertion that she’d had an ideal childhood. Seething she snarls, “Everything was wrong.” Her father walks out. Nina’s sister, hesitating earlier than she follows him, says, “Maybe this will all blow over,” Nina replies, “I will be okay if it doesn’t.”
We study from Emma’s landlord that her oil government dad pays her lease. But she has chosen to turn out to be a local weather change activist to focus on the fossil gasoline business. Whereas it’s not an ideal parallel, we will surmise that Emma, like Nina, has daddy points. Household battle is the basis of each girls’s motivations. It is sensible that it is Nina who talks Emma into surrendering.
“White Buffalo” – FBI: MOST WANTED, Pictured (L-R): Shantel VanSanten as Particular Agent Nina Chase, John Finn as Jackson Chase, and John Boyd as Particular Agent Stuart Scola. Photograph: CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Emma’s landlord clues us in on one other element – her obvious bisexuality. When Tori helps Emma and Trevor escape to Pennsylvania, the present makes it very obvious that the 2 girls are attracted to one another. Trevor is the odd man out. Trevor’s first homicide was unintentional, which triggered his anger, worry, and insecurity. He flipped from activist to terrorist solely after they spent the night time at Tori’s. Trevor’s true motivation was jealousy. He transferred and amplified these highly effective feelings to his relationship with Emma, main him to ‘burn all of it down’—actually.
Furthermore, the showrunner clumsily weaves within the Legend of the White Buffalo. The Lakota folks think about the beginning of a white buffalo an indication of fine fortune, the success of prayers, or a prophecy. Based on the Google machine, the legend of the White Buffalo additionally symbolizes a ‘pledge of allegiance to the planet’. Sure, the metaphor suits Emma’s logic. Sadly, I perceived the introduction of the white buffalo as cultural appropriation. The present didn’t deal with the subject with care however dealt with it moderately superficially.
White Buffalo was a good episode. Nevertheless, the multitude of themes diluted the crime’s narrative, leaving viewers like me unsure about the place to focus their emotional and mental funding. By specializing in one or two of the themes mentioned above, the episode would have been extra impactful with stronger viewer engagement. However what do I do know? I solely lately started reviewing FBI: Most Needed for SpoilerTV. How did you want White Buffalo? Can anybody inform me what’s up between Nina and her dad and sister? Did anybody else understand jealousy because the driving power behind Trevor’s actions or get misplaced within the sub narratives? Let me know. I am all the time down to talk.
General Score:
8/10
Lynette Jones
