FBI season 7 episode 4 recap: There is a new agent in the building

Episode 4 of FBI season 7 was released on CBS on November 12, 2024. The latest episode of the popular series shows a new agent joining Maggie and company as the FBI agents try to catch a serial s*x offender.

The episode starts with Melanie, a young woman, facing s*xual assault. She is able to ward off the perpetrator only after pointing out that she belongs to a family of FBI agents.

It turns out that Melanie is the sister of Agent Ortiz, who works at the FBI as a profiler. Seeking to bring her sister's molester to book, Ortiz takes the case up to SAC Isobel. Thus begins the journey of Ortiz from being a profiler, working downstairs, to being a field agent, working hand in hand with Maggie, OA, and Scola.

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FBI season 7 episode 4: Ortiz’s sister is harmed

As the episode starts, a young girl named Melanie is attacked by a masked man in her apartment. He knocks her unconscious by injecting something into her. The assaulter asks her not to be nervous and tells her that she would be his “first.”

However, before passing out, Melanie points out the FBI badge kept beside the bed. Afraid, the molester abandons the scene. The next day, Sydney Ortiz, Melanie’s sister and a profiler at the FBI, tries to register the case with the local authorities.

Due to insufficient evidence, the local authorities refuse to take the complaint. Ortiz stubbornly takes the case upstairs, straight to Isobel. Her father had once helped Isobel close a tricky case, and the latter returns the favor by opening the case on Melanie.

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Ortiz’s attitude is initially a problem

Ortiz is a brilliant agent, as per her supervisor. But she is not a team player, taking things into her own hands very often and defying instructions. Isobel advises her to follow orders, but Ortiz finds herself going against the grain far too often.

Her ways are also not refined for the purpose of investigation yet. For instance, when Jennifer Murray, another victim of the same perpetrator, is questioned, Ortiz comes across as reckless and unkind. Maggie has to intervene to make the victim feel safe and secure first.

Also, towards the end of FBI season 7 episode 4, Ortiz goes to meet the perpetrator on her own without waiting for her teammates. This puts her life in danger. Thus, Ortiz is not yet a proper field agent. However, everyone agrees that she is quite smart.

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The case is a tricky one

Since Melanie suffers from certain mental conditions, Ortiz at first does not fully believe her account of the assault. However, upon deeper investigation, it is revealed that as many as 17 young women underwent the same treatment at the hands of the perpetrator, and none of them were believed by the authorities they reported their experiences to.

The FBI feels it is their responsibility to mete out justice to these women. Using her profiling skills, Ortiz is able to deduce that the culprit thinks of himself as some kind of chivalrous man. He leaves flowers for the women he stalks, s*xually assaults them in a basement, and then again returns them to their homes.

Based on these, the hunt for the culprit begins. It at first leads the team to Justin Halverson, who, in turn, leads them to a man named Tom McGrath. McGrath is a decisive link in the case, as he confesses to surveilling the victims. He tells the FBI that he would watch Roy assault those women in the basement of the apartment complex of which Roy is the super.

By the time Maggie and others come to know of Roy, Ortiz has already met him. Roy ties her up and locks her up in the basement, threatening her with a gun. However, using psychological manipulation, Ortiz is able to manipulate Roy into feeling guilty for what he has done to so many women.

Unable to cope with the guilt, Roy ends up killing himself with the gun. As FBI season 7 episode 4 draws to an end, Maggie and company reach the basement and rescue a shaken Ortiz.

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FBI season 7 episode 4 ends on a positive note

Isobel personally talks to the previous victims of Roy who were not believed when they first reported their experiences. As Ortiz and Melanie share a moment of sisterly affection, Isobel has a chat with the former.

Isobel reprimands Ortiz for not waiting for instructions once again. She tells her how her act of facing Roy alone could have endangered her life. However, Isobel is also impressed with Ortiz and wants to use her again for field work.

As FBI season 7 episode 4 ends, Maggie, OA, and Scola are having a drink and discussing how, despite her hotheadedness, Ortiz is a pretty smart agent. Ortiz overhears the conversations and joins them for the drink and announces to them that they are her teammates now.

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