Summary
Barnes takes the spotlight as she goes undercover to thwart a fearsome gang leader in “Caesar”.
This recap of FBI: Most Wanted Season 1, Episode 4, “Caesar”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
In typical procedural fashion, FBI: Most Wanted Episode 4 devoted most of its runtime to a single character: Barnes (Roxy Sternberg), who revealed more of her personal life and professional history in “Caesar”, the story of a female gang leader seizing power in the hopes of emulating her idols — Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc and Alexander the Great among them.
It can’t really be said that Danielle Deadwyler’s trigger-happy gangbanger Cleo Wilkens gave off much of her literary sensibilities, but if that’s the conclusion LaCroix (Julian McMahon) jumped to then who are we to argue? It was, however, noteworthy to see a female character as unabashedly ruthless – perhaps even more so – than her male equivalents; not only was she willing to kill to secure leadership, but she was willing to kill those close to her.
While the plot of FBI: Most Wanted Episode 4 didn’t take many unique turns, it had a couple. Cleo leveraging systemic injustice against people of color to garner public support when she was outed to the media was a nice touch; so, too, was the idea that her boyfriend predecessor was, despite being a criminal, also a force of positive change in his community, putting his blood money to altruistic causes.
But the focus was on Barnes, more than Cleo. “Caesar” revealed more of her home life, married to a woman and with a young child, and her more adventurous career history, with time having been spent undercover. During that period Barnes formed a relationship which she’s forced to leverage again here in order to take down Cleo; it’s a blend of personal want with professional need which isn’t new but is executed fairly well.
FBI: Most Wanted Season 1, Episode 4 proves that this show is far from the best procedural on network TV; it isn’t even the best procedural on network TV which is also spun-off from another. But it’s solid, workmanlike entertainment that shows the occasional flashes of a show willing to go a bit further than, and be a bit different from, others of its ilk. Here’s to hoping there’s more of that going forward.
