Going into the 2018-2019 TV season, FBI was the newest entry into the slate of shows that have been created and produced by Dick Wolf, which includes the long-running Law and Order franchise and the Chicago-based franchise of shows. The series is set in the New York criminal division of the FBI and stars Missy Peregrym (from the great but short-lived series Life as We Know It, the movie Stick It, and her guest-starring and recurring roles on shows like Heroes, Tru Calling, and Smallville) as field agent Maggie Bell, Zeeko Zaki as Omar Adom "O. A." Zidan, Maggie's partner, Sela Ward as Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Dana Mosier (in a role that was recast after the pilot episode), Jeremy Sisto as assistant SAC Jubal Valentine, and Ebonée Noel as Kristen Chazal, who is a special agent and intelligence analyst.
The show is mostly a case-of-the-week procedural. Each show begins with some kind of murder, explosion, kidnapping, etc., that the team has to solve by the end of the episode. There is a storyline involving Maggie's deceased husband that becomes more involved as the season goes on, but otherwise, the focus of the show is just the weekly cases. The show does manage to do character development without giving much of a glimpse into the personal lives of the characters. This is definitely a hard thing to pull off and pretty much sank the show Chicago Justice, also created and produced by Wolf. Even though we rarely see the characters outside of their jobs, the writers do give a glimpse into who they are that the audience can get invested in them, and the action and suspense are enough to keep people coming back.
As far as the DVD set goes, as far as I can tell, the show has only been released on DVD in Europe, meaning the discs are Region 2 locked and will not play on US DVD and Blu-Ray players. So, you must have a region-free or a Region 2 player in order to watch the DVDs. They are basically a MOD set that just has the episodes. No extras, but they are closed captioned. So, if you prefer physical media to streaming and are willing to pay a bit more because the discs are imports, they are out there. Otherwise, you may just want to stream the show, especially if you are one who only gets the physical discs when there are a lot of extras and bonus features.
Overall, the season is good. It is well-written and acted, despite having a cast with actors who are either relatively new or had mostly been character actors. Ward definitely brought gravitas to the show as she was by far the most experienced member of the cast which was needed because while Peregrym and Sisto both had main roles in other shows, neither of them were major stars going into the show. It also has a backdoor pilot episode (much like Chicago PD got during season one of Chicago Fire) for the spin-off series FBI Most Wanted. So, if you are a fan of law-enforcement procedural shows this is definitely worth checking out.
The show is mostly a case-of-the-week procedural. Each show begins with some kind of murder, explosion, kidnapping, etc., that the team has to solve by the end of the episode. There is a storyline involving Maggie's deceased husband that becomes more involved as the season goes on, but otherwise, the focus of the show is just the weekly cases. The show does manage to do character development without giving much of a glimpse into the personal lives of the characters. This is definitely a hard thing to pull off and pretty much sank the show Chicago Justice, also created and produced by Wolf. Even though we rarely see the characters outside of their jobs, the writers do give a glimpse into who they are that the audience can get invested in them, and the action and suspense are enough to keep people coming back.
As far as the DVD set goes, as far as I can tell, the show has only been released on DVD in Europe, meaning the discs are Region 2 locked and will not play on US DVD and Blu-Ray players. So, you must have a region-free or a Region 2 player in order to watch the DVDs. They are basically a MOD set that just has the episodes. No extras, but they are closed captioned. So, if you prefer physical media to streaming and are willing to pay a bit more because the discs are imports, they are out there. Otherwise, you may just want to stream the show, especially if you are one who only gets the physical discs when there are a lot of extras and bonus features.
Overall, the season is good. It is well-written and acted, despite having a cast with actors who are either relatively new or had mostly been character actors. Ward definitely brought gravitas to the show as she was by far the most experienced member of the cast which was needed because while Peregrym and Sisto both had main roles in other shows, neither of them were major stars going into the show. It also has a backdoor pilot episode (much like Chicago PD got during season one of Chicago Fire) for the spin-off series FBI Most Wanted. So, if you are a fan of law-enforcement procedural shows this is definitely worth checking out.
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