When a case from his past comes back to haunt FBI Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto) on Tuesday’s episode of “FBI,” he steps away from his usual position at the Joint Operations Center (JOC) to go into the field himself.
Sisto spoke to TheWrap ahead of the episode, titled “Remorse,” which sees Jubal having to juggle the current case of a missing woman, taking the blame for calls he made on an old case and worrying that his 14-year-old son Tyler (Caleb Reese Paul) might be following in his footsteps with some of his choices.
TheWrap: Jubal has so much going on in this episode, he’s worried about his son, he’s worried about a past case and he’s kind of like a dad to the whole unit.
Jeremy Sisto: Yeah, in some ways. I think he tries to be more like a big brother or something. I think anytime he screams [at his colleagues], he’s a lot like a dad.
Do you think he takes on too much sometimes?
I think Jubal could be back out on the street and be an agent out there if he chose to be, but I think he really understands the group dynamic and enjoys getting the best out of those around him.
But there are times when he is in a position that, for whatever reason, he feels that if someone’s going to make a mistake, it needs to be him, which I think is kind of a leadership quality.
In this particular case, because of mistakes he made in the past, and because of the intensity of the situation itself, and perhaps also because of the situation with his son, he feels that he needs to be a little bit more hands-on in this situation.
It’s not that he thinks he’s better to handle it than the other agents, there’s just a certain moment that comes up where I think he feels like, now I need to get my hands dirty on this one. Step away from the job that he loves, which is running the JOC.
There’s a sense that he needs to make things right. Like he feels personally responsible for what’s going to happen.
For sure. He feels responsible. So it’s a very difficult situation to be out in the field making these decisions, right? Last week, Tiffany (Katherine Renee Kane) made a call that did not work out and had horrible consequences. That happens a lot when you’re in the field.
I think, to some degree, given Jubal’s sensitivity and his struggle with addiction, he might have chosen to not have to go through that as often as someone who was out on the streets as a field agent. He doesn’t want to put himself in a situation where he’s vulnerable to relapse. That’s another reason why he chose to run the JOC and take the job, but he does feel it would have been a cop out to sit back on this one.
“FBI” airs Tuesday nights at 8 pm ET/PT on CBS and streams next day on Paramount+