[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for FBI Season 7 Episode 14 “Hitched.”]
FBI puts OA (Zeeko Zaki) in a life-and-death situation without his weapon in the latest episode. He and his girlfriend Gemma (Comfort Clinton) are on their way to a romantic getaway when their train is hijacked.
In the process of trying to gain control, Gemma is shot, and OA must wrestle with wanting to help her and at first continuing to hide he’s an agent. But even once the perpetrators are no longer a concern, there’s still a major issue: The train is on a collision course that could cause a catastrophic explosion. To stop it, OA moves the passengers, including the injured Gemma, to another car and decouples the cars. But if he can’t stop the train, there is a device that will derail it — and it’s never pretty what results of those onboard. Fortunately, OA’s able to stop the train just in time.
“He is kind of born for moments like this, so it was definitely fun to get to play that and remain sort of strong and stuff,” Zaki tells TV Insider. “But the whole thing with Gemma and her being shot and that sort of layer to it was something very new and to get to play, especially in a romantic relationship. So it was interesting. The whole experience was very refreshing and very different.”
Gemma is going to be okay, but once Maggie (Missy Peregrym) joins her partner at the hospital, OA admits that he doesn’t know how he’s doing. He can’t help but think if he’d done something different, his girlfriend wouldn’t be in the hospital. He blames himself. All Maggie can do is hug him.
Bennett Raglin / CBS
Below, Zaki takes us inside filming this episode and teases what’s ahead for OA with Maggie and Gemma.
Now there’s this guilt that OA is feeling, even though it’s not his fault. He still feels like he put Gemma in that position, as he tells Maggie.
Zeeko Zaki: Yeah, I think it’s really cool that OA has these really strong relationships with his partner and that she’s there for him, too. We get to definitely have that outlet to show the more vulnerable, emotional side, which might not be able to be played if there wasn’t such a strong connection between me and my partner. So it’s great and playing those moments with Missy are always super fun. So it was really nice to hit all those notes in this episode.
And it feels like there’s no one else that he would’ve been able to admit that to, at least not yet, right?
Of course. Yeah, that’s it. She’s his rock.
But we have seen him open up to Gemma in the past. Is this something that he could open up to her about once she’s fully recovered, do you think?
Yeah, I’m hoping that we definitely — I’m assuming we’re not going to just kind of blow over the whole thing and then just pick up where we left off. And there’s definitely going to be some really cool opportunities to dive back into what happened next time we see Gemma.
So what are we going to see next with them? I mean, they’ve survived this…
We’ll see if she wants to double down if she’s, I guess, technically a ride or a die. And you’ll find out just a little bit after I find out, but I have not found out yet where that is going to go.
This has been a tough season for OA, just between this episode and then what happened to Clay — and this was supposed to be his vacation.
I know, they’re really plucking at the personal heartstrings, which is nice, which is fun. It’s really nice that the audience cares about it. It’s really nice that we get the opportunity to sort of make our worlds bigger on screen, and it’s been exciting. I hope we keep doing it.
So what else is coming up for OA to pile onto all of that?
Yeah, we definitely have a really cool moment coming up with Maggie and OA. We spend a few episodes disconnected from each other with the episodes off and with this train episode and things like that. So our reunion is very high stakes and it’s going to be really fun to get to give that moment to the audience when it comes.
Bennett Raglin / CBS
How much more are we going to see of OA, Maggie, and Scola (John Boyd) as a trio?
It’s changing. We have a fourth agent [played by Emily Alabi] that we’ve recently brought on, and so far so good. So we’ll see how that plays out. We’ll see how the dynamic flushes out, how we all work together and things like that. And hopefully you guys all fall in love with her like we have.
Is anything lighthearted coming up for OA?
I don’t know if we have lighthearted moments. Yeah, so far, no. [Laughs] But hopefully maybe they’ll give us a nice lighthearted finale, but the odds of that happening are pretty low.
Is there any International and Most Wanted crossover for you coming up before those shows end?
No, there are no crossovers coming up before they end. That would be really awesome and super fun, but not that I know of.
How about what’s coming up related to this FBI: CIA backdoor pilot? That sounds very intriguing.
It is very intriguing, and I think they are still in the very early developmental phase of that, so I don’t know anything more than you would know, but we’ll see if it’s going to happen this season or next season or how they’re going to do it. But I think they’re balancing a lot of different things right now with all the shows. … Hopefully we get to keep growing the family and the world, and I’m excited to see how they do that.
What else is coming up in general? Any return to any recurring storylines? Any past enemies coming back?
Not so far. We have a new writer and showrunner and they’re just really getting the chance to stretch their legs and there’s some exciting episodes coming up for sure, and we definitely do some different episodes and with the episodes off for each character, you really get to see some different dynamics like the me and Scola episode and the Scola and Maggie episode. My second episode off is coming up. It really kind of gives us a new sort of energy, and we’ll see how that plays out for the rest of the season.
With everything that OA has been going through, could therapy be in his future?
I think therapy is in his life at the moment. A few seasons ago, we had a little therapy moment, but we’ll see. I definitely love playing that. I love the message behind putting that on screen. That’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll pass it along to the writers.
What was your favorite scene to film from this episode?
My favorite scene to film was definitely the disconnection of the train. That was just such a movie moment and it was really fun to play. That was all me. We did it on a stage, so there was no real threat to life and the train parts were being moved by the crew and the fans and smoke and things like that.
Any more scenes like that coming up for you?
So far, nothing as intense as that, but there’s some really cool hero moments coming up in the next few episodes, especially when Maggie and OA get back together, which will be really fun to see.
Besides Maggie, with whom does OA have the most significant conversation coming up?
Well, I think the most significant conversation so far I think was me and Scola got a really nice moment when it came to guys being there for each other and mental health and things like that and opening up to friends, and it was really fun to play that with him. But we’re pretty much back to business for a little while. And I think me and Missy, we have a nice deep conversation, one of the classic bullpen enders to an episode coming up, which is really nice to sort of just deal with some bigger messages that we’re trying to honor with the show.
Business as usual, that’s kind of what OA needs right now, right?
Yes, yes, yes. I think that’s kind of how we have been dealing with most of our traumas on the show is to just get into the next case and then when things pop up, they’ll pop up. But that’s kind of showing that compartmentalization and that strength of the agents is really a great aspect of the show because it’s reality.
FBI, Tuesdays, 8/7c, CBS
