“Under Pressure” – Maggie goes undercover working in a bar to investigate an anti-government group that regularly gathers there and has several members suspected in a series of bombings. The case opens old wounds for her when a single father on the periphery of the group begins to fear he’s in danger of becoming collateral damage
CBS’ FBI this Tuesday will head into its three-week break with a literal bang, with an episode that sends Maggie undercover to investigate a group whose members are suspected in a string of bombings.
“It’s definitely a huge episode,” series star Missy Peregrym, who plays Special Agent Maggie Bell tells TVLine. “We try to always have some kind of stunt or crazy opening [to each episode], but… [they] spent a lot of money to make this episode with the bombs. This was a great one.”
For said undercover op, Maggie toils at a watering hole where the aforementioned anti-government group is known to meet up. “Basically I’m a waitress in this bar, trying to get information from these people who are gathering there,” Peregrym previews. “And things naturally go sideways!”
Undercover Maggie works alongside a CI (played by recent NCIS: Hawai’i guest star Christopher Redman) who is a single father and, being on the periphery of the suspect group, fears he is in danger of becoming collateral damage. (“He’s very uncomfortable in this position, but he also wants to do the right thing,” Peregrym explains.) The duo’s dynamic opens old wounds for Maggie, calling back to the undercover gig that took Peregrym off the canvas for a bit in Spring 2020.
“When I came back from maternity leave, there was an episode where we discussed how I lost somebody who was my person undercover, an informant to me,” Peregrym reminds. “That always weighed heavy on me, so I definitely care very much about this character. It’s a big weight on a person to make sure nothing happens to the people who help us in these investigations.”
Speaking to a very different kind of anxiety…. Peregrym admits that, going undercover as a waitress, “I was really nervous that I’d have to carry a bunch of stuff!” — given that in her one-and-only real-life stint waiting tables, at age 18, “I spilled water all over these ladies and these important papers they had brought to the restaurant.” Off of that mishap, “I got out of the restaurant industry and found another job,” she relates with a laugh.
CBS’ OG FBI this season leads into not one but two spinoffs: the freshman FBI: International followed by FBI: Most Wanted (now in its fourth season). “The FBIs” as they are collectively known opened this TV season with a three-way crossover event, and while Peregrym says she has not heard anything about any next such mix-and-match, there are two peers she hopes to share screen time with in the future.
“I’d love to work with Roxy [Sternberg] and Keisha [Castle-Hughes],” who play Most Wanted‘s Special Agents Gibson and Barnes, Peregrym says. “There’s no way I’m ever getting to Hungary [where FBI: International films and is set], but it is possible that I could work with those women, and I think we’d have a blast. Especially now that we’re all mothers.”