Jeremy Sisto Opens Up About Jubal’s “Traumatizing” Mistake In FBI Season 6

Screen Rant interviews FBI star Jeremy Sisto about how Jubal’s mistake during a former case comes back to haunt him in the recent episode, “Remorse.”

FBI season 6, episode 2, “Remorse,” aired February 20 on CBS and focused on Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Jubal Valentine. After Jubal learns that his son was caught drinking at school, he worries that his own struggles with addiction have been passed down to Tyler. On top of navigating his parental responsibilities, a former case reemerges, causing Jubal to realize that he mistakenly declared two missing girls dead.

Jubal Valentine is portrayed by Jeremy Sisto, who has made guest appearances in both FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted. His other projects include titles such as Last StrawFrozen II, and The Long Road Home. In addition to Sisto, the main cast of FBI season 6 includes Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Roshawn Franklin, Alana De La Garza, John Boyd, Taylor Anthony Miller, Vedette Lim, Katherine Renee Kane, and James Chen.

Screen Rant interviewed Jeremy Sisto about Jubal’s mistake coming back to haunt him in FBI season 6 and teases what’s next for the character.

Jeremy Sisto Talks FBI Season 6, Episode 2: “Remorse”

Screen Rant: This is a huge episode for Jubal. What were your thoughts when you first got the script, and you found out what his storyline was going to be?

Jeremy Sisto: It’s always fun when your character gets focused on. It was our second episode back after that long strike—that long break. It was really nice. Everyone was well-rested. It was nice to just get back with the family and get out in the trenches with everybody. When I read it, I was really excited about the step that they were illustrating in his journey as a parent. This a hard thing for any parent to deal with—the notion that your own faults and challenges are going to be passed on to your kids. He has to do that really hard thing that parents have to constantly do, which is try to handle your own emotions about something so you don’t project it onto your kid. What he finds, by the end, is that perhaps it wasn’t what he thought it was.

His son wasn’t necessarily drinking because of a weakness towards addiction or as some kind of a red flag towards that, so much as an extension of his earlier struggles with making friends. I thought that was a nice next storyline for the arc of his relationship with his son and his ex-wife. And then, of course, it was the mistake that he made in the past. The result of it was so just traumatizing. We’ve all seen these cases where victims have been held captive for years. They’re always brought to our attention, because there was some heroic rescue or escape, but the tragedy is just how obvious it is that there is going to be long and hard journey towards healing for these victims.

So a mistake has been made, but it’s not something that was caused by his personal issues, which makes things a little easier. It was the wrong call on the job, which happens. It’s part of the job. He loves his job in the JOC, and there is a little bit of a distance that he has from making these mistakes and seeing the consequences of all this stuff. In these situations, he doesn’t feel comfortable sitting back. He feels that it’s almost a cop-out. He needs to be the one to make these hard choices again. If another mistake is gonna be made, he wants to make it. He gets his hands dirty on this one.

Jubal is also a father, and he knows what it’s like to fear for his child’s life. Do you think that the situation made him doubt his own capabilities as an agent?

Jeremy Sisto: I think he understands that mistakes will be made. It was just last episode, Tiffany made a mistake that resulted in the death of somebody that he was close to. There’s no one way to deal with that kind of thing, but it is a necessary component of the job. I think what happens with Maggie in the end, and I think what Jubal is struggling with, and always struggles with, is how much responsibility to take for something. To live a life of integrity, which is vital in order to retain or continue someone’s sobriety, and for him to live a life where he is not succumbing to that weakness.

He has to take the proper amount of responsibility, but that’s hard. That’s a hard judgment call to make. For me, that’s what the idea was. He’s battling with how much to own, and before he talks to Maggie, he’s really feeling like, “You know what? I need to punish myself for this.” And because of his past with Maggie, she’s able to remind him that that’s not necessary. In fact, it’s equally harmful to take too much responsibility for something within the job.

Jubal staring at his computer in FBI season 6, episode 2.

In your mind, did Jubal ever have any doubts about whether these girls could still be alive? Or was this case one hundred percent closed for him at the time?

Jeremy Sisto: It was a mistake. Yes, he made a mistake, and he should have done more, but it wasn’t something that he was lying to himself about. Just like as a lawyer, or as a judge, there’s a certain amount of evidence you have to look at. I feel like he just got it wrong. Maybe just coming off of seeing Tiffany struggle with her own forgiveness to herself, that was actually quite a well-timed reminder to him, that he needs to protect himself and not let himself go too far down that road of self-punishment.

This is more of a “what if,” but I found myself wondering what would happen if the situation was reversed, and Jubal was the one who was told his kids were dead. How do you think he would react?

Jeremy Sisto: It’s so hard to say. That kind of trauma, losing your kids, at all, changes a person. It’s hard to even fathom what the person would be afterward. You’d hope that Jubal would be able to figure out a way forward, but then finding out that your child has been in this hell for years would be a new challenge. The saving grace for this father, probably, is that now he’s got a really singular mission, which is to help his daughter heal. I’m more worried about her than him at this point.

FBI is good at weaving a character’s personal conflict into their current case. How do you feel what happened on the job changed the way that Jubal might have originally approached the situation with his son?

Jeremy Sisto: It’s funny. Rick, our showrunner, has a great ability to balance the connection between the personal and the case. It ratchets up the anxiety that he’s feeling. It shows that challenge of having to deal with something personally throughout the day, and try to compartmentalize and simultaneously deal with the challenge at hand. It’s so different—this situation of losing your son, or your daughter, and then them being kidnapped is such a different thing. The love of a child is present. It’s something that is thematically there.

I think, in actuality, what was more interesting was that he was forced to come to terms with what his son might or might not have done, and his own culpability with that, and how to respond to it, while, at the same time, dealing with one of the more difficult things he has to deal with for his job. I think they were separate, in a way, but thematically tied in, which is nice writing. It was more of a job of dealing with this huge challenge of coming to terms with your past mistakes and handling an awful situation here in the job, while at the same time, being able to go through the proper emotional processes to be a good parent.

At the end of the episode, we see Jubal going to therapy with Tyler. Will their progress be touched on in the future?

Jeremy Sisto: We’ve had such a nice journey with his son. I think this was a big thing for Tyler. He made a big mistake. He’s obviously been really hard on himself about it. He gets suspended, so this is a big change. Obviously, Tyler has had to deal with his own mortality and regaining strength and moving schools, and trying to figure out how to develop friendships. This is the next step of him dealing with how to retain his values while trying to have friendships.

For Jubal, it’s the first time he’s had to confront the possibility of passing on that addiction trait. So that could possibly come up again, but I don’t know. It’s always interesting to see. Like I said, Rick has a keen sort of understanding of how much character the audience wants and the next phase of what should be revealed. I’m as interested in what’s next.

What else is coming up for Jubal this season that you’re excited for?

Jeremy Sisto: International, the flight team overseas, starts to use Jubal as a resource, and then they become friends, as well. I’m really excited that that has been a component because I feel like Jubal and the JOC is a great resource for International. It’s a great way to tie in all of the shows.

About FBI

OA and Maggie standing next to each other in FBI season 6, episode 2.

From Emmy Award winner Dick Wolf and the team behind the “Law & Order” brand, FBI is a fast-paced drama about the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This elite unit brings to bear all their talents, intellect and technical expertise on major cases in order to keep New York and the country safe.

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