On last night's episode of CBS's FBI, the villains were left-wing terrorists who had participated in anti-police riots.
Tuesday's episode, "Behind the Veil," began with a bombing at a speech by fictional congresswoman Carol Jones. The bomb kills the congresswoman and much of her audience, as well as a child on the street outside the venue.
"Carol Jones. She's far-right, controversial," says an FBI agent who arrives at the scene of the crime.
Any use of the words "far-right" on a network show is eye-rolling, because Hollywood thinks all conservatives are "far right." That makes the description meaningless.
FBI is unique in that a past episode showed innocent conservatives being targeted by violent left-wing activists. In this week's episode, FBI analysts discover that the bomber, Gary Smalls, "served time for striking a cop in Portland during the George Floyd riots."
Elise: But he's roughly 5'10", and I see the hand.
Isobel: 1920. That's pretty specific.
Jubal: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Check NCIC. Any matches?
Kelly: Several, but only one that fits the bill. Gary Smalls, age 30. Served time for striking a cop in Portland during the George Floyd riots.
Jubal: He's an anarchist, member of the so-called Revolution Front.
Kelly: And according to court records, that tattoo is actually a reference to the bombing of Wall Street that happened that year.
Jubal: Which killed 30 people. All right, does this bomb loving anarchist have an address?
During the 2020-2021 television season, network shows portrayed BLM "protests" as peaceful and righteous. After crime skyrocketed, those same dramas rarely spoke of the movement again. "Behind the Veil" is distinctive for discussing the violent George Floyd riots in the context of terrorism.
Smalls streams a live video post on social media. "The revolution has just begun. And my action is just the first shot across the bow of the fascist right. And I am not alone. There's more to come before we achieve justice. Gotta go. The brain trust of the revolution is just...." His stream is cut short when he is shot dead by someone off camera.
The shooter turns out to be a foreign agent, a Russian spy named Marina Kostova, who groomed Smalls.
"Well, Kostova convinced some American idiot to detonate the bomb and then killed him. It's a false flag operation straight out of the active measures handbook. They're trying to make it look like Americans are killing each other, trying to create even more political dissension and hate," lead agent Isobel Castille tells a State Department representative.
The bomb materials were stolen from a local construction company. The construction company owner is a conservative who is shocked when he learns explosives were taken from his inventory. "You know, I was planning on voting for Carol Jones. I'm a proud conservative," he tells agents.
After arresting the thief who sold the bomb-making materials on the black market, the FBI learns that another bomber is planning an attack. This second bomber is a former schoolteacher who "lost his job after chaining himself to a fence at Cop City." Violent Cop City activists attempted to shut down construction of a law enforcement training center in Atlanta last year.
The second bomber's target is a rally for a group called the "God and Liberty Alliance," which an agent describes as "hard-right."
Jubal: What's at the Expo?
Elise: There's a speed date event, gemologist convention, and a rally for a group called the God and Liberty Alliance.
Isobel: The God and Liberty Alliance? That's hard-right. That's the perfect target for an anarchist.
Jubal: It's a double down. Russia's trying to provoke a reaction, cause the right wing to retaliate with the elections coming up.
Isobel: Creating a cycle of violence that none of us can stop. What time does that rally start?
Even in an episode about left-wing terrorists, the writers still had to include dialogue implying that the American right is as potentially dangerous as the left. Never mind that the radical left, composed of communists and anarchists, have been stoking violence in the United States for well over a century.
At the end of the episode, FBI agents tackle a Russian operative before he can detonate the bomb remotely.
FBI deserves credit for being one of the rare shows to create multiple episodes around left-wing terrorism. It's too bad this episode also stoked fear of conservatives and attached "far" or "hard" in front of any mention of the right-wing side of the aisle.
