How did the FBI's latest case affect Scola personally?

FBI’s winter premiere had an intense opener that had memories of 9/11, especially for Scola, who had a personal loss in the tragedy all those years ago. What happened during the case and how did it affect the agent?

After looking into the suspected suicide of defense lawyer Allen Champion, the agents learn he recently was hired by a man named Wendell Troost, who was a software developer for Canto Airlines. Unfortunately, just as they arrive to find Wendell, they discover two men leaving his hotel room after murdering him.

While the head of the airlines denied any involvement in the deaths, she did direct them to talk to Daniel Ruskin, who was his supervisor. When they find Ruskin, they learn that his fiancee Anna was abducted by multiple individuals who came to the U.S. from Bolivia.

FBI delves further into Scola's tragic past

“Descent” - The suspected suicide of a former Assistant United States Attorney puts the team onto an airline whistleblower scandal. But when the investigation uncovers a sinister terrorist plot hacking the computer systems of airlines, they must race to stop planes falling out of the sky. Dealing with the memory of his brother, who was a victim of the 9/11, the case pushes Scola hard to prevent another catastrophe, on FBI, Tuesday, Jan. 28 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and

They also find out that they wanted Ruskin to create a backdoor into Canto’s software in order to control every flight from Canto Airlines. The people responsible, calling themselves Mina Rota, send a video to the media claiming that if Congress does not reject a bill that would use earth metals found in Bolivia for the US’s own gain, they will crash every plane in retaliation.

Scola was a big help in the case, having figured out there was more to Anna than they realized. She was actually the wife of Luis Zamora, the head of Mina Rota, and her real name was Verona de Silva. Despite Scola asking her to stop her husband from controlling the flights, she refused.

He invoked his brother’s name at one point, trying to use empathy after she mentioned losing her father in the salt mines in Bolivia. But even though it wasn’t enough, it was clear the case affected him, but he did his best to keep working to solve the case and find the mobile command unit so Zamora could not use it to crash the planes that were still in the air.

Scola had an emotional breakthrough

“Perfect” – The team is called in to track down a serial killer after the bodies of multiple women with the same physical description are found scattered across the city. Meanwhile, Maggie juggles her roles as a guardian to Ella and an FBI agent, on FBI, Tuesday, Dec. 3 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs).

Thankfully, the team was able to eventually find Zamora and Ruskin turned over control of the airplanes back to the pilots still in the air. The case took a lot out of Scola and he returned home with a letter he had been avoiding for the last couple of months.

He had a feeling he knew what it was, but didn’t want to open it, so he asked Nina to read it for him. The letter confirmed that the genetic project dedicated to identifying the remains of 9/11 victims was able to identify his brother, Douglas, after years of being lost.

It was an incredibly powerful episode and we got to see Scola allow someone he loved to help him carry a loss that still stuck with him. We’re looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season shapes up for Scola and the rest of the agents.

FBI airs Tuesdays on CBS at 8/9c.