Maggie’s Return to ‘FBI,’ ‘La Brea’ Fall Finale, Keeley Hawes in the ‘Crossfire,’ Oak Island ‘Curse’ Continues

Missy Peregrym (aka Special Agent Maggie Bell) returns to FBI after a maternity leave. The time-jumping heroes of La Brea consider jumping back to 10,000 B.C. from 1988 in the fall finale. British TV favorite Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) stars in Crossfire, a hostage crisis thriller. History’s The Curse of Oak Island begins a 10th season of treasure hunting.

FBI - Missy Peregrym
Bennett Raglin/CBS

FBI

Special Agent Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym) has been MIA since spring, recovering from a nearly fatal sarin gas exposure. For the actress, the hiatus was a far happier occasion, as she took maternity leave for the June birth of daughter Mela. Maggie’s finally back at work, and dives right in to go undercover to solve two homicides: that of a law student headed to Quantico and another young man with possible gang ties. Her partner OA (Zeeko Zaki) worries Maggie’s jumping in too deeply too quickly.

Chiké Okonkwo in La Brea - Season 1
NBC

La Brea

I’m not generally a fan of hate-watching, but this time-tripping fantasy is so genuinely awful in every aspect I somehow can’t turn away. The madness only escalated recently when half of the main cast leaped from 10,000 B.C. to 1988 to try to stop a Santa Monica tidal wave caused by the myriad sinkholes. In so doing, one of the adult heroes encounters his long-lost mother, who’s pretty much his contemporary thanks to the time paradoxes, and no one even blinks. In the fall finale (the show returns with back-to-back episodes Jan. 31), the mumbo-jumbo plot blah blah has the various families on the verge of leaping back into the prehistoric era, weighing who should stay or go. Back in 10,000 B.C., the only way to get a cure for a near-death Lucas (Josh McKenzie) is for brainy Ty (Chiké Okonkwo) to accept brawny warrior Taamet’s (Martin Sensmeier) challenge to a duel. Once again, the action sequences prove every bit as clumsy as the dialogue.

Crossfire

Series Premiere

Thank goodness for British imports. This three-part thriller stars one of our longtime faves, Keeley Hawes (MI-5, Bodyguard), as an ex-cop enjoying a Canary Islands family-and-friends holiday when unknown gunmen violently interrupt the party. How the guests react and interact creates much of the suspense in a story of survival and sacrifice.

The Curse of Oak Island - Marty Lagina and Rick Lagina
HISTORY

The Curse of Oak Island

Season Premiere

Let’s give these treasure hunters bonus points for tenacity. Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina don’t give up easily, and in the 10th (!) season of the reality series, they and their team employ new technology and strategies to solve the 227-year-old mystery of Oak Island, off the shore of Nova Scotia, and perhaps unearth some of that elusive hidden bounty.

Inside Tuesday TV:

  • The Resident (8/7c, Fox): Dr. Bell’s (Bruce Greenwood) past comes back to haunt him when he’s served papers from a former patient.
  • The Rookie: Feds (10/9c, ABC): Simone (Niecy Nash-Betts) and Carter (James Lesure) discover an eco-terrorist’s plot to unleash dirty bombs across L.A.
  • Customer Wars (10/9c and 10:30/9:30c, A&E): Following two episodes of a new season of Neighborhood Wars (9/8c and 9:30/8:30c), more interpersonal conflict emerges in a series depicting customer disputes with store and restaurant employees caught on camera. Among the first night highlights: a Florida ride-share driver’s bout with an unsanitary passenger, and brawls at a New York seafood buffet and Texas pancake house.
  • American Greed (10/9c, CNBC): The docuseries recounts the misdeeds of Chris Epps, whose career arc took him from prison guard to Mississippi’s Department of Corrections commissioner, a position that gave him access to kickbacks and bribes from lucrative prison contracts.
  • A Friend of the Family: True Evil (streaming on Peacock): If the recent Friend of the Family docudrama left you wanting more, this documentary companion piece features Jan Broberg’s own account of childhood sexual abuse by neighbor and family friend Robert Berchtold. Also new to Peacock: the six-part docuseries Once Upon a Time in Londongrad, following investigative reporter Heidi Blake as she uncovers unsavory ties between the U.K. and Russian oligarchs.
  • Deon Cole: Charleen’s Boy (streaming on Netflix): The black-ish scene stealer dedicates his second Netflix comedy special to his late mother as he riffs on life and dating.
  • Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Hidden Adventure (streaming on Netflix): The final season dropped in July, but the animated Jurassic spinoff has one more treat for its young audience: an interactive special where the viewer can make decisions for Darius and his friends as they brave the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar to find a hidden food stockpile.