‘FBI’: Alana De La Garza Explains Isobel’s Major Career Decision

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for FBI Season 8 Episode 7 “Fadeaway.”]

Heading into the Monday, December 1, episode of FBI, the team is bracing for a major change: Isobel (Alana De La Garza) officially becoming ADIC (assistant director in charge) and someone taking her former position. She’s been clear about wanting it to be Jubal (Jeremy Sisto), but the higher-ups, namely Ropac (Clark Carmichael), refuse to even entertain the idea. And so she has a major decision to make.

Near the beginning of the episode, Ropac tells her another candidate is a “great choice,” and he’s glad Isobel agreed to her successor. He also wonders how Jubal has taken the news. At that point, Isobel hadn’t told him, but she did share her plans to do so later in the day. Ropac refuses to let her wait and instead calls Jubal into her office and tells her they’ve gone in a different direction. He understands, right? Plus, he’s where he needs to be. Jubal looks to Isobel before confirming he does. Ropac then turns to Isobel to check that she’ll let Jubal know who he’s reporting to. By the end of the day, Isobel promises, clearly not happy with what Ropac has done.

Jubal brushes off apologies in the JOC after Kelly (Taylor Anthony Miller) and Elise (Vedette Lim) are surprised to hear he didn’t get the promotion to special agent in charge. Don’t worry, he says. He likes his gig.

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During the course of the investigation, Isobel remarks that she’s going to miss it there, and Jubal asks if she means the adrenaline — it’s going to miss her right back. It’s a sweet moment. And it’s exactly why we’re not at all surprised by the decision she makes at the end of the episode. (Plus, we can’t imagine FBI without Isobel in charge like she is.)

After Jubal assures her that he’s thrilled for her promotion and no one deserves it more, though he doesn’t know what they’ll do without her, Isobel reveals she turned down the ADIC position. Ropac was right that Jubal is where he needs to be, but so is she, she explains.

De La Garza says that the comment from Ropac to Jubal “stays with Isobel throughout the episode. This case in particular and her involvement with the team reminded Isobel that she may also be exactly where she needs to be.”

Isobel also tells Jubal that she can’t get over how Ropac talked to him. While he might have been a good agent at one point, she doesn’t want to end up like him. Rather than a pay bump or fancy title, “what I need is this place, this team, breaking cases, making things right, with you,” she says.

But does Isobel really think she could end up like Ropac? We can’t imagine ever seeing from her what we have from Ropac. De La Garza agrees.

“I don’t see that happening just based on who she is — she’d never talk to someone like he talked to Jubal. No, I’d like to think she’d never speak to someone like that!” she tells TV Insider.

Were you surprised by Isobel’s decision? Let us know in the comments section below.

FBI, Mondays, 9/8c, CBS