'The Enemy Within' Canceled — 8 Questions Left Hanging (PHOTOS)
Was Tal telling the truth in his final moments?
Shepherd said it herself early in the finale: "Tal's a master of misinformation." There was no reason for her to believe anything he said. His offer to help capture this person "high up in the U.S. intelligence community" might have been a ploy.We'll never know if he was telling the truth and how that could have played out.
Will Shepherd tell Keaton what Tal told her?
Even though Tal could have been lying, that doesn't mean Shepherd shouldn't tell Keaton. All it does is continue this "should he trust her or shouldn't he" dynamic that The Enemy Within has established between Keaton and Shepherd.And it's not like Shepherd could be worried Tal was talking about Keaton; he doesn't match the description of this person "high up in the U.S. intelligence community."
Will Shepherd and Keaton continue to work together?
When the finale ended, Keaton had only put in the request for Shepherd to continue to assist his team.A second season could have seen the request approved, or it could have been denied and something could have happened that required Shepherd's assistance to bring her back into the fold.
Will Shepherd's ex-husband or daughter find out why she betrayed her country?
When Tal threatened Hannah's life if Shepherd didn't give him the names of those four agents, the former CIA operative betrayed her country. However, that's something only Keaton knows. Shepherd doesn't want her daughter to have to live the rest of her life knowing she was responsible for those agents' deaths.But just because Shepherd doesn't want her knowing doesn't mean the truth won't come out somehow, especially since she plans to remain part of Hannah's life.
Will the world find out the truth about why Shepherd betrayed her country?
While it's unlikely that Keaton would leak the information, Congresswoman Evelyn Bell (Margaret Colin) suggested she has at least an inkling of the truth in Episode 12. "Parents will do almost anything to protect their children," she said to Shepherd. She (or someone else who figures it out) could have used that information against Shepherd.
What would the investigations have looked like in season 2?
Would there have been weekly (or multi-episode) cases? Would they have all been connected to the person Tal mentioned (if he or she does exist)?
Will we learn more about the rest of the team?
For the most part, Jacquelyn (Cassandra Freeman), Kate (Kelli Garner), Daniel (Raza Jaffrey), and Jason (Noah Mills) took backseats to Shepherd and Keaton in its only season. Would that have changed if the series continued?
Is there a future for Shepherd where she isn't a prisoner?
The answer to this is likely no, considering that even though she did it to save her daughter, she betrayed her country and was responsible for the deaths of four agents. However, it might have depended how many seasons The Enemy Within lasted and if they wanted to change up the status quo.[Warning: The below and gallery above contain MAJOR spoilers for the series finale of The Enemy Within, "Sierra Maestra."]
Tal (Lev Gorn) might have been taken care of in the Enemy Within series finale, but he might be part of a larger threat. That case could have also been just the beginning for Erica Shepherd (Jennifer Carpenter) and Will Keaton's (Morris Chestnut) partnership, if NBC hadn't canceled the drama.
In "Sierra Maestra," Shepherd and Keaton finally stopped Tal, but just like all season, secrets played a huge part in how it ended. Shepherd told Keaton about her calls to Tal and said she'd been working him like an asset, and Will let her go after him. When the agent caught up to them, Tal told Shepherd to shoot Keaton as a test — and she did, albeit in the clavicle, ensuring it wouldn't kill him.
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Shepherd then shot Tal in the back as he escaped. When she tracked him down, he told her he wasn't working alone. "I couldn't have. There was someone else, high up in the U.S. intelligence community, someone who shares my beliefs," he claimed. "Someone with real power, who operates from the shadows." She refused his offer to help catch this person and killed him when he reached for his gun.
As the finale ended, Keaton informed Shepherd that he put in a request so she could continue working with his team in counterintelligence investigations, but there was a condition: Tell him if she was keeping anything else from him. She said she wasn't.
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NBC's new thriller starring Jennifer Carpenter and Morris Chestnut premieres Monday, February 25.
Unfortunately, since there won't be a second season, any lingering questions — like the ones in the gallery above — will remain unanswered.
