FBI: Most Wanted – Defender

By: Mary Watkins

We are introduced to a single mother who is trying to help her teenage son who has been arrested. A lawyer is telling a young man named Kendall (Da’Shawn Jackson) to take the plea deal. When he agrees to the deal the judge sentences him to life in prison for armed robbery with a toy gun. Kendall’s mother, Denise Tyson (Marsha Stephanie Blake), becomes distraught and is pushed over the brink after losing her son to the justice system. Denise quickly learns the law is not on her side and decides to take matters into her own hands.

Denise barges into the lawyer’s office and starts yelling about how he didn’t help her son Kendall and how he doesn’t care. She then pulls a gun out of her purse and starts shooting. Denise shoots the lawyer and one of his clients. She then abducts the assistant and fleas. This instantly turns her into the criminal at large. The client dies but the lawyer survives. This is where the special task force headed by Jess LaCroix (Julian McMahon) gets involved.

After some investigation work Jess and his team learn Denise has another child, a daughter named Karina. Karina was taken from Denise when she was just two-years-old because the father left her alone in the house to go get drugs while Denise was working. This is where we learn Denise has gone over the deep end and is now on the search for her daughter.  These issues bring up the new problems Jess is having with his own daughter Tali (YaYa Gosselin). Tali was involved in a fight at school with a boy because he was making fun of her for not having a mother. Tali is feeling neglected and like  she has no one to stand up for her. Jess feels close to Denise in this case since she is a mother trying to stand up for her kids. We know legally she is a criminal, but we can’t help but feel remorse for Denise and understand where she is coming from.

Denise is far from the normal criminal type. She is a loving, doting mother who does everything she can to give her son the best of the best, which is why Kendall committed the robbery. He stole the money to help his mother. Denise is so far from the criminal type that she even leaves her phone turned on so the the FBI can find the assistant she kidnapped in time to get medical care because Denise didn’t want her to die.

During the whole episode Denise is searching high and low for her daughter. In her search she comes across an old friend, a rapist, and her daughter’s foster parents. While Denise is in the foster parents home Jess and his team are at Children Services trying to find Karina. They discover Karina bounced around from foster home to foster home and eventually ran away at age seventeen. So, no one knows where she is. Children Services never bothered looking for her since she was seventeen years old and aging out of the system. They didn’t want to spend the resources.

We then go back to Denise being at the foster parents’ home. During Denise’s encounter with the foster parents we really get to see that she is not a bad person or a criminal, but just a lost and afflicted mother wanting her family back. She has her gun at the home of the foster parents and could easily have killed them, but instead shoots some pictures and leaves after realizing her daughter is no longer with that family. Next we see Denise in a park talking to a little girl on a bench. The conversation they have is heartbreaking as you realize that she thinks the little girl is her daughter Karina. The child’s mother come and takes her away yelling at Denise and all we can think is she needs appropriate help.

However, even though Denise has been on the run she has been leaving a trail of cookie crumbs for Jess and his team to follow. They are not far behind her at all. They have talked to her former friend, her father and the father of her daughter Karina. We are introduced to Karina’s father Damon Johnson (Leopold Manswell) when he is being questioned by Jess and his agent Sheryll (Roxy Sternburg). Damon admits to be a former drug addict and making the mistake of leaving Karina alone. Since then he has straightened up his life and has a new family. Sheryll is quick to judge him and make some condescending remarks. Damon swiftly responds, “I am work in progress.” Once Jess and Sheryll leave Damon’s house they return to their headquarters to try and find Denise.

This is when Jess comes up with the idea to use a cadet to pretend to be Karina. They hold a fake news story where the reporter is standing there and talking to “Denise’s daughter” a/k/a the cadet. The reporter asks her what she wants to say to her mother and she responds with a plea to turn herself in. The reporter then goes on to say that Karina (Alana Raquel Bowers) is looking forward to getting to know her real father and will be meeting him that day. Denise sees the report and as expected shows up and sees Damon, “Karina” and her “adoptive mother” who really is special agent Sheryll. Denise approaches with her gun and tells Damon to back up and Karina to go with her. She tells Karina they can be a family. At this time Denise becomes surrounded by FBI agents and Jess appears.

Here we see really how much of a heart Jess has. Jess talks to Denise like a person, not a criminal. He reminds her about how her pastor says she has a good heart. He pleads with her to put the gun down and go with him. “Karina” holds out her hand and tells Denise to just stop and turn herself in. It look like the plan may be working then all of a sudden the expression on Denise’s face turns to a puzzled looked. Denise looks at the young girl claiming to be her daughter and asks where the scar on her arm is – the scar she got as a toddler from falling off a slide. The girl puts her arm down and that is when Denise realizes she is not her daughter at all.

Denise starts to yell and scream about losing her son on a trumped up charge and her daughter to the system and everyone is telling her to calm down and just give up. Damon steps up and says he is going help their son get out of prison. He wants her to just stop everything. Jess then approaches Denise and talks to her in a calming manner. He tells her that he will find her daughter and not to do this. He wants her to think of her son and daughter and how they will need a mother. As Denise is listening, we can see she believes what Jess is saying and she slowly puts the gun down. She is arrested and put in the back of a car. Damon tells Jess he meant what he said about helping his son.

We next see Jess and his daughter Tali working on what looks like a tractor. Tali tells her father she apologized to the boy she hurt and Jess says that he is proud of her. Then, Jess turns her around and puts his hands on her shoulders. He proceeds to tell her that if she ever needs him, if she is ever in trouble or lonely or anything, he will always stop what he is doing and he will be there for her. She just has to say the word. She makes him promise and they have a sweet father/daughter hug that just pulls at your heartstrings.