The Brave – It’s All Personal

By starrymag | November 12, 2017

By: Danielle de la Torre

 

This episode takes us to a rainy Paris, France where we start with a woman chasing after her brother who is about to get into a car. We learn that the brother is going off with an ISIS terror group to become a suicide bomber. The sister does not want him to go and ends up getting thrown into a wall while two men put the boy in the car and drive off into the Paris night. The sister then calls Amir’s (Hadi Tabbal) army number to leave an SOS message.

 

The next day Amir is seen picking an herb out of a garden and using it to cook the team breakfast at base camp. When the team comes out to join him, more about Amir is revealed when he explains why he is cooking breakfast for them on a Saturday morning. The team indulges in playful banter when breakfast is interrupted. Director Campbell (Anne Heche) calls Dalton (Mike Vogel) and asks for Amir. She lets him know his number was used for an SOS call and plays him the message. The call is traced to a Hooka bar in St. Vincent.  Jaz (Natacha Karam) points out that it is a known ISIS cell. The team decides to pursue the mission after Amir convinces them that a bomb threat is imminent to Paris.

 

As the team packs and readies for taking off to Paris, Preech (Demetrius Grosse) asks Amir what kind of surveillance gear Amir would like to wear so they can keep tabs on him. Amir replies that he will wear nothing. He tells Jaz and Dalton he’s was undercover with these people for over three years and there is no margin of error.

 

At the Hookah bar, Mina Bayoud (May Calamawy) tends to guests and enters to the dish room to clean dishes. Amir makes his presence known and tells the sister to keep calm and act normal. He asks her if she knows who he is and she nods. Amir questions her about her brother and asks her why she called him. Mina says that everyone listened to him and no one will listen to her. Amir says ok and exits the dish room. Amir takes a seat across from a guy and introduces himself as his undercover name. He tells the guy he took a kid without his permission. The guy said he’s heard stories about Amir and says that he wouldn’t come all the way out to Paris for just one boy. Amir replies that he knew the boy’s father and vowed that he would take care of him. The guy calls over Mina and asks her if she knows Amir and if she asked him for help. She replies yes because she thinks her brother was becoming a suicide bomber for the wrong reasons. The man says he will take Amir to see the boy.

 

Back at the defense office, Noah (Tate Ellington) identifies the man Amir has been talking to as Omar Galloul (Naren Wiess) the cell’s leader who is unstable and violent. Noah says they should tell Amir, but Director Campbell tells Noah that Amir already knows who they are. On the way out to the car Dalton and the rest of the team try to decide if they should intercept Amir before he gets in the car or let him go with Omar.  Jaz argues that if they don’t intercept they may never see Amir again. Director Campbell makes Dalton take the call. He chooses to let Amir get in the car as they tail him.

 

Dalton tells the team that they need to stay invisible or Amir will be killed. When Amir is led to his destination Omar and his henchman pull a gun on him and accuse him of being a traitor. The team tenses and asks Dalton if they should take the men out, but Dalton tells them it’s a bluff. Dalton ends up being correct and Amir is led inside. He meets the boy who is playing video games and seems content. Omar tells Amir he can take the boy and leave. Amir asks the boy if he wants to stay and make the sacrifice to which he replies yes. Amir kisses the boy’s forehead and leaves him. The team is confused on what is happening inside and Dalton lets them know he is leaving the boy behind.

 

Later that night Dalton and Jaz come to pick up Amir. Before Amir can get in the car Jaz rushes out and yells at him for leaving the boy behind. Amir and Jaz argue before Dalton yells at them to cut it out and get in the car. Inside Dalton asks why Amir left the kid. Amir tells them it’s not one bomb as it’s two.  He explains when he was inside he noticed items that indicated a bigger bomb was being built. Dalton is convinced the cell is using the boy as a decoy to attract first responders and more so they can set off a second blast and affect more people. This is known as the “Good Samaritan Plan.” Amir says if he pulled the kid the cell would have just replaced him and the real attack would have still happened. Dalton informs Director Campbell and the defense office back in the states. Director Campbell lets them know the office is still trying to figure out the target location.

 

McG (Noah Mills) and Preech stay staked out at the cell’s warehouse. Guards start to move inside quickly. McG and Preech’s signal of communication to the rest of the team becomes jammed.

 

Jaz and Dalton drive Amir to Mina’s house where Amir goes through all of the boy’s belongings. Mina appears and starts questioning Amir about her brother. Outside Dalton and Jaz argue about Amir’s hidden agenda. Amir gets stern with the sister and tells her he needs whatever the brother gave her. Mina hands him a box and tells him to get out. In the car, Dalton tells Jaz that Amir’s kid sister was blown up on a bus when he was nineteen years old so has a personal connection to what is going on. Jaz immediately feels sympathy.

 

McG and Preech search the cell’s warehouse and find it empty with a hatch that leads down to sewers. They end up hearing flash bangs and discover that the location is being raided by the French. They surrender and end up being arrested.

 

Dalton radios Director Campbell and they both tell each other they haven’t made any progress on their ends. Amir tells Director Campbell that he must see Omar because he has an address for him the boy left on a bill. Director Campbell is against it but Amir convinces her and Dalton.

 

Amir walks into a house with Omar with the entire team having eyes on him through various locations around the house. One guy takes off into a car and Dalton has Preech and McG follow him while he and Jaz stay behind. Omar tells Amir he has found the traitor and leads him to a room where Mina is sitting, her face bloodied from being hit. Dalton tells Jaz it’s about to go down and to ready targets that they will take out with their snipers. Omar crosses the room and closes the blinds making Jaz’s sightline blocked. Per Dalton’s request, she moves to a new location to get eyes on her targets.

 

Omar hands Amir a knife and tells him it should be him who kills Mina. Tension rises as the henchman lift Mina from her chair and Jaz tries to find a new position. Amir takes too much time and Omar rises figuring out that Amir is the traitor. As he mouths this, Dalton takes out men and Jaz takes them out from the inside. Amir stabs Omar and tells him he is the traitor.

 

Preech and McG are still tailing the other guy as the team back in the states try to figure out what the location is. Hannah (Sofia Pernas) and Noah try to narrow down the target locations for the bomb. Noah asks Preech if he is close enough to see the car’s GPS identifier number. This strikes a light bulb with Hannah who says they may get lucky if the cells staked out their target area they can trace that location back from the cars GPS. They get the number and Noah tracks the car to a lot where a carnival and farmers market takes place. Director Campbell relays the information back to Dalton.

 

The team scours the market looking for anything suspicious as the intelligence team runs facial recognition. McG and Preech follow the guy into the farmer’s market parking lot. Director Campbell tells them to ready their guns for a shot.  The boy gets out of the car and walks slowly to the barricade of the market. When the boy gets the barricade he shakes his head and backs up. Amir spots the main bomber as the other guys gets out of the car to scare the boy with a secondary trigger in his hand. Preech takes the shot and kills the other guy. Jaz and Amir rush to stop the main bomber. Spooked by Jaz and Amir, the main bomber rushes to uncover his trigger. As he pulls it out Dalton shoots him with his silenced pistol. Dalton disables the bomb and the team makes their way out of the market as French police arrive.

 

Noah and Hannah discuss that Amir’s cover was blown and he will never be able to go undercover again. Noah tells Hannah that everyone who knew Amir’s identity is dead. Hannah says there is one that is not…Mina. Director Campbell tells them that Mina will keep that secret until the day she dies.

 

Amir gives Mina all the information she needs to go into the witness protection program in America. She asks about her brother to which Amir says that he surrendered when police arrived and gave up information about the cell which was good. He tells her to build a home and make a life and her brother will join her in time.

 

Another day passes and Amir and Jaz are back at base. Jaz tells Amir about their former team member and how he died. They share a nice moment before Amir tells her to help him make breakfast. The team enjoys breakfast and exchange playful banter before we fade out.