FBI season 6 episode 8 recap: Tiffany Wallace goes rogue as she grieves for Agent Hobbs

FBI circled back to its season 6 opening storyline in episode 8, "Phantom," as Tiffany Wallace's guilt over the death of Agent Hobbs in the premiere led her to make reckless decisions in this week's case. The episode was centered on an ammunition buy gone wrong.

James Sun, a specialist who was employed by the Army, was found shot to death in an industrial park. He'd been attempting to sell RDX for $10,000 but his buyer, Clinton Payne, didn't have the money, so he shot him and he stole the explosives. Payne had his own buyer in mind who was willing to pay $20,000 for the RDX. When the team tracked him down, he rolled on his client in exchange for Isobel Castille potentially putting in a good word for him so that he might one day have a life that isn't behind bars.

Isobel set up an operation that had Stuart Scola posing as Payne and Tiffany as his broker. While the team was being briefed, it was disclosed that Amida, the buyer, is Somalian and has ties to al-Shabaab. Upon hearing this, Tiff wanted to use their current case as a means of bringing Hakim to justice. He murdered Hobbs and had yet to be taken down, however, Isobel told the team to concentrate on the case at hand.

Their intel was that Hakim had fled to Africa and was laying low in Kenya or Ethiopia. There was no indication that he had any involvement in the buy with Payne or that he was pulling the strings with Amida. That's not what Tiffany wanted to hear. With her displeasure made clear, Jubal encouraged Scola to keep an eye on her during the case. But checking in with Tiff about her feelings wasn't going to be enough.

Anger, grief, and guilt pushed her to go rogue during the buy. She and Scola were supposed to close the deal so the FBI could pick Amida up. Instead, Tiffany kept asking him questions about his boss once he mentioned he had someone he answered to. She pushed him hard enough for him to want to walk away from the buy which gave her the opportunity to put a tracker on his car. Once she reeled him back in, and he was ready to purchase the RDX, she increased the price from $20,000 to $30,000.

Amida wasn't too happy about the switch up, but they were able to play it off as a penalty for his own breaking of their agreement which had been that both the money and the RDX would be shown up front. He had made them show him the goods before he was going to give them the cash. Accepting that reasoning, he left to go talk to his boss who doesn't use phones to communicate.

Scola, Maggie, and OA covered for Tiffany since following Amida wasn't the plan and didn't stick to the letter of Isobel's orders. As her partner, Scola tried again to get Tiffany to think clearly. He knew that she's been carrying guilt over Hobbs' murder since she's the one who gave him the directive to go into the bathroom with Hakim to get information despite the agent's concern that it would appear suspicious. Scola told her to forgive herself and that Hobbs' death isn't on her, but she could only focus on the fact that his murderer is walking free while her friend is dead.

While staking out the club Amida walked into, Tiffany thought she saw Hakim. And, once again, she made a choice that put herself and the operation at risk. She wanted to roll into the place with no regard to whether it would blow their cover but, thankfully, her partner presented her with a better plan. It's just unfortunate that it didn't pan out since Maggie and OA, after looking around in the club, couldn't confirm Hakim was there.

When they left the establishment, too quickly in Tiff's opinion, she decided to go in herself. She didn't let Scola stop her, but she did give him a choice. Either he went in with her or he didn't get in her way as she did what she needed to do; he chose the former. OA and Maggie were alarmed by this turn of events but, as Maggie put it, Tiffany is a part of their team and they're going to be there for her through this. The come what may was silent, but this was truly getting out of hand.

Scola warned Tiff that they needed to be careful, but she wasn't being that discreet while surveilling Amida and she was made. She tried to play it off as it being a coincidence, but she was making him nervous. Then, when he said that his boy Hak didn't mix with strangers, she pushed even harder asking him if it was a nickname for Hakim. There was no finesse whatsoever, her training went right out the window in her haste to determine whether or not Hobbs' killer was back stateside.

As soon as Amida noticed Scola the jig was up and they had to identify themselves as FBI. Panicking, Amida fired in the air to stir up chaos and give him an opening to flee. He did so, but he also took a hostage. In hot pursuit, Scola and Tiffany chased his car through the streets.

Amida's reckless driving got the best of him, forcing him to take another drastic measure and use his hostage as leverage. He wanted their car. Tiff offered it to him in exchange for the woman he'd taken, but he wouldn't give her up. He dragged the hostage to the vehicle and told her to get in. While he was distracted, Tiffany attacked him, but the fight quickly got out of hand. Scola had to shoot him before he could kill her. Tiff tried to get Amida to tell her if his boss was Hakim but his last words to her were go to hell and then he died, leaving her without an answer.

Back at the New York office, Tiffany and Scola were in hot water. Scola tried to shield Tiff from Isobel's ire by continuing to cover for her, but Isobel wasn't having it. She asked him directly if Tiffany was unfit for the field. He once again covered, stating that his partner has been struggling with Hobbs' death which wasn't an answer to Isobel's question so she pushed again. But his, and Tiff's, saving grace ended up being Jubal.

He interrupted the meeting to inform them that new intel had come in. It's believed that Hakim re-entered the U.S. the week prior. Of course, this means that it's entirely possible that Tiffany really did see him like she thought. The issue, however, based on the look on her face, was that she wasn't running on instinct or working at her sharpest. She'd let grief take the driver's seat and lucked out.

"Phantom" ends with Tiff paying Hobbs' widow, Jennifer, a visit but it's not welcome. Jennifer wanted her to stop texting and calling, and to not pop up at her apartment like this unannounced ever again. She's trying to move on, and she suggested Tiffany do the same.

FBI airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more news and coverage!