Why was Jubal Valentine working with the Fly Team on FBI: International?

FBI: International had a big crossover as Jubal Valentine dropped by! Why was Jeremy Sisto’s agent aiding the Fly Team? 

Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for FBI: International Season 3 Episode 8

“Remove the Compromise” had the Fly Team recruited by the CIA, who had an undercover operative in a branch of the Vargas crime cartel. FBI fans know them already, as the mothership show has had the team tangling with the Vargas cartel, including putting leader Antonio (David Zayas) in jail. 

Rivals killed Antonio’s family, and in retaliation, Antonio arranged for the death of FBI supervisor Rina Trenholm, who was the lover of Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto). So when Jubal heard about the case, he was taking the first flight to Budapest. 

Forrester went undercover with the other operative to get closer to Antonio’s nephew. Things took a turn when the team discovered this operation was all a “test program” for the CIA’s new directive, which basically added up to classifying drug cartels as terrorists and thus terminate with extreme prejudice. 

Vo was outraged at this and further at how Jubal seemed okay with it. It was clear Jubal’s personal feelings on Rina were driving him on. Things went south as that CIA operative and the drug lord’s girlfriend were planning to run away together and nearly ruined the entire bust. 

Did Jubal find closure?

The CIA officer was determined to fire a missile at the cartel meeting, ignoring any civilian casualties. The FBI agents fought back, so we got the rare sight of Jubal in the field with a gun. The corrupt agent was killed with Jubal arresting the wounded drug lord. The CIA officer had no regrets about her actions, saying this was a message to other cartels that the U.S. government was no longer playing around. 

At a bar, Jubal confessed he’d been tempted to let the guy die but remembered what Rina stood for and couldn’t disgrace her memory. Speaking to TV Insider, Sisto related how it was fun to finally be in the field for action and if Jubal had found any closure from taking a bite out of the cartel. 

"I don’t know, closure is an interesting thing. I don’t think closure actually is going to come from any kind of vengeance.I think to some degree he’s already achieved closure…[It’s] a pain that will always be there. I don’t think there’s much closure to get. Closure seems to be something that has to come when your life has changed in such a way that you’re really having to evolve into a new person in order to move on."

It does appear Jubal was able to get some sense of settling his guilt on Rina even as the Fly Team has to worry that the CIA’s new attacks might embolden the cartels. Still, it was a fun crossover that let Jubal get more time in the field to show his action chops and made for a powerful episode.

FBI: International season 3 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.