Spoilers for episode 3 of FBI: International Season 4 on CBS, called “Nothing Sudden About It.”
The fourth season of FBI: International wasted no time in the fall TV program 2024 before adding Chicago police alum Jesse Lee Soffer to the Fly Team as SSA Wes Mitchell. Its first episode was designed to make you feel like a pilot and the character was one headache for his new colleagues to start, but the team seemed like one well-oiled machine in the case of a missing girl in Portugal by “Nothing Sudden About It.”
After watching this episode and the reveal about Mitchell in the final moments, I flashed back to what Soffer told me about filming in Portugal. But first and foremost!
An emotional revelation about Wes Mitchell
The first scene with Mitchell in this episode (which will be available streaming with a Paramount+ subscription) showed him in a tattoo parlor, charming the artist while lying about the job that took him to Budapest. Honestly, my first thought was that Wes Mitchell was making some questionable decisions when he got permanent ink on his arm in Hungary before he’d even found an apartment, but his reasoning became clear at the end of the episode after Vo gave a nice speech . encouraged him to open up to her and the rest of the Fly Team.
Back at the tattoo shop, the episode took a quick look at the numbers Mitchell had inked on his arm, and this time he was more honest when the artist asked some questions. He explained that the badge numbers are of “fellow officers he worked with, friends of mine.” The first was in honor of Alana Greggs from two years earlier, and the second was for Mike Brooks, who died in the season 4 premiere.
I hadn’t seen this episode yet when I talked to Jesse Lee Soffer about it Why Chicago police fans should watch FBI: Internationalso I couldn’t ask at the time if he is now required to have fake tattoos on his arm every time he films in short sleeves from now on. He did drop some details that were clearly about ‘Nothing Sudden About It’, now that I look back, and they’re certainly easy to figure out.
What Jesse Lee Soffer told us
Coming to FBI: International after more than 200 episodes on NBC’s One Chicago as Detective Jay Halstead was a bold move for Jesse Lee Soffer, and it was asking what he was getting into. It meant a move to Budapest for filming, so when I spoke to the actor I asked about his experience with the move. He shared:
The move was so interesting and fun. Budapest is a great city. I’m learning Hungarian so I can pick up little things here and there on set. I can curse a storm. I’m not going to do that here today, but I’m really enjoying it. The only tricky part is finding your type of comfort. Amazon doesn’t really work here, so you can’t get the normal things you order. (laughs) It’s a little trickier.
The actor didn’t drop any of the curse words he’s picked up since joining FBI: Internationalbut apparently he learns more Hungarian the longer he stays in Budapest. While there are tricky elements of making the move to Europe, he mentioned a film experience that I now know was a reference to Epsidoe 3. Soffer continued:
When you go filming in Portugal and then in Paris, there are moments when you think, ‘I can’t believe I’m working right now. My god, I’m standing on the shoreline of a beach in Portugal. How is this real?’
The characters didn’t really fully appreciate that beach in Portugal while dealing with the case of a missing teenage girl traveling from the United States, but that wasn’t the case for FBI: International‘s newest leading man. Now that I’ve seen the episode, I completely understand what Jesse Lee Soffer meant when he marveled that visiting a beautiful beach in Portugal was part of his job. Talk about a change from the cold temperatures he faced during filming Chicago police this time of year when he was still at One Chicago!
See what’s next for SSA Wes Mitchell with new episodes of FBI: International on Tuesdays at 9:00 PM ET, between FBI at 8:00 PM ET and FBI: Most Wanted at 10pm ET on CBS. You can also watch episodes streaming the next day with a subscription to Paramount+.