FBI: Most Wanted (2020–2025) is a procedural crime drama on CBS, starring Dylan McDermott as Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Remy Scott. In March 2022, McDermott replaced Julian McMahon, who had played SSA Jess LaCroix.
Premise: Team members of the fictionalized FBI New York Division’s Fugitive Task Force track down and capture notorious criminals on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list.
I reviewed the series finale (Season 6- Episode 22: The Circle Game) for teachable moments about FBI policy, procedures, and programs. In this episode, the Fugitive Task Force hunts down a rogue government operative planning a domestic terror attack, and the team prepares for big changes. I focused my review on the FBI fugitive program and FBI agent retirement.
FBI: Most Wanted’s concept has been flawed since the show began. Incorrectly, the FBI: Most Wanted team consists only of FBI special agents.
A task force, by definition, is composed of law enforcement partners from different local, state, tribal law enforcement agencies and other federal agencies, temporarily assigned to combine their resources and manpower. Task Force Officers (TFOs) are sworn in as Special United States Marshals and provided with all the powers of the FBI. This designation allows them to travel and carry their guns across state lines, access Bureau files and drive government cars.
In Season 6- Episode 22, the domestic terrorists involved in the murder of a government worker being chased by the task force were not technically fugitives.
Yes, they were fleeing from a crime they had committed, but they hadn’t yet been charged. Members of the domestic terrorism squad would have been assigned to investigate the case.
Members of a Fugitive Task Force pursue subjects charged with UFAP, Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution. The primary purpose of a UFAP warrant is to authorize the FBI to assist local and state officers in apprehending fugitives from state justice.
The FBI also directly pursues fugitives who have committed federal crimes. The original case agents usually handle those matters. Only the most notorious are added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Learn more about the list here.
To learn how the FBI hunts down dangerous and elusive fugitives, listen to these FBI Case File Review episodes.
At the end of the series finale, SSA Remy Scott announces his retirement and tells his team he will not ask for an age extension. At the impromptu farewell dinner, they gave him a retirement plaque.
As explained by SSA Remy, the official mandatory retirement age for special agents is 57. However, under special circumstances, such as an assignment that requires a specific agent’s expertise or experience, the FBI director can approve up to three one-year age extensions.
The retirement gift given to Remy by a member of the task force is the TV series’s version of the retirement plaque agents receive to recognize their FBI service. Here’s a photo of me with my retirement plaque. In Philadephia, FBI employees are also gifted with a replica of the Liberty Bell.
The plaque displays each agent’s badge and credentials (with the word “Retired” drilled across the front), as well as replicas of the keys all FBI employees receive for their 10, 20, 25, and 30 milestone years of employment.
Since the agent’s real badge and “creds” are mounted, the plaques aren’t available until a month or two after the agent has officially retired and turned in his Bureau “property,” a significantly emotional time at the end of a career well served.
I loved the camaraderie and respect depicted in the last scene of the episode.
The season 6 finale is the last episode of FBI: Most Wanted. CBS has canceled the show. (For fans, I know how much that hurts. Duster, a casualty of the restructuring of HBO and Max, will not be returning for a second season).
