[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for FBI: Most Wanted Season 4 Episode 12, “Black Mirror.”]
For Dylan McDermott, the latest FBI: Most Wanted is fun (Remy goes undercover as a priest and really gets into the character) but also heartbreaking.
Alongside the case — a priest and his brother try to mutilate and turn a teen into the antichrist — Remy is dealing with the fact that the man who murdered his brother is up for parole to spend his last days (he was diagnosed with stage 3 liver cancer) at home. But Remy speaks at the hearing and details how losing his brother devastated his family and set him on the path that led to him heading the Fugitive Task Force. That job gives him insight into the man who is asking for compassion but refuses to admit what he did 25 years ago, so as he sees it, he doesn’t deserve mercy.
Davis’ request for compassionate release is turned down. But then, as the episode ends, a documentary filmmaker visits Remy at home and reveals that Davis is seeking a new trial, claiming the prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence, among other things. The lawyer may also be corrupt. She wants to make Davis’ appeal the center of her film and wants Remy to be involved. He refuses because, as he sees it, “he did do it. and he’s not getting out. That’s your story.” He kicks her out, then hits his door.
McDermott takes us inside Remy’s head at the end of the episode.
The episode ends with the documentary filmmaker shocking Remy with the news that Davis is asking for a new trial and that the prosecutor is possibly corrupt. How is he feeling?
Dylan McDermott: I think he’s distraught. He had just been through this case with the kids being kidnapped by the priest. I think that he’s raw, and he just wants a minute for himself. You see him putting on the Miles Davis kind of blues album, and he just wants to relax, frankly. And then suddenly, she drops by and lays this bomb on him that this could all be reopened again after he thought he put it to bed, that it was all good news, that this killer wasn’t gonna get out of prison, and now suddenly it’s gonna be a new case. This is stress he does not need.
Then there’s the matter of this documentary that may be made about this entire case too. What would it take for Remy to be at all involved like the filmmaker wants?
In my estimation — I may be wrong — I don’t think there is anything. I think he wants no part of this. He wants to put this to bed. He doesn’t want to deal with it. He can’t believe it. He’s in denial about it. He’s furious. I don’t think he wants to participate.
Mark Schäfer/CBS
How much is he questioning everything after that conversation? Because this is so much part of who he is and thinking that the case had been closed and he became an FBI agent…
Yeah, it’s mind-boggling. I think that this is worst-case scenario for him, you know? Because this is why, as you said, he became an FBI agent. Every case that Remy handles, he’s thinking of his brother, he’s trying to get that resolution. That’s why I wanted to have some kind of loss for Remy because — I don’t know how many episodes I’ve done, over I guess 20 now — I have used that thread for every single case, you know what I mean? And it really has helped me as an actor to be specific in what I’m doing. So it’s not just a generalized case of another criminal and having to track them down, there really is a reason, and that’s what I love about when you can create a character from the ground up and have some sort of input into that. It’s so much better than having it be general. And I think that’s where sometimes actors get in trouble when they become general and they don’t know why they’re there or what they’re doing, you know? But when it’s specific, as we are in life, most of the time, there’s a reason we are doing things.
They just suffered a loss during this case because they didn’t get the girl back. Remy had also talked about his own history and had told the parents that his had a happy ending, too. So he had just lied about that, and then this all comes up.
I know. Devastating.
What will we see in the next episode regarding his brother’s murderer’s case and this documentary? Is he talking to anyone? He mentioned it to Sheryll (Roxy Sternberg) at the beginning of this episode.
Thus far, I have not seen anything regarding that. We’ve been doing other episodes. I’m sure it’s coming, some kind of resolution to that or ongoing with the case. I think it’s always there in the background.
So is he throwing himself into his work and trying not to think about it?
I think that’s mostly what he does, honestly. I think it’s a great distraction for him to kind of put all his focus and attention on a case, so he doesn’t have to deal with this. He compartmentalizes things, and then when he has to deal with it, he will, but for the most part, I think he likes being in the field. I think he enjoys tracking down the bad guys, if you will, and finding them and bringing them to justice. I think that’s all really satisfying for him as a human, and mostly it’s because he doesn’t wanna deal with his own personal stuff.
Speaking of personal, what about his personal life? Because he doesn’t really have much of one anymore.
That’s true. [Laughs] There is something coming up, I will say. There’s a flirtation of sorts coming.
With a new character?
Yeah.
What else is coming up? Are we gonna see Remy undercover again? You’ve said you want to do three or four a season, and it’s been two so far.
Yeah, I do. It’s a great thing for me as an actor because there’s more of a license to be someone else and do things that Remy necessarily can’t do. So I enjoy it. I picture myself as a character actor. So I do like when I can play other characters, and then it’s a character within a character. Something about that just really turns me on. So the more I do that, the more I like it. I think this particular episode will make the writers do even more.
Do you have an undercover wish list?
Oh my god, there’s so many of ’em. I’d like to do maybe undercover ballroom dancer. [Laughs]
I think that could be fun, especially after this creepy episode—something on the other side of things.
Yes. And I could also show off my dancing skills.
FBI: Most Wanted, Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS