The FBI fall finale delivered a personal crisis for Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine, testing his professional ethics when his son’s life was on the line. Actor Jeremy Sisto reveals the intense, unscripted moments that defined his character’s breaking point.
In the two-part event that aired on Monday, December 15, 2025, a terrorist attack by a radical accelerationist group cripples New York City, taking down cell service, internet, and emergency communications. For Jubal, the threat becomes terrifyingly personal when his teenage son, Tyler, is critically injured in one of the explosions. This event pushes the typically composed agent to operate outside the rules, leading to one of his most tense and controversial scenes in the series.
What Happened to Jubal and Tyler in the Fall Finale
The finale, consisting of episodes “Lone Wolf” and “Wolf Pack,” began with the FBI investigating three murders. The team, including analyst Kelly Moran, quickly discovered the killings were connected to a larger plot by a group fixated on collapsing society to rebuild it. Their plan involved launching coordinated attacks on the city’s infrastructure, creating widespread panic and chaos.
Jubal’s son, Tyler, was in the city with a friend. In a move showing his desire to follow in his father’s footsteps, Tyler tried to act as a hero by providing a tip to the FBI about a gunman’s location. This decision put him directly in harm’s way. He was near the site of a major explosion, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the rubble. The first hour of the finale ended with a frantic Jubal cradling his wounded son, pleading for him to wake up.
With the city in crisis and his son hospitalized with a brain injury, Jubal was ordered by his boss, Isobel Castille, to stay with his family. Instead, driven by fear and a need for retribution, he went rogue. He tracked down a member of the terrorist group alone. In a secluded location, Jubal interrogated the injured man, making it clear he was there as a father, not an FBI agent. When the suspect was uncooperative, Jubal pushed his finger into the man’s bullet wound—a violent act of torture not sanctioned by any protocol.
“I didn’t want to do this the hard way. But now, it’s all I want,” Jubal said to the suspect during the confrontation.
Jubal might have gone further if his colleagues, Maggie Bell and Omar Zidan, had not arrived and intervened. Despite his extreme methods, a clue from the interrogation helped the team thwart an even larger planned attack involving cyanide gas. The episodes concluded on a hopeful note: Tyler woke up in the hospital and was expected to recover. In a touching moment, Jubal read his son’s college admissions essay, which described Jubal as a hero and expressed Tyler’s wish to be like him.
Jeremy Sisto on Jubal’s Breaking Point and Unscripted Moments
In interviews following the finale, Jeremy Sisto provided deep insight into his character’s emotional state. He explained that Jubal was “encouraged” by his own feelings of fear and vengeance, spurred on by his wife, to make the perpetrators pay for hurting his son. Sisto was careful to portray a man on the edge but not completely lost.
“I was on high alert when I read it to be like, ‘Alright, how do we figure out how to tell this story without Jubal losing who he is?’” Sisto told Us Weekly.
Sisto revealed that two of the episode’s most powerful moments were not in the original script. The first was Jubal’s act of pushing his thumb into the suspect’s wound. The second was Jubal’s frantic, muttered dialogue while riding in the ambulance with his unconscious son. These improvised additions heightened the scene’s realism and emotional intensity.
Sisto also reflected on the challenge of filming the explosion sequences, which evoked memories of real-life tragedies for many involved. The elaborate set built for the post-attack streets was moving and eerily realistic.
Release Information and How to Watch
The FBI Season 8 fall finale was a special two-hour event. Both episodes premiered back-to-back on CBS on Monday, December 15, 2025.
- “Lone Wolf” (Episode 9) aired at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
- “Wolf Pack” (Episode 10) aired at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
For viewers outside the United States, the release times were:
- United Kingdom: Tuesday, December 16 at 1:00 a.m. GMT
- India: Tuesday, December 16 at 6:30 a.m. IST
- Central Europe: Tuesday, December 16 at 2:00 a.m. CET
Both episodes are available to stream on Paramount+ in the United States. The series is now on a winter hiatus and will return with new episodes starting Monday, February 23, 2026.
Will Jubal Face Professional Consequences?
A major question left by the finale is whether Jubal will be disciplined for torturing a suspect and disobeying a direct order. According to Jeremy Sisto, the sheer scale of the terrorist threat and the team’s ultimate success in saving countless lives may overshadow Jubal’s misconduct.
“I don’t think so,” Sisto said when asked about professional fallout. He suggested that the huge victory for the agency might lead to “some foggy memories” about how certain information was obtained.
Sisto noted that Isobel Castille would likely help cover his tracks. However, the actor emphasized that the personal consequences for Jubal will be significant. He is a self-aware character who will be “pretty hard on himself” for crossing an ethical line, even if he avoids official punishment.
The experience also forces Jubal to confront a new parenting challenge: his son’s clear desire to enter a dangerous line of work. Sisto teased that upcoming episodes would continue to explore how the agents balance intense personal stakes with their demanding jobs.
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