‘FBI: International’: Vinessa Vidotto Shares Thoughts on ‘Frustrating’ and ‘Creepy’ Sexual Assault Episode (Exclusive)

After FBI: International star Vinessa Vidotto previewed the show’s March 25 episode and its “infuriating” case, the actress discussed the events of the episode with PopCulture.com. In Season 3, Episode 6, “Fire Starter,” the Fly Team takes on a case that involves a young American woman who is sexually assaulted but detained by police for her behavior. Special Agent Cameron Vo takes point due to her sexual assault advocacy experience during her army days to make sure that the victim gets the justice she so rightfully deserves.

Throughout the episode, Vo grows increasingly frustrated at the police and how they’ve been handling the case. Vidotto tells PopCulture that the reason could be the fact that the local police don’t want to work with the Fly Team on it or “it’s something that’s obvious or something very sensitive like this, like a sexual assault.”

While in Prague, Vo and Forrester work with Agent Marta Novak once again. But, unfortunately, she’s not on their side, especially after the victim, Ali, speaks out against the police on social media. “All of sudden, she’s flipped a coin,” Vidotto shares. “And it’s really frustrating the fact that first of all, she’s a female, and she’s in a power of position, and she’s changed. And I think that’s really upsetting. They don’t want to help you out. They don’t want to be open to investigating, and they just want to assume things. And I feel like she got jaded, and I think her ego grew. So I think that’s also where Vo got more passionate.”

With the Fly Team closing in on their suspect, Vo goes undercover at a hostel to get close to the suspect, who invites her to a rave. While he nearly gives Vo a roofied drink, he chooses a different victim and runs away when the team goes after him. Even though Vo has gone undercover before, Vinessa Vidotto says this one was “an interesting feeling.” She continues, “I love all the guest stars and they all killed it, and we had a great bond. I love those guys. But we were talking about it and it’s creepy. It’s creepy. Yeah, I feel like that’s all I can say. It’s just such an icky feeling. I guess what we did this episode is we laid all our cards out. We had to play every single card to make sure that we cornered him, and we got him to confess. So whether it was going undercover or pretending that we were going to charge him with other things, I think we had to do everything we could.”

Luckily, the team catches and arrests him, charging him for his many acts as a serial rapist. Even though Vo was a little rusty as a leader and was slowly getting the hang of things, Vidotto teases, “There’s things to come later in the season, she’s going to step into more power,” in regards to Vo stepping into more of a leadership role. She definitely kicks butt in the episode, and the fact that it’s such a sensitive subject as well makes it even more impressive. Hopefully, Vo’s leadership will shine through once again very soon, but in the meantime, new episodes of air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS’ 2024 spring schedule.