‘FBI’ Star Juliana Aidén Martinez on Celebrating the Show’s 150th Episode With Eva’s Backstory (Exclusive)

FBI is celebrating 150 episodes, and star Juliana Aidén Martinez spoke to PopCulture.com about what’s in store.

In “Crusader,” airing on Monday at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, “A dangerous drug kingpin from Eva’s past resurfaces when two children and a daycare worker are killed due to an accidental drug exposure.”

“While the team works the case, Eva wavers between her mission as an agent and her personal vendetta,” the logline continues. Eva only joined the team in the fall, so fans still don’t know too much about her. On Monday, for the big 150^th episode, FBI will be digging deeper into Eva’s backstory, and Martinez said the episode is “really cool.”  

“So Eva confronts a part of her past while she was a prosecutor, and he’s a dangerous kingpin in which he was part of a drug trafficking,” she explained. “And we see two children and a daycare worker who were killed. As a part of an investigation, she sees that her past resurfaces, and she kind of wavers between her mission as an agent and who and what she wants as a person with justice.”

For Martinez, getting to explore Eva in this capacity was “so fun.” She continued, “I kinda feel like, at times, I’m a bit of an earnest rookie. I’m excited to get in it. I’m excited to explore, to see what I can contribute. I think that’s just always been a part of my passion for the craft and what we tend to do. And so to me, it was amazing. It was like I was in Disneyland, and I got to explore a part of her history and get to be a part of the storyline with everyone else. So it was a lot of fun.”

Additionally, Martinez is learning more about Eva each week, just like the fans, and she thinks “every character teaches you something. And with Eva, for instance, sometimes I have these moments where I think something could be similar, just like pursuing a bad guy.” She noted how she’d think of how her Law & Order: SVU character, Detective Kate Silva, would do things differently, wondering “what is this revealing? Like, what is the thing that I have to understand with her?”

“And to me, Eva’s voice and her ability to get what she wants and to have that kind of ambition and determination is great because she doesn’t have a chip in her shoulder in terms of people knowing her family history or her reputation is her own, but that’s why her reputation means so much to her because she’s built it from the ground up,” Martinez continued. “And so to have someone like her past, which I feel like she probably feels like tarnished her reputation, and being really dedicated to someone who wants to fix something from the past, it teaches you a lot as a person.”

“We all care about these things. We all care about how our name precedes us. We all care about if we did the right thing,” she said. “We all replayed moments in our past where we wish we did something differently. And so there’s always healing in that. So I really loved exploring that with her.”

As if digging into Eva’s backstory wasn’t enough, as previously mentioned, Monday’s episode will also be the 150^th episode of FBI. While Martinez only just joined the cast, she loves being able to celebrate such a big milestone.

“I mean, it’s very, very cool,” Martinez expressed. “This cast has done such a wonderful job with the show, and even getting to an eighth year with the show is such an incredible achievement. And so to be able to celebrate this milestone with them is incredible. I feel very honored.”

The new episode of FBI is going to be a big one for multiple reasons, and fans won’t want to miss this one. Tune in on Monday at 9 p.m. ET on CBS for the 150^th episode and to learn more about Special Agent Eva Ramos.