Shantel VanSanten on Nina and Scola not getting married, arguing with father

(Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for FBI: Most Wanted Season 6 Episode 3 “White Buffalo.”)

Nina’s (Shantel Van Santen) family visits have not been going well lately FBI: Most Wanted. Her father Jackson (John Finn) and sister Tina (Hannah Adrian) come to town and meet her partner Scola (FBI‘S Johannes Boyd) and their son, and it all ends with a heartbreaking dinner.

First of all, Jackson has problems with sushi. Then he makes a comment about Scola, who thinks he’s too good to join them (he doesn’t), and Nina claims he barely knows him. He wonders when they will get married, and Nina reveals that they are not. They are happy with the way things are. And then he comments on the way she is raising Dougie, without seeing that there is anything wrong with the way she was raised. But “everything was wrong with the way I grew up,” she tells him. “I couldn’t get away from home fast enough.” He thinks he gave her a good life. ‘Keep telling yourself that. Keep telling yourself it was a great life, Dad,” Nina says. “I want a different life for my son and I am damn determined to give it to him.”

Jackson decides to leave – his parting words to Nina that she is going to ruin her son with the way she lives – and calls for Tink to come with him. Nina’s sister tries to make excuses for Jackson, saying it will blow over, but Nina admits, “It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t,” before Tink leaves her alone.

Below, VanSanten talks about that final scene, Nina and Scola’s decision about marriage, and more.

My heart broke for Nina in that last scene. It felt like as soon as Nina said that everything was wrong with the way she grew up, she wanted to put it aside for a moment.

Shantel Van Santen: Yes, I’ve talked to David Hudgins a lot about Nina’s past. I always had a piece of her story written before I had a single second of screen time. Even when I first started FBII had a history for Nina, the basics of who she is and why she operates the way she does. And our childhood is a big part of that, all the unresolved issues that we deal with as adults in real life. And I think Nina is clearly struggling with coming to terms with who her father is and the fact that he’s never going to change and with things that happened in her childhood, her mother’s absence, her mother died when she was very young.

And I think now that Nina is older, it’s interesting. I notice that she is not as forgiving of her father, there is not as much empathy, there are some unresolved issues and anger because of the way she was raised. and the things that happened. And while they’re not discussed specifically, I think a lot of us can relate to that feeling, and we’ll delve into them more this season and we’ll get to know more about Nina and peel back the onion a little bit. of different layers that have been there for Nina and why she is the way she is.

Does Nina think her and her father’s relationship can ever change, especially considering the way they leave it in this episode? Because I mean what he says about the way she’s raising her son, that’s going to be hard to get past.

I don’t know if she’s really hopeful. I think she’s a little bit set in her ways because she just knows that he’s not going to change and that he can’t be a big part of her life if he’s going to be like this, that he has to make some changes and accept and be open to what’s going on in her life is, the choices she makes as an adult, the way she had to pick up the pieces when their lives fell apart as children. She was the surrogate mother for her sister. There’s so much that it’s almost like we’ve peeled back a layer and underneath there’s so much to wade through that I don’t know if she has any hope at this point. She’s in a place of, I’ve got my partner and I’ve got my son and my sister and I’m in a relationship, and her dad wasn’t really a great parent to begin with, so she’s kind of like, why did I have him? necessary at all?

Yes, because there is such a clear difference between the family she was born into and the relationship with her father and the relationship she has built with Scola, even with her team, there is acceptance. There’s just an easy acceptance with everyone else.

Yes, that’s true. And of course, isn’t that always the case with your chosen family in life, where you can explain everything you’ve been through and build a bond over things that everyone goes through in their youth and similar feelings or situations, and then find common ground can find understanding. And with her and her father, they are so far apart about what her childhood was like, and he avoids taking responsibility that until that happens, I don’t see me as Nina as a way forward, a clear path to healing. .

But then there is the relationship with her sister, because her sister goes after her father when he calls her. What does Nina think about that? Then at the end we get that moment of Nina alone at the table.

It’s so complicated. She understands that. I think she wishes her sister had moved away and been out in the world more and had a little more eye-opening life, but there’s also a sense of guilt behind it because Nina has left and I think she sees her sister and thinks that that’s what she would do. What would have happened to me if I hadn’t left. And I just became my father’s caregiver and allowed him to do the things he does, to drink and soothe the pain and just keep the peace, and that’s just not who and what Nina is. And because Nina was the one who was really the surrogate mother and mother to Tink when her mother died, when she left and had to leave her with her father when she went to college. I think there’s another bigger conversation that’s never happened, that there’s a sisterly bond of being there for each other, but Nina carrying a heavy burden like it’s her fault that Tink doesn’t have a bigger life or have the space to become her own individual, away from her father.

We also get the comment that Nina and Scola have no intention of getting married, which I like…

Me, too!

– because they are happy. That’s what matters.

I think that’s always been the case with them. Nothing in their lives has ever been conventional. She’s not the one who dreams of a big white wedding dress and wedding. It works. It’s solid and it wasn’t even something she was looking for. And so when it happens, she’s just not living a fantasy fairytale life and they have such a beautiful partnership and commitment to each other that getting married just isn’t on the agenda. It may be unconventional in some ways, but I love that this is their story because there are plenty of people who have a wedding and saying you’re married doesn’t mean you’re any more or less committed than people who wake up every day and choose to love. to face each other and the world with the same dedication as if you had signed a piece of paper and wore a ring.

Yes, exactly. What’s important is that they’re on the same page about it. If one of them wants to get married and the other doesn’t, then it becomes a problem.

That’s for Scola to discover, because I think Nina is quite clear about what she feels, needs and wants, and that’s something I really like about her: the clarity of who she is and when it works, why. ..That’s just not something I think she ever dreamed of. If you grow up and don’t see something, I don’t think it’s a dream. Just like your mother dies when you’re still so young and your parents didn’t really get along before that, that’s the idea of ​​marriage. And to be able to do it differently and in her own way is of course how Nina smooths her path.

Which member of the team will Nina open up in the future?

Funny, I’ve wondered about this a lot too. I think they established that early on when I called Barnes Sheryll (Roxy Sternberg) that we actually already had this relationship, but Nina is someone who needs some time to open up, like work is a workspace and it’s the place where she puts on her armor and her walls might be a little bit higher, but so so far we’ve seen her open up to Barnes, both mothers, during the car ride last season. So yeah, I mean, I guess it just depends, right? It depends on the situation, the case and who suddenly has enough walls to connect.

Will Nina’s sister and father return?

Yes. We’ll see more of their family relationship throughout the season, and we’ll see more of Scola and Nina.

FBI: Most WantedTuesdays, 10/9c, CBS