With regards to killer openings to episodes of CBS’ FBI exhibits, FBI: Most Needed can all the time be counted on to ship one thing actually ugly to arrange the chase for the fugitive of the week. The present goes robust within the 2025 TV schedule with regards to artistic new methods of kicking off brutal new circumstances, and I am nonetheless interested by an incident with a meat tenderizer days after the episode aired. Fortuitously, I would spoken with director Milena Govich in regards to the installment, known as “Do You Understand?” and airing on February 11, and she or he defined what made it look so good.
Milena Govich has directed on a number of sequence all through the nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe and even briefly starred on Regulation & Order, however “Do You Understand?” introduced some distinctive challenges. I spoke along with her after watching the episode’s opener with the killer of the week heating up a meat tenderizer after which branding one among his victims earlier than taking pictures him to demise. Should you missed the sequence or simply need to rewatch it, you will discover it streaming with a Paramount+ subscription. In truth, you might simply must revisit these first couple of minutes after studying what the director shared!
With regards to the meat tenderizer sequence, Milena Govich defined that it was “a mix of particular results, that are sensible onset issues which are occurring, and visible results.” She went on to shed some further behind-the-scenes gentle to CinemaBlend:
We did warmth up the meat tenderizer on an precise flame, so whenever you see that at first, that truly hearth. That is occurring, however then it comes away from body. We comply with it, and should you discover on this opening shot, the tenderizer goes out of body for only a second, and we now have the props individual holding a chilly one, they usually change it out off digital camera, so when it comes again up, it is an an identical meat tenderizer, however it’s not sizzling. [laughs] So when it comes and touches the opposite actor, it is all simply performing, so far as the burning goes. However we’re hopefully tricking the attention to imagine that we’re taking that tenderizer proper off an actual flame and placing it onto the actor.
I did in reality return and rewatch the opener (greater than as soon as) after Govich’s breakdown of how the FBI: Most Needed crew made it work with the change occurring simply off digital camera, proving that the results crew goes above and past simply as a lot because the stunt crew that earned Emmy nominations. I famous to the director that I would assumed there was a much bigger lower within the episode to make the sequence occur, and she or he went on:
We did a bit switcheroo! After which so far as the burns on the actor that is getting burned, we make the most of some visible results there. Simply because our timeline is so constrained, our superb make-up crew, led by John Perkins, created an appliqué that is on his chest for the burn marks. We went forward and put the appliqué on to begin. There may be some visible results eradicating that appliqué, however it’s there in order that when the meat tenderizer goes on, it goes on at precisely the suitable place, after which when it comes off, the visible results cease and now we see the burn. We name {that a} heal and reveal within the results world.
If I would needed to guess the place visible results had been used to create the burn marks, I’d have had it backwards! FBI: Most Needed made essentially the most of TV magic to make the sequence that was so unhealthy for the characters look so good for viewers from dwelling. Apparently, make-up division head John Perkins additionally got here to Most Needed with expertise within the wider Dick Wolf world, with stints on Regulation & Order: SVU in addition to Regulation & Order.
It stays to be seen what sort of ugly openers are nonetheless in retailer for FBI: Most Needed Season 6 on CBS, however it’s a protected guess that these first couple of minutes of every episode aren’t going to be the faint of coronary heart. Then once more, anyone who has watched FBI after which FBI: Worldwide on Tuesday nights forward of Most Needed at 10 p.m. ET certainly has nerves of metal with regards to TV crime.
Whereas Most Needed is arguably essentially the most ugly of the three with its late time slot, the crew of FBI and Fly Workforce of Worldwide aren’t precisely known as in for petty crimes!