‘FBI: Most Wanted’: Shantel VanSanten Teases Nina’s Father & Sister Visiting Stirs up Her Past

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Nina (Shantel VanSanten) is usually ready for anything when it comes to a case. But for her father’s (John Finn) visit? Not so much.

It’s a family affair for Nina in the October 29 episode of FBI: Most Wanted, with her dad Jackson and her sister Tink (Hannah Adrian) in town to see her and Scola (FBI‘s John Boyd) and get to know their son. Drama, of course, ensues.

Below, VanSanten previews the family visit and shares an update on Nina and Scola’s relationship.

How’s Nina’s dad and sister visiting going to go for Nina and for Nina and Scola as a couple?

Shantel VanSanten: In this episode, we get to see Nina’s family visiting town, which is a rare thing for Nina as well, for her father at least. We’ve spoken about how Nina’s sister has come in before and helped out with Dougie, and so I think that she’s a regular fixture in their life, but her father, not so much. He’s the kind of dad who [says], ‘I want to see you so you better get your butt home and come see me.’ And the way that that’s kind of working in the relationship with Scola and what Nina needs from him in order to be able to function, do the job, handle the parents being in town, it’s a juggling act, and I think it’s a juggling act more emotionally than Nina was ready or prepared for. It stirs up a lot of her past that ends up bubbling up to the surface in one of their interactions.

CBS

What does Nina’s dad think of Scola?

Dad has a very specific picture for what life should look like for his daughters. And Nina’s not conventional, she’s not contrived. She paves her own way, always has, always will. And even more so that she has a father to push back against, there’s a little bit of that rebellion of wanting to be her own individual. There’s a lot of unresolved hurt and anger from her childhood, so there’s a bit of acting out still as an adult against what her father wishes or hopes or thinks or expects her life to look like..  Nina knows that Scola is a really good parent and partner, but I think that there’s a longer road to prove that to her father.

There’s also a case. Is Nina almost happy to get that call?

Oh gosh, yes. Are you kidding me? I don’t think she’s necessarily happy to have to break the news to her partner that she’ll be leaving on a case for the day and can no longer join them. But of course there’s relief because then there’s avoidance of having to actually deal with the issues that are there. I think it’s one of those ideas I know in my own life where you’ll be so excited to see family, and whether it’s a holiday or normal visit, and then they get there and you’re a bit overwhelmed, and there’s unresolved feelings or things you need to talk about, and you kind of avoid them until the last hour before they leave for the airport. And I think she’s doing a bit of that dance where she wanted them to come and meet Dougie, and now they’re there and she needs the relief of a case to come in.

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How are Nina and Scola doing as a couple? They feel solid, especially after what they got through last season.

Yeah, I think that they definitely went through trial by fire, and it was a really challenging beginning to a relationship, and then becoming new parents when it was an unplanned pregnancy and navigating that. I think that they really found their footing, and throughout the season, we’re going to see that. We’re going to see a bit more of them in their normal life and them being able to navigate a solid partnership and raising a kid together.

FBI: Most Wanted, Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS