CBS Is Undoing CIA’s 2-Season Hard Work For Bill & Colin

Published Nov 11, 2026, 9:15 AM EST

Misty Layne started as an actor and sketch comedy writer before deciding to concentrate mainly on writing. Utilizing both her love of television and film and her behind-the-scenes knowledge, she began a website reviewing films in 2013, with a focus on horror and indie media. Eventually, she began writing about all things television and film for other sites as well. Misty shares a home with five cats, a ton of books, and a fairly impressive vinyl collection.
 

CIA’s season 2, episode 6, “Legacy”, saw CBS do everything it could to undo two seasons of hard work for Bill and Colin to reach the partnership they now have. While it’s normal for secrets to abound on a show involving spies and government agencies, they've started to get out of control in CIA, particularly withBill’s latest secret introduced in this episode. It seems as if many of those secrets will soon unravel, though some more quickly than others, and the consequences could be devastating for Colin and Bill’s easy partnership.

The series potentially wanting to break up its main duo’s working relationship might seem like an odd choice, but there may be a good reason. Drama makes for good television, after all, and there’s no greater drama than conflict between two people who have done the work to build trust between themselves, as happened in the initial dynamic between Bill and Colin in CIA. Hopefully, the two men can rebuild what they had once Bill redeems himself from CIA season 2's earlier episodes, but if their relationship doesn’t recover, it could change the core dynamics of the show.

Colin and Bill's Partnership May Never Recover After CIA's "Legacy"

CBS/Paramount

“Legacy” showed viewers that Colin and Bill have been hiding quite a bit from each other. While work partners don’t need to know everything about one another, Colin’s relationship with Toni seems like important information for Bill to have. Colin proved that by ruining part of an op in this episode due to his concern over Toni getting hurt. If Bill had known they were together, maybe he could have stopped Colin from rushing to Toni’s side, a move that let this season’s Big Bad, Felix Vincente, get away.

Colin’s secret, though, isn’t nearly as dangerous as the one Bill has by the end of “Legacy.” Bill is obsessed with figuring out who his father was after learning about his past in the CIA that involved taking children, including Vincente, and turning them into killers. This personal mission has taken over everything else in Bill’s life, even his personal relationships. He’s been digging into things on his own, and once Vincente escapes during the op, he hunts him down and captures him.

After doing that, he convinces Colin to give him some time to talk to Vincente before they turn him in. Colin goes out on a limb for Bill and agrees, taking them to an off-the-books safehouse. While Colin gets some information from Vincente, it isn’t what he wants. When he starts talking about getting information through any means necessary, in a major role reversal for CIA, it’s rule-breaking Colin who warns him to be careful. After that, Bill agrees to hand over Vincente but only to the FBI.

However, in the final moments of the episode, it's revealed that Bill didn’t do what he assured Colin he would do. Instead, he’s stashed Vincente in a basement somewhere, with the threat that he either talks or he doesn’t leave the room alive. Considering how much Colin has risked to help Bill find out more about his dad, it’s a significant betrayal and one that could affect Colin’s career and life (because Nikki’s new boss, Olivia, is more than a little bloodthirsty).

Why CIA Needs To Keep Breaking Up Colin & Bill's Partnership

Spencer Pazer / ©CBS / Courtesy Everett Collection

Colin and Bill are the core of CIA; their partnership represents the FBI/CIA fusion cell, and without it, there really isn’t a show. A conflict like the one set up in “Legacy” could drastically change the two characters’ dynamic. Colin’s season 2 affair with Toni might have ended now that she’s leaving for London, but Bill’s secret turn to the dark side is just beginning. Add in whatever secrets Nikki and Olivia have about the operation Bill’s father worked on, and the possibility of the entire unit’s dynamics changing is high.

However, CIA needs to keep breaking Bill and Colin up to keep the show's tension high. CIA season 2 is definitely experiencing a bit of a sophomore slump, with major personality changes in some characters and a few messy storylines, so it needs more tension to keep viewers tuned in. Bill’s investigation into his father has done that, but that storyline has been so spread out thus far that the tension doesn’t always carry. The addition of Olivia definitely increases tension, but the character is so new, it’s still not clear where that tension is going.

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Changing up Bill and Colin’s partnership, now that they’ve finally found their groove together, is one of the few options left. The duo has already seen changes in their relationship this season, as Bill has increasingly become more lenient in how he approaches situations. However, a break caused by a betrayal like Bill’s could carry the rest of CIA season 2. It would certainly make the show more interesting; either CIA repairs the partnership later on, or Bill and Colin never recover, turning the show into something new.