At the FBI Academy, training continues and Liam shares information about Alex’s father; in the future, Liam uses Alex’s mother to convince Alex to turn herself in. Get a sneak peek of Quantico, airing at 10:00pm ET|PT on ABC.
After her escape from the FBI at the end of the series premiere, Alex spent the bulk of last week’s Quantico episode trying to piece together clues that would lead her to the real terrorist.
“America” began with the NATs during their FBI Academy interviews, sharing why they wanted to be agents. All expressed some love for America and wanting to protect others. However, we wondered how honest they were being. We also saw, even at that time, Liam had already assigned Ryan to watch Alex.
At Quantico, physical training continued, and Ryan (still working for Liam) was trying to get back in Alex’s good graces after that tough interrogation in front of the class. The twins switching off as Nimah struggled to maintain the facade, since one sister was more physically fit than the other. The sisters also disagreed on Simon’s odd friendship. But Miranda (Assistant Director Shaw) encouraged them to get it together. The only way people would believe they were one person was to act and perform the same way. Miranda also told them to leave Simon alone…this would be hard for Raina (the twin who liked Simon!).
For this week’s training exercise, the NATs were grouped with FBI analyst trainees to identify, investigate, and prevent possible terrorist plots (focussing on sifting through meaningful and meaningless clues). And though Caleb Haas was asked to leave Quantico, he returned as one of the analyst trainees! We also met Elias Harper (Rick Cosnett from The Flash!!!) , another analyst-in-training who took an immediate liking to Simon.
During their exercises, various trainees conflicted. At first, Shelby didn’t find Caleb to be a particularly helpful analyst; he spent too much time searching white husky tags on Instagram! A competition between Alex and another recruit, Nathalie, also commenced. They competed in terms of physical training and also for Ryan’s attention. Elias, a gay man himself, admired Simon for being the first openly gay FBI Academy recruit. However, Simon didn’t return the friendly feeling. Alex was the only trainee who won the exercise, but identifying Liam as the unreliable source of information. Lesson of the: evidence lies and you have to question everything.
Later, Caleb admitted to Shelby that he only got into the FBI Analyst training program because his sister called a friend. His family was embarrassed that he would be the first Haas not to become an FBI Agent…yet here Caleb was, watching everyone else live out his dream. Elias also confronted Simon again, this time with some pretty interesting information…like Simon getting out of Gaza without a permit and realizing Simon’s glasses were fake. Things between Alex and Ryan also got a little better when he told the truth about his family situation.
In terms of the administration, Miranda knew that Ryan was an undercover agent, though she believed he was planted by the Executive Assistant Director to spy on her. The entire time, Liam pretended he had no idea who Ryan was…just as he also admitted to know Nimah was actually twin sisters. There was also some secret about Miranda’s son…he was in prison (perhaps for planning an attack on his school?).
Nine months later, in the aftermath of the Grand Central Terminal attack, Alex was on the run to find the real terrorist attacker. But whoever had set her up had done so thoroughly. Alex’s weapon was the one used to shoot Ryan (who was in recovery from surgery); the FBI found a bag of falsified passports and documents, all with Alex’s face; there was even a false cupboard in her apartment that led to another building with orders for bomb-making materials, all in her name.
Liam pulled no stops in trying to capture Alex. He questioned Miranda (now FORMER Assistant Director of Quantico) and she was adamant that Alex was innocent. Miranda also let us know that Liam had fallen in love with Alex during the FBI Academy and that she rejected him.
Alex was able to get to the restaurant across the street from her apartment and used her FBI credentials to commandeer security footage. She then broke into her apartment to check things out, only to be met by Nathalie. They fought each other, but Alex tried to convince Nathalie of her innocence. Why would be she evidence that led back to her in the open? Furthermore, Alex would never shoot Ryan, a man they BOTH loved. She was able to disarm Nathalie and handcuff her before taking off again.
Alex got in touch Ryan at the hospital and he said he believed she didn’t shoot him. He would help buy Alex some time, but had to make it look like he thought she was guilty. When Liam asked Ryan who shot him, he name Alex. By the end of the episode, her name and photo was blasted all over the airwaves.
In tonight’s episode “Cover”, written by Jordon Nardino, directed by Jennifer Lynch, guest-starring Rick Cosnett as Elias Harper, Anabelle Acosta as Nathalie Vasquez, and Mark Pellegrino as FBI Director Clayton:
ALEX LEARNS ABOUT HER FATHER WHILE IT’S HER MOTHER WHO NOW PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN HER FUTURE FREEDOM; AND THE RECRUITS PROFILE EACH OTHER’S STRENGHTS AND WEAKNESSES—At Quantico, Alex finally receives information about her father and his FBI past, but in the future it’s her mother, Sita (Anna Khaja), who plays a key role when Liam convinces her to participate in a press conference on national television begging Alex to turn herself in. Also at “Quantico,” the NATS learn the art of profiling and focus on their classmates’ strengths and weaknesses, ultimately challenging their confidence and camaraderie. (via ABC)
Liam is really pulling out all the stops to get Alex to turn herself in, even using her mother. Though, you have to wonder if Liam’s strategy will work. How much does Alex actually trust her mom? She didn’t tell the truth about going to Quantico. Plus once Alex learns about her father’s role in the FBI, it could have the effect of driving an even bigger wedge between Alex and her mother.
Anywho, check out this clip from “Cover”, which features a HEATED confrontation between Ryan and Simon. It looks like the pressures of training are causing the NATS to crack:
WOW, right?! But besides being angry, they’re both incredibly observant—Simon seems to know that Ryan is more than a trainee, just as Ryan can see that Simon is putting on a calculated performance. With that said, all of our trainees are hiding massive secrets: Nathalie has a scar that may/may not be real; Caleb has a Facebook account under the name Mark Raymond; and Shelby has secret conversations in Arabic with a “friend”.
Take a look at 25 images from tonight’s episode, which give us an inside look at the more physical aspects of the NATS training and teamwork building exercises. We also see that there’s going to be some sort of secret meeting between Alex, Liam, AND Ryan, perhaps about Alex’s father.
Make sure to tune into Quantico at 10:00pm ET|PT on ABC and come live tweet while we watch!
