Tonight the NATs develop their surveillance skills and Miranda Shaw is their mark! Get a sneak peek of Quantico, airing at 10:00pm ET|PT on ABC.
Last week (“Found”), the NATs’ training explored developing new identities and going undercover. In the future, Alex tried to share her own story with the world.
At Quantico, while physical training continued, Nimah and Raina tried to get back into their groove and Alex was on the outs with her mother for lying about grad school. Ryan was still suspicious of Liam’s intentions for Alex and shared his concerns with Miranda. Elias also continued his investigation in Simon.
Early on, the NATs received their next assignment, which would take them off campus. They would build a new persona of a white-collar employee at a Fortune 500 company, and they’d get a chance to try out that persona at an event that evening. “Can you create a person so real that you convince the world you are who you say you are? Can you disappear?” (*SIDENOTE* Many of these NATs seem to already be doing this very thing!)
The NATs had to keep in mind things like academic background, professional ambitions, likes/dislikes, favorite books, hometown. Once they finished, the trainees presented their new identities to the class (Alex = Jordan Weaver, former human rights attorney; Ryan = J.D. Rollins, contractor; Shelby = Casey Regan, financial analyst; Simon = Samuel Berry, head of corporate giving foundation; Nimah/Raina = Dr. Aviva Cortas, human resources). That evening, they went to Washington D.C. hotel to attend the annual Dystek corporate retreat. They would put their new identities into play and whoever was able to finagle a meeting with the CEO would win. However, Liam had one last surprise: they’d have to swap their carefully constructed personas with the person standing next to them. The analyst trainees were also invited to observe.
Interestingly, Simon asked his “boyfriend” Max to come down from New York to visit….and of course Elias was curious. He went up to Max’s room, lying that Simon had sent him. Elias found out that Max barely knew Simon. Elias was fed up…Simon was lying about being gay and manipulating total strangers. This made Simon dangerous and Elias planned to tell Miranda everything. At that point Simon confessed that he was haunted by his experience in Gaza Israeli Defense Forces. Taking a new identity was his only way to cope. Elias agreed to keep the secret.
Elsewhere, Caleb continuously sabotaged Shelby’s attempts…and in their rage, they ended up sleeping together. Miranda and Liam also had an interesting exchange. Apparently, the last time they were at that particular hotel, they had decided to end their separate marriages and be together. Yet, Liam got cold feet and bailed on the plan. (OH MY!) Miranda then confronted him about his operation regarding Alex. Whatever Liam said convinced Miranda to let him continue.
In the end, Alex, Ryan, and Nimah/Raina got in to see the CEO. Alex and Ryan (maybe still in their personas) celebrated with drinks and a “one night stand”.
In the future, Alex still had Shelby hostage and was extremely concerned with the way the media were representing her. Ryan and Simon reached out to Alex to tell her there was a shoot-to-kill order, which made her even more agitated. Did it even matter if she found the real terrorist? Alex needed to change the public conversation, and sent out a request to the Dark Web for anyone willing to help get her story out there.
Alex and Shelby met with a couple hackers who agreed to hear her out; however, they wanted to question Alex to make sure she was legitimately innocent. They asked about Alex’s missing year in India and her ties to Pakistani and Iranian terrorists. She seemed to speak honestly and her travels; Alex even shared that she didn’t think the individuals she’d met were terrorists, just scapegoats in the war on terror. The hackers were convinced, and live streamed the interview. Alex shared how she had been framed by the real terrorist since the very beginning at Quantico, likely because she was a person of color. Alex expressed being sad that those who knew her best didn’t believe her: “I love this country and I want to protect it…but the country I love shouldn’t shoot first and ask questions later…”
The FBI found out that Alex planned to live stream a message and they could track down her location…but Alex had thought of that. So when the FBI arrived, armed and ready, the location was a mosque during Ramadan. Of course, the press arrived too. YIKES. When the mosque was evacuated, Alex (wearing a burka) was able to slip though. The hackers helped Alex get a hotel, new ID, computer, and supplies.
Shelby was back with the FBI and admitted to Ryan and Simon that she didn’t think Alex was the terrorist. Things got even more interesting when they learned Caleb (AKA Mark Raymond) had been at Grand Central during the time of the bombing…
In tonight’s episode “God”, written by Beth Schacter, directed by Peter Leto, and guest-starring Jacob Artist and Valerie Cruz:
THE TRAINEES PRACTICE SURVEILLANCE ON MIRANDA AND HER SON—The NATs learn surveillance by putting it into practice with Miranda and her troubled son, Charlie. Shelby tries to keep Caleb at a distance, but Raina opens the door to a closer relationship with Simon. In the future, Alex is helped when she tries to hack into an FBI computer.
Ummmmmm… would Miranda willingly ask the NATs to use her and Charlie as guinea pigs for their training? This seems really unlikely, especially given what we know about Charlie potentially planning another attack once he’s out of juvenile detention!
We’ve got two sneak peeks from the upcoming show. In the first, the NATs learn about the technology that allows the FBI to monitor the Internet across the country. And in the second clip, the NATs are all hooking up and clearly can’t keep it a secret:
The agents learn some new skills on tomorrow’s #Quantico. Take a peek: https://t.co/G99u4yPe2l
— Quantico ABC (@QuanticoTV) October 31, 2015
You know, sometimes I wonder how much of this show is based in reality…YIKES! In these images from “God” we see more of the NATs’ surveillance exercises. We also see that the relationships between Alex/Ryan, Shelby/Caleb, and Raina/Simon continue to deepen:
Remember to watch the new Quantico when it airs on ABC at 10:00pm ET|PT and come live tweet with us while we watch!