When we last left Alex Parrish and her fellow Quantico NATS, there was a whole lot of mayhem going on. Alex finally decided to turn herself in to the FBI, while presumably sending a shot Ryan off to safety, all in the greater good of revealing a second bomb might be in play. That leaves her in a very precarious position as we start this week’s episode. So let’s get to recapping Quantico.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
The Past: This week’s exercise finds a guest instructor named Diane Goodwin (Anne Heche), who is a forensic pathologist specializing in the behaviors of serial killers. She has the class break into teams and when a team of Simon, Nimah, Alex and Ryan draw the Welfare Mom Killer case that Goodwin made her name off of, they attempt to find the planted victim in the case file. Ryan, Alex and Nimah all agree on one photo, while Simon draws her attention by continually suggesting that there might have been an alternative outcome.
We later see the gang “compartmentalizing” the experience by playing a drinking game about serial killers and the ever-curious Simon slipping off to a private booth to question Goodwin some more. He theorizes that she staged a murder scene to make it look like the Welfare Mom Killer had done it in order to nab her man. He joking suggests that she may have done the killing herself, before realizing that his hunch of falsifying evidence is not that far off. Â Feeling that she’s slipped, she reveals that no one will know because she knows every blind spot in the bar and they’re out of camera view. Later, she’s seen marching a rather stiff Simon out of the bar, which catches Ryan’s eye. As he calls out to Simon, we notice she has a syringe to his head and she plays it off as a hookup interrupted. She kisses him before revealing that he’ll never be able to prove it.
Upset over what happened, Simon tips the press. And when he admits he did so, his fellow NATS say that it wasn’t his place to rat out their new drinking buddy. Upset, Simon calls his bomb making friend and agrees that everything that the FBI stands for was a lie. He then accepts blueprints for every train station in New York.
Elsewhere in the past, Ryan, who has a good thing going with Alex, starts to get jealous and a little bit worried when she comes to the aid of Liam, who is on a bender after Shaw’s recent stabbing and his revelation of his past sins to Alex. Ryan wants her to stay far away from O’Connor, but she essentially gets her boss to see the light and clean up his act. Upset over Alex’s trust in O’Connor, Ryan says he didn’t have to stay in the program, but did to look over Alex. But it looks like she doesn’t need it, so he’s leaving and has other things to worry about.
Also in the past … Clayton contacts Caleb and tells his son that his daughter’s half-sister may be a fake and he should look into it and Shaw says that it was her son who stabbed her, but evidence collected around the area suggests that it could have been a kidnapping and Charlie’s prints were not found on the alleged weapon.
The Present: O’Connor has Alex sent to “The Vault” for interrogation, but before they get a chance to question her, the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) shows up with orders from the president to do the interrogating, something that even Clayton and O’Connor are not on board with. The main interrogator (played by Oded Fehr) barely touches Alex, feeling that her biggest weakness is her sympathy for others. Then we see a chained up Ryan, still with a bullet hole in his gut, all primed for torture unless Alex coughs up some intel. The HIG apparently wants a confession whether it’s true or not, and just as Alex is about to break, O’Connor and his team break in and stop the torture thanks to newfound information, which we’ll get to now.
Meanwhile, back at the Grand Central holding area, we find that Elias has returned and was called by Alex to be her legal counsel. Apparently the former analyst is not exactly fond of Clayton either. Nathalie, growing more suspicious, watches on as Caleb, Elias, Shelby and Simon speak. Caleb has uncovered that Diane Goodwin was killed in the explosion, and that all her valuables were on her with the exception of her phone. He’s starting to see the conspiracy and wants to help out “Team Alex.” Eventually, later on in the episode, Nathalie comes around as well. Caleb and Elias start searching the video database and learn that on the day of the bombing, Alex left her home but at one point she mysteriously disappeared from view in a blind spot from the cameras. One of the twins goes out to investigate and it turns out that Alex was taken by a van in an alley, knocked out and placed at the scene of the bombing.
Eventually, O’Connor comes around as well, but then tells Alex that the best way to catch the bomber is to keep them off guard. The bomber likely always suspected that Alex would be caught and might slip up if they thought she was. So by the end of the episode, we see Alex being charged with the various crimes as a ruse.
The Suspects
14. Alex Parrish – She has gone on the run and done everything possible to prove her innocence, then turned herself in for the greater good of stopping a second bombing.
13. Brandon Fletcher – It seems like every episode, he’s featured a little more in the “past” timeline, but has yet to be seen in the “present.” His current day status remains a mystery but seeing how out of place he’s been in the past, it’s possible he could just simply not have made the cut.
12. Elias Harper – The analyst returns as legal counsel for Alex Parrish. Â Seemed like a good guy before and it appears as though his moral compass is still intact.
11. Ryan Booth – If he did it, he’s a bit of a masochist. Over the course of the series he’s been shot twice and now tortured. All we’ve been led to believe so far is that he’s a guy who’s always there for his friends.
10.  Charlie Shaw – We’ll add him to the list, but he appears to be the ultimate red herring. It would just be too easy for the newly released  Charlie, who claims he was initially misunderstood by his mother who arrested him, to be the guy.
9. Miranda Shaw – Despite evidence that says otherwise, she’s claiming that it’s her son that stabbed her. Yes, she freed Alex in the opening episode, but why? How is she so certain that Alex is not responsible? Is there something to Charlie being a patsy?
8. Nathalie Vazquez – We’re finally getting a little bit more on Nathalie’s back story as she confessed to Shelby that she’s a mom and that the father is threatening to take away her daughter for being in the academy. We still don’t know the origin of the fake scar and we’re not sure if the story she gave about why she was spooked while looking at her serial killer file (that the girl victim looked like her daughter) is legit. But she finally did come around to help Team Alex in this episode and was the voice of reason to turn O’Connor as well.
7. Raina Amin – Sneakily moving up the rankings. She seems innocent of everything, is willing to help out Alex and reportedly didn’t switch out with her sister during the period of the bombing. While we fear it was her sister that turned while infiltrating the terrorist cell, it’s becoming obvious that she’s the odd twin out during exercises in the past and is heartbroken that Simon seems to prefer her sister. The weaker of the two sisters may have been more susceptible to turning and how do we know where she was during the bombing. We only know her sister was inside the terrorist cell house.
6. Liam O’Connor – Recovering alcoholic, yes. Overly suspicious of Alex, yes. Questionable history and tactics, yes. But for the first time this season, he appears not to be lying and to be in Alex’s corner. But if his plan for Alex truly a way to find the real bomber or is he the bomber and just setting her up to stupidly take the fall?
5. Nimah Amin – The more deceptive of the two twins and seemingly more likely to have her wits about her in what she’s doing. She has underplayed her strengths in the past, but appears to be as smart and has as good of instincts as Alex. Could she have been playing everyone all along?
4. Clayton Haas – Is he a politician attempting to cover up a mess that would hurt his family’s image or does his reluctance to look into Alex’s case suggest something more sinister is at work? Remember, he’s the one that suggested to Simon to “slow play” his role with Alex and gain her trust.
3. Caleb Haas – Seems to be on top of things in present day, stopping at nothing to learn the truth and following every lead no matter who’s reputation (hello, dad) it might hurt. But why in the past did he use his alternate persona to attend what appeared to be a cult meeting?
2. Shelby Wyatt – Is there anything to Clayton’s suggestion to his son that Shelby’s half-sister is not real? If so, who is the woman and who is she giving money to? By the timeline, you have to believe that this is what splits up Shelby and Caleb, but how does Clayton get involved with her later on if this is real? Has Shelby got everyone fooled?
1. Simon Asher – He certainly is looking more guilty and he’s one of the sketchiest guys on the show so far. His ability to play multiple sides comes into play and the death of Dr. Goodwin could simply be eliminating a threat. Yes, he’s been helpful to Alex so far, but is that just to throw off suspicion?
Tune in next Sunday at 10PM ET/PT on ABC for the next episode of Quantico and let us know who you think is the bomber and who framed Alex Parrish?
Required fields are marked *. Your name and email will not be published.
