After the first two episodes of Quantico, we’ve been able to start caring about the show’s characters while the premise was given room to establish itself. It’s been a fun ride so far, so let’s see what happened in this week’s episode, “Cover.”
The episode opens with a brief teaser of the “future” storyline’s progression before jumping straight into this week’s lesson at the FBI Academy in Quantico. As I mentioned in my review last week. I really. really like this look we’re getting at the actual lessons and training of the agents at the academy. I still don’t know how accurate it is to the real world, but that doesn’t really matter, essentially. The important thing to the narrative isn’t as much accuracy as it is engagement, and these lessons have done a great job so far at keeping the audience engaged with the professional progression of our characters. This week’s lesson on loyalty and character fit really well with the development of our leads, and I’m glad that this part of the show hasn’t yet started to feel tedious.
In my eyes, the true story that Quantico is trying to tell is the one taking place outside of the academy flashbacks, essentially the show’s framing narrative. Every episode gives us larger and larger looks at these events from the “future,” and the writers have done a great job at letting the storyline expand at an appropriate pace. While the pilot really kept the framing focus on just a couple of our characters, this future storyline has continued to add cast members in each week. It’s also juxtaposed nicely in a way that allows us to clearly see the very different places that all of these characters are in down the line. It also ensures that tension remains high as we’re constantly reminded of the stakes at this point in the story.
One thing that Quantico has going for it is the quality of the writing. Whether by design or by coincidence, the writing on this show reminds me a lot of a Shondra Rhimes drama. Quantico is something that could easily be slipped into ABC’s TGIT lineup without skipping a single beat, and that’s as much of a compliment as it sounds. In addition to the writing quality, the show is still doing a wonderful job at getting us to care about all of the characters. Quantico has a pretty large cast, but I still find myself really becoming attached to every new character that’s introduced. I don’t think that there’s been a single one in the first three episodes that I haven’t “liked.” If the writing stays this strong and the characters remain this well-developed, Quantico could have a very long life ahead of itself.
In trying to find negatives with this episode of Quantico, the only thing that I can really come up with is that it seems to just be more of the same. That’s not exactly a negative as, like I mentioned before, the quality of writing is extremely strong and I am genuinely interested in the story and the characters. I guess what I mean is that I hope it takes more risks later on. It isn’t an issue right now per se (or maybe even for quite a while), but it could become a problem as time goes by.
“Cover” was another strong episode of Quantico that continues advancing the show at a breakneck pace that is a refreshing change of pace from the, let’s say “deliberate” pacing of so many dramas on the air these days. We may be only three episodes into the series, but I’m all-in with Quantico. I can’t wait to see where the story goes.
What did you think of “Cover”? Has Quantico earned a spot on your weekly schedule? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!
[Photo credit: Phillipe Bosse/ABC]
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