We’re only one episode away from the mid-season finale of Quantico, one of the most exciting new shows of the fall , so let’s jump in and take a look at what happened in this week’s new episode, appropriately titled “Quantico.”
The episode begins in the future after Alex pleads “guilty” to all of the charges against her. It turns out that it was a ploy by the FBI to convince the bomber that she is behind bars, though, and the team (now immune because of the terms of Alex’s plea) begins working to find the true bomber from the list of their former classmates. The thing that I really like about these events is that we’re actually getting the team working together in the future timeline for the first time instead of having them scheming and being at each other’s throats. There’s still a ton of mystery hiding under the surface, but we’ve seen that this cast works really well when they’re together, and we now get to see them in this mode under much different circumstances than those at the academy.
Back in the past, things have begun changing for everyone now that training has progressed as far as it has. The biggest change is Ryan accepting a new undercover assignment, but not before using his contacts at HQ to help Alex out with one last request. Simon is also more secretive than ever, and he’s managed to turn into one of the more intriguing characters on the show. Out of all the characters on Quantico, Simon seems to be the one that has had the most twists (which is really saying something) and secrets, both in the future and in the past. Caleb and Shelby’s stories are also keeping themselves interesting as they lead up to their split (that we’ve seen in the future), and the show continues to prove that it has a solid structure in place.
Speaking of structure, Quantico has gotten much better in the past few episodes at effectively dividing its time between the two timelines in play. Instead of taking place almost exclusively at the academy with small teases at what’s going on after the bombing, the story progression on both fronts has figured out the best pacing possible. Both stories are interesting to the audience, but a larger focus on the post-bombing investigation takes a lot of weight off the shoulders of the academy story because it isn’t having to establish every story element that we see. The series just works better when the divide is this even.
I talked about his character a few lines above, but I want to take a second and talk about how fantastic Tate Ellington has been all season as Simon. No matter what mysteries and twists the writers have thrown at him, Ellington has responded with the perfect emotional range and a sophistication that actors typically aren’t able to show after only ten episodes with a character. His ability to completely switch gears depending on the timeline also manages to keep the audience engaged and in eager anticipation of seeing the exact events that take place between the two. The entire cast has been uncharacteristically solid, but Ellington has definitely been the show’s secret weapon.
Quantico has been a ton of fun, despite the soapiness that tends to bleed into the story, throughout this half of the season, and “Quantico” leaves us with a good amount of setup for what should prove to be an exciting mid-season finale next week. The cast is only getting better and better each week, and it’s gotten to the point that I would be willing to watch a terrible story as long as it featured these characters. Luckily for me, Quantico‘s story is completely up to par.
What did you think of “Quantico”? What do you hope happens in the midseason finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!
[Photo credit: Phillippe Bosse/ABC]
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