It’s been a fun first half, but we’re finally at the mid-season finale of Quantico. Let’s take a look at what happened in this week’s episode, “Inside.”
The episode opens with the Democratic National Convention about to be underway in the future. As we’ve found out, the next bomb will most likely go off at the DNC, and the FBI (and Alex) are down to their last four hours before Alex is forced to serve a life sentence for a crime that she didn’t commit. With this being a mid-season finale, it’s appropriate that the stakes feel exceptionally high here as it keeps the episode’s tempo up. Back at the academy, the trainees are getting ready for the holidays, giving us a chance to see our characters in a happier state than usual. Things aren’t completely cheery, though, as Miranda gives everyone some homework before they take their holiday break. This time, they’re given cold cases to try and find new leads that the previous investigators may have missed. Most of the trainees will be doing this at home, but with Alex, Shelby, Nimah, and Nathalie all staying at Quantico for the holiday, they get to try and solve them together. This is the first time that we’ve gotten this exact group working together, and it helps to show that just about any of these characters can be a blast in any group that the writers put them in.
As usual, Tate Ellington is perfect as Simon in “Inside.” We spend plenty of time with him in the high-stakes future timeline in this episode, and it still amazes me how well Ellington is able to capture all of the emotion and personality of this character after so few episodes. This guy has plenty of jobs in Hollywood in his future, and I’m thrilled to see where he goes next.
“Inside” features the Quantico debuts of both Marcia Cross and Eliza Coupe in recurring roles, and both actresses continue to build on this immensely talented cast. Cross’s role as Caleb’s Democratic nominee for Vice President mother ensures that she’ll be given the right material for a performer of her caliber, and Coupe’s character immediately falls into the action with the tension that she causes between Alex and Ryan. Both characters have an enormous amount of potential, and it should be fun to see their stories continue after the hiatus.
After meandering for so long with seemingly no goal, Elias is finally given some solid character-progressing material in “Inside,” something that I’ve been waiting on for a few weeks. Rick Cosnett is a much more talented actor than he’s been given credit for this season, so I’m glad he finally got a little bit of weight to work with here.
There have been plenty hits and misses on Quantico through the first half of the season (though I like to focus a lot more on the positives than on the negatives), but for the most part, it’s been an extremely fun and intriguing ride. There’s always the chance that it will fly off the rails when it comes back in a few months, but I have a good feeling that Quantico‘s return will be just as exciting as we’ve come to expect.
What did you think of “Inside”? Will you be tuning back in when the show returns from its winter hiatus? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below, and be sure to check back in March when Quantico returns!
[Photo credit: Phillipe Bosse/ABC]
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