Pacing and consistency have been the two best aspects of Quantico since its premiere, but its thus far unwillingness to diverge from the formula has been its biggest flaw. Let’s see how things shaped up in this week’s episode, “Found.”
The episode opens in the future timeline as Alex is considered an at-large terrorist. She tries to get Shelby to help out her case, but she refuses. It would be easy to look at this timeline as an attempt to evoke similar story beats as How to Get Away With Murder (Quantico‘s ABC peer) does so well, but when you really look at it, the dual-timeline structure works on a fundamentally different level. Whereas the flash-forwards on HTGAWM function as a peek at what’s to come while letting us see how events lead to this conclusion, Quantico gives almost equal screentime to each of its timelines while offering a juxtaposition of how events from before the attack inspire Alex’s actions later on. “Found” gives us one of the most on-the-nose examples of this as the cadets at the academy are tasked with creating a completely different undercover identity and being able to fully sell it to others. The “lesson” is, surprisingly, very interesting, and it plays very well when paired with the later events.
I’ve talked a lot in my reviews of Quantico about how the writers have seemed very unwilling (possibly to a fault) to break from the show’s established formula. As with the previous couple of episodes, this unwillingness is just as evident in “Found.” For some reason, though, I didn’t quite care as much as I usually do. I want to say that it’s because “Found” is quite possibly the most well-written episode of Quantico since the pilot, but it may also be that I’ve just finally accepted that this is what the series is going to be. That may sound like a criticism, but I don’t at all intend for it to be so. It’s true that continuing to be formulaic doesn’t work for many shows, but perhaps that’s something Quantico can prove to do better than others. The fact that it isn’t relying on procedural elements (though they do exist) aids the character drama that it really wants to be at its core.
As before, the characters on Quantico are fantastic, and the performances are surprisingly solid for a (predominantly) lesser-known cast. I mentioned it above, but the script for “Found” was one of the best that the writers have offered so far. “Solid” often sounds like you’re trying to say that something is good, but not as good as it could be. In the most positive way possible, I want to say that Quantico has, so far, been very solid. There’s a lot of room for improvement, and this show can get much better as it goes on, but Quantico is a good series. It’s fun, it’s intriguing, and it keeps you wanting to find out exactly how it’s going to progress.
What did you think of “Found”? What are your thoughts on season one of Quantico so far? Let us know in the comments down below!
[Photo credit: Phillippe Bosse/ABC]
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