Quantico Recap: Season 1 Episode 2 

Episode 2 opens with interview scenes of the future recruits being asked why they want to join the FBI. It also shows that everyone has secrets as we see that Simon carefully cultivates his harmless facade, Shelby texts a suspicious number and we are introduced to a new character, Natalie (a cop). We also see where Ryan is put on Alex’s tail by Liam. Back at Quantico, Alex is still giving Ryan the cold shoulder while he tries his best to get close to her. Simon is earnestly also trying to get closer to Nimah while the new girl, Natalie seems to have it in for Alex. Simon is much more observant than he seems as he notices that Ryan seems to have done all the FBI training stuff before.

After training, we are introduced to 12 future analysts and in walks Caleb (urgh). He’s been taken in by the academy to join the analyst program. There is a hot gay analyst who instantly makes a beeline for Simon but ends up being given the cold shoulder. Today’s exercise is learning how to stop an attack before it happens. They need to study scenes and separate evidence from what isn’t needed.

During the training exercise, a side conversation between Miranda and Liam confirms the fact that Liam is acting on his own regarding the Ryan/Alex tail. We also get to know Reemah/Nimah are an FBI experiment but we still don’t know the exact details of what the experiment entails. Caleb is being even more of an ass and Simon looks even more suspiciously Non-Gay as he’s quite hostile to the cute gay analyst. This leads to the guy subsequently investigating him and finding discrepancies in his story regarding Gaza and then discovering his glasses aren’t even prescription glasses. Alex also manages to be the only trainee who didn’t lose the training exercise.

Back to the present, the hunt continues for Alex and Liam certainly seems very convinced she’s guilty. Miranda on the other hand is quite convinced Alex is innocent. In a blink and you miss it moment, Miranda lets us know that  Liam at some point fell in love with Alex. Natalie is part of the people searching Alex’s apartment and it’s clear the animosity from training hasn’t reduced. Alex loses her trail and gets into her apartment to check for clues, pick supplies and following a fight with Natalie (who came back to the apartment), she discovers her bathroom is linked to the building beside hers. She manages to escape, calls Ryan at the hospital and they hatch a plan where he further implicates her and she tries to find the terrorist. The episode ends with her name and description being broadcast over the news as a wanted person.

So, we are clearly going to have at least 2 love triangles in this show: Alex/Natalie/Ryan, Alex/Liam/Ryan and this should be fun to watch. We also have Nimah/Reema developing a crush (?) on Simon, which I am still not sure I fully understand as everyone on the show thinks he’s gay. My gut still says he’s not gay and is in fact the killer but now the show is making me doubt myself as I feel the revelations about him were revealed too early. Still on Simon, I like the fact that he knows the analyst is on to him (the non prescription glasses, Gaza) . I am very interested in seeing how he responds to this threat. I am also still quite confused about his interest in Nimah. It kind of seems a bit more complex than just wanting to be friends.

I liked the introduction of Natalie, she made a strong impression right from the start, the only question is why the instant animosity to Alex? I guess some people just rub each other the wrong way. I just felt like professional competition between her and Alex was already fine enough, there was no need to add a potential love triangle into the mix. Caleb is back, and sigh he was an ass. I couldn’t believe I actually felt sorry for him by the end of the episode.

Once again, I enjoyed the episode. Looking forward to seeing how Alex being named a terrorist is going to help her discover the real terrorist in future episodes (still don’t fully understand that part)

written by Anike