Quantico Recap: Season 1 Episode 8 

At Quantico, things settle down a bit after the last pruning. Nimah and Raina are now fully separate and move to different rooms. Nimah (the one without the hijab) moves to Alex’s room while Raina remains in her old room now truly all by herself. Simon in a series of conversations with Raina, discovers that most of the things he enjoys were said by Nimah and Raina doesn’t look too happy with that discovery. Caleb and Shelby are still going strong and are in fact bunking together. They discover while teasing themselves one morning that they don’t really know a lot about one another and Caleb tries to fix that by doing a little research. He notices that a Riyadh number keeps calling Shelby and is suspicious about it.

For case of the week, the recruits are handed individual cases to work on. Miranda also tells them they will have more access to the outside world now.  Ryan is back! Alex and Liam are surprised to see him. Liam asks why he is there, and Ryan tells him he is there to prevent Liam screwing with Alex any further. The recruits soon figure that all their cases are similar and Miranda tells them that that is another tip for them. Basically, it means no one is an island in the FBI. The case is one they will be presenting at the FBI HQ. Ryan shows Alex the picture of Liam and her dad and says they will be able to get more information at the FBI HQ.

At the HQ, Alex and Ryan find the box and file they need due to the Nebraska license plate in the background of the picture. However, they do not have a lot of time so Alex steals the file for later reading. Nimah and Simon working very well together present the facts of the case at the HQ. It is about a biological threat. The bosses tell the recruits they passed but that the exercise isn’t over. The training exercise is based on a real threat that the FBI stopped in the past. Now they must try to stop the threat and catch the terrorists like they were caught when it actually happened.

The recruits go undercover at the park to try and catch the terrorist and get the weaponized Ebola. During the park stakeout, Caleb and Shelby get called back to the FBI HQ. Shelby gets grilled when she gets there over her connection with Riyadh but before she can talk, Miranda comes in furious and defends her by telling them the money transfers are for her half-sis in Riyadh. She also lets Shelby know it was Caleb who reported her for suspicious activities. Back at the park, Alex spots the perp and takes him down. Strangely, the Ebola canister isn’t on him. They take him to the FBI HQ anyway. Back at the FBI HQ, the recruits’ find out they failed the test. Because, while Alex was tackling the target, someone put the Ebola flask in her bag. Also, Alex discovers that Liam had taken the file from her bag. She confronts him and he finally confesses that he and her dad covered up the true instigators of a bombing in Omaha in 1993 because they all missed the signs leading up to the attack. He asks Alex to let it go, or else it will destroy lots of people’s lives and careers. Alex is very skeptical as Liam hasn’t been exactly trustworthy and goes to ask for confirmation from Miranda.

Back at Quantico, everyone is preparing for a night out in town. Nimah shuts down Simon by telling him she has no feelings for him that Raina is the one who likes him. Raina also shuts him down on his offer for tea. She realizes he isn’t into her. Caleb goes to apologize to an angry Shelby. She tells him they are over until he confesses that his lack of trust issues stem from the fact that he was in a cult when he was 17 and had to be rescued by his dad. She forgives him and tells him indirectly that she loves him.

Alex goes to meet Miranda and gets confirmation that the info Liam gave to her is incorrect. Miranda gets a phone call saying there is someone on her roof and excuses herself. She’s gone for a long time and when Alex goes to investigate, she finds her stabbed.

In the present, Alex and a badly wounded Ryan are trapped within a 6 block radius. They manage to get an empty house and Alex performs some surgery to get Ryan’s bullet out. She gets in touch with her friend from the Unknown and they are also able to evade the FBI to come meet them.

At the FBI offices, Alex’s team have been arrested and brought in. However, just as Clayton was questioning Shelby, someone hacked his computer and made all the details of the bombing investigation public. Clayton tells Caleb to help him scrub his emails and Shelby’s too of any incriminating personal information so as to stop that from leaking as well. Caleb reluctantly agrees and discovers an email from Clayton’s assistant a day before the bombing that someone used Alex’s badge to enter the New York FBI office. He confronts Clayton about this, and Clayton tries to brush it off as being inconsequential and that he needs to scrub it as he, Clayton, opened the email while in hotel with Shelby and therefore the IP address will incriminate them.

From the leaked FBI investigation, the Unknown find out the bomb components. Alex knows the facts don’t add up with the piece of wire she found in the apartment next to hers. This means the bombing at GCS is a dry run and there is another bomb. The Unknown arrange for transportation from the house and also a helicopter ride out of town. Alex tricks Ryan into going into the helicopter alone and she goes to turn herself in at the FBI office.

Okay, so the problem with this seesaw-ing mode of storytelling in Quantico is that it reduces the emotional impact of many scenes. For instance, Caleb and Shelby’s scene at Quantico where he confessed and she told him she “more than liked him”. It was such a sweet scene and I actually felt emotionally invested but considering the fact that I know she would eventually end up with his dad, that feeling quickly went away.

Also, Miranda’s stabbing would have been shocking if I didn’t know she was alive in the present. I was happy that Alex failed the training exercise this week. I was getting tired of the “superhero” Alex thing they have going on. I still can’t get over how much info she has been able to conjure from that small piece of wire. Simon’s shut down by the 2 twins was both hilarious and unexpected. I really enjoyed it. My main issue with this show is how stupid and inefficient they make the FBI look. I hope they make them smarter now.

written by Anike