Quantico - S1E12 - Alex

Previously on Quantico, ‘‘Inside’

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Hearing, Not Listening

The cheese stands alone again. Alex is the only one who believes that Elias didn’t act alone and willing to go down with that belief. While everyone else has decided there’s no further threat, Alex is fighting in the court of public opinion with congressional hearings against Caleb’s mother, Claire Haas, played by Desperate Housewives alum, Marcia Cross.

Unfortunately, Alex has burned all the bridges and there’s no one on her side in this. Shelby is disgraced since she was dating Caleb’s dad. Ryan wants her to stop obsessing, as does Miranda, and Liam kind of throws her under the bus by saying that being accused of being a terrorist “broke” her.

Alex decides it’s lonely on her side of the pond so she lies on the stand and changes her stance. But no good deed goes unpunished. Ryan knows she only lied because she still thinks she’s right and Shelby is still mad at her. Vazquez is the only one who feels any sympathy for her, but seeing as how the actual terrorist is now using Vasquez as a hostage to get Alex to work with them, it looks like Alex’s only friend might be blown up before the season’s done.

One Step Ahead

This week in the past, Alex and Co. are pitted against the NATs one month ahead of them. They’re basically a smug group of individuals who play dirty but if our guys lose, five of them could get sent home so there’s high stakes. In the end, our NATs lose but since the other team played dirty, they lose a few members and the classes are merged. Shelby is now paired with Iris (played by Li Jun Li which makes me sad because she’s supposed to be on Minority Report). Iris is a former businesswoman who likes to play dirty and she’s hitting on Caleb something fierce. Caleb’s new roomie is Drew, played by another chiseled hunk who has his eye on Alex. Get in line, dude. And Liam is still hitting on Alex, too.

Miranda’s son is being interrogated by the FBI about his kidnappers and he’s not giving up the goods to anyone except Nimah. The two of them bond over their shared oppressions (Nimah’s hijab and Charlie’s young, black maleness) and Nimah now has an in to the terrorist group that I’m assuming is the one she was infiltrating in the present-day.

Who’s Sexin’ Who

Alex almost sexes up a guy in a bar but turns out she mainly wanted his access to cellphone records. Either way, I think Alex has a type and it’s basically Ryan look-a-likes. Caleb and Shelby are still broken up and her new roommate Iris seems interested in him. And as mentioned before, Liam is still hitting on Alex.

Answers and More Questions

• Caleb is not even on anyone’s radar. In fact, except for flashbacks, he doesn’t appear in this episode. But the voice Alex talked to on the phone seems female and has a particular axe to grind. I’m thinking Caleb might have been working with one of the new NATs. My other theory is that Caleb did all this to secure his mom’s bid for vice president.

• When Miranda tries to talk to Alex, Alex says she won’t give up and that Miranda didn’t give up and she was right about Charlie. So now the question is: What did Charlie do, and did Miranda turn on her son again?

Federal Bureau of (No) Investigation

• Duncan Howell, the lead hacker who helped Alex, commits suicide and sends a message to Alex that he had no choice. The FBI decides there’s nothing suspicious about his death. Good job, Ryan. You’re all doing great things over there.