Quantico - S1E14 - Answer

Previously on Quantico, ‘Clear’

After last week’s startling conclusion and Alex’s near breakdown she heads to the place you go when all else has failed; Vermont. This week was titled “Answer” but it was really about being broken. The NATs, both in the past and present day, are broken and even with a break from the Voice, Alex is making all the wrong moves.

In the present, Alex heads to Vermont to enlist Simon’s help. This would be a great idea if Simon wasn’t putting a gun in his mouth every morning due to the guilt of being the mastermind behind the two bombs. And he is in bad shape since we last saw him at the hearing. He’s gaunt and his eyes look haunted. Alex knows almost immediately that she’s made a mistake, but she thinks Simon is the only one she can trust. Which brings me to Alex’s major flaw: how is it possible that the only person Alex believes in is Simon? As Raina points out, at the end of the day, Ryan has been there at every turn and dealt with all of Alex’s foolishness. It would be a major twist if Ryan turned out to be a bad guy, but Alex has no reason to think he’s someone she can’t trust. In the end, just when she’s given up on Simon and opened up a little to Ryan, Simon comes back to New York ready to help out and determined to truly earn the medal he received for helping people during the bombing.

Juxtaposed with the present, the NATs are learning interrogation, which forces them to face their own deficiencies. Shelby tanks her assignment with Iris because she doesn’t like the loose ends in their case. She’s projecting and unable to move on from being swindled by her “sister” without getting closure. Sweetie, that’s how being conned works. You don’t get closure.

Although, she needs to let go of looking for closure from Samar, Shelby is right to stay suspicious since Caleb is meeting with Samar. It’s also interesting that since the midseason premiere we’ve only seen Caleb in the past. Obviously, he’s our mastermind, but is he the only brains behind the Voice?

Alex tries to help Drew by getting information from Liam about Chicago, but Drew ends up calling Liam out in public and getting kicked out of Quantico. And to add more fuel to the “who hates Alex” fire, Miranda asks Liam to resign when she overhears that he slept with Alex over the holidays. If you’re keeping score, Alex has made three men leave Quantico.

Right now, the show seems to be throwing lots of suspects into the mix. It feels like this conspiracy has to be more than a one-man show, but Caleb is the only one who we’ve seen be truly deceptive. Even Nimah’s secret keeping seems to be about proving something to her sister. In fact, sometimes it feels like the twins are in their own separate show. What will be interesting is seeing how Alex explains Vasquez’s death. Miranda and the other agents believe she asked for a leave of absence and Alex has yet to correct them, which highlights her biggest flaw: not knowing who to confide in.