Quantico - S2E2 - Lipstick

Previously on Quantico, “Kudove”

Images: ABC

Shout-out to my co-capper Brian M. for putting me on to the CIA cryptonyms. This week’s episode title, Lipstick, is a cryptonym which refers to a multi-pronged CIA operation to surveil a Soviet Union stronghold in Mexico City. Fitting since this episode focuses on surveillance.

Jason Bourne? How’s Spy School?

Remember last season when we thought the FBI training was pretty bad? We were right. The CIA training far surpasses what the FBI was teaching. And even if it doesn’t break Alex and Ryan as individuals, you can easily see how it broke up their relationship. Right off the bat, Miranda notes that even though they are on The Farm together, they are not a team. The agents first training mission is about surveillance and more importantly, evading surveillance. While in town with Harry, Alex realizes that Ryan and the other recruits are tailing them and they split up to evade them. Though they manage to get rid of their tails, Alex’s trusting nature gets the best of her and she doesn’t realize that Harry is the trigger, the fifth person who follows the mark the closest and leads the surveillance team. Part of what they learned in the FBI is to get close to your mark without them realizing they’re being tracked and Alex does not seem to have learned that lesson at all.

Another lesson they don’t seem to have the hang of: blending in. Director Sexy, Owen Hall, is completely focused on Ryan because of his dedication and enigma-like qualities. By being too good, Ryan sticks out and Director Sexy wants to be his new mentor like Liam O’Connell. We all remember how that worked out. 

Invisibility Just Might Save Your Life

Although Alex and Ryan didn’t learn anything in FBI training, Alex must have picked up something at The Farm because in the present-day, she’s doing a really good job of evading the Citizens of the Liberation Front. Alex manages to get to a NYPD emergency bunker and contact Miranda, who is trying to coordinate outside crisis zone. Or is she?

Inside Federal Hall, Raina and Ryan realize the terrorists are cycling hostages in and out of the room so they can blend in among the hostages. Raina tries to mark one of the terrorists so they can identify that person later, but they just mark all the hostages. Nice try, though.

Central (lack of) Intelligence Agency

• If Ryan can identify all of the CIA operatives, why aren’t they just the prime suspects? Even if one or two of them aren’t in on the plot, Raina and Ryan should at least be chatting them up.
• Shelby walks right up to Alex in the field and pretends to be a fan. Given that Shelby is just as Googleable as Alex, why would she be Alex’s handler and why would she approach her in public? This is why the FBI training sucks.

Who’s Sexin’ Whom

Alex and Ryan open the episode with a pretty steamy sex scene. There’s also some sexual tension between Dayana, the workaholic lawyer, and Leon, Ryan’s cagey (and possibly criminal?) roommate. 

Answers and More Questions

• Owen and Lydia seem to have a very complicated father/daughter dynamic. He enjoys taking her down a peg and she calls him on how his CIA career took him away from their family. It’ll be interesting to see how this relationship develops.
• Miranda appears to be shut out of the inner circle by the National Security Director and they also seem to have a personal past judging by her reaction when he walked into the Situation Room. What’s going on there?
• Nimah, not Raina, is Ryan’s handler while he’s at The Farm. So far we have seen Nimah in the present-day and last season she was looking incredibly conflicted about her position after using her feminine wiles to move up professionally. As usual, when there’s only one twin around there’s a lot to speculate.