What You Need to Know About ABC’s Quantico
Every now and then we’ll start watching a show we had no intention of covering on the site, and then we’ll be like, “Why aren’t we covering this on the site?”
I can be a bit of a TV snob, but I made a deal with some of the people in our podcast group on Facebook: I would watch at least the pilot of each new show that looked halfway decent. That’s how I ended up watching Quantico last week. And it’s pretty damn good. After two episodes, two team members asked if they could cover it for Project Fandom. And here we are. Each week, ProFans Brian and Shanna will take turns reviewing the new episodes, but I agreed to do a quick breakdown of the first two in case you still don’t have your life in order and you’re not watching this show.
What You Need To Know:
A group of new FBI recruits are under suspicion after a terrorist attack in New York City. In order to figure out who the traitor is, we spend much of the pilot learning about their first days at Quantico via the interview/interrogation of Alex Parrish, one of the new recruits and survivor of the attack. By episode’s end, Alex is arrested.
Who You Need to Know:
Alex Parrish
First things first, Alex (Priyanka Chopra) is gorgeous. Like, distractingly so. I’m not even sure I understand what was happening in the first ten minutes of the pilot because I was just staring at her and feeling bad about my life choices like the moisturizer I use.
Alex lies to her mother about where she’s going (I don’t know that we yet know where her mother thinks she is… maybe they revealed this during those ten minutes I was mesmerized by Chopra’s skin.), and hops a plane to Virginia. First day in class and she’s shocked to see the guy she met on the plane (and then promptly screwed in his car) is an agent-in-training as well.
Ryan Booth
Poor Booth (Jake McLaughlin). He just wants to get to know the mysterious Alex, who clearly rocked his world in the front seat of his car. However, once at Quantico, Alex is all business and has no problem letting the others know that yeah, they hooked up about 56 minutes after meeting, and yes it was fun, but DASSIT.
The world rocking wasn’t really one way, though. Alex does seem to like Booth, but she’s focused on her training. Or betraying the country.
Liam O’Connor
Did I say poor Booth? Let’s hold that sympathy for a bit. His meeting with Alex was not by chance. He was instructed to get close to her by this guy: Liam O’Connor (Josh Hopkins).
He was one of their instructors at Quantico, but in present day he’s leading the hunt for Alex, convinced she’s the terrorist. Since we’re led to believe Alex is being framed, he’s either in on it or being fooled like everyone else.
He also might be in love with her, and might be helping her find out who her father was, and he might also be sabotaging his boss/ex-lover, Shaw (Aunjanue Ellis).
What I’m trying to say is: He’s sketchy as fuck.
Side Note: I knew Josh Hopkins back when I was 18 or 19 and all about giving my phone number to cute white boys who looked like Woody Harrelson. He was the first person to tell me who Snoop Dogg was (don’t judge me!) and he’s from Kentucky (cool nod to that in episode two). He was not sketchy as fuck.
Miranda Shaw
She’s the boss, her hair is fierce, and she wears the entire hell out of those skirts. O’Connor used to be her boo, her son may be a criminal, and in the present day she’s the only one who doesn’t think Alex is a lying liar who lies.
Simon Asher
Everyone thinks Simon’s (Tate Ellington) gay. He’s not gay. Everyone thinks he needs glasses. He does not need glasses. He’s even sketchier than O’Connor up there.
But Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett; Hey, boo! I miss you on The Flash) - is gay and is so on to him. His character’s name is really Elias Harper, but I’m just being an asshole ’cause I miss him on The Flash.
Nimah Amin
There are two Nimahs (Yasmine Al Massri) at Quantico, swapping places and tricking everyone except Shaw, who has placed the twins in this undercover assignment. Apparently, their placement in a special operation later is contingent upon them successfully making everyone believe they’re one person. This is going to be hard to do since Not-Gay Simon is sniffing around them/her constantly.
Shelby Wyatt
Shelby (Johanna Braddy) says her parents were killed on September 11th and that’s why she joined the academy. Since everyone lies on this show, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn this is bullshit.
She has this weird, sometimes boring, connection with this guy…
Caleb Hass
…the misunderstood golden boy (Graham Rogers) kicked out in the first few weeks for bullying a guy into killing himself. But then he was back in episode two as an analyst-in-training.
Nathalie Vazquez
This bitch (Anabelle Acosta). She seems to only exist to be the super aggressive, ridiculously competitive mean girl who dislikes Alex for… reasons. She wasn’t even in the pilot and then in episode two she’s there, getting in Alex’s face and side-eye’ing everything. Girl, you don’t even go here!
They’re hinting the animosity has something to do with Booth (who might be married), but I hope not. I’m not here for watching smart women who are also badasses fight over a guy.
Quantico airs Sunday nights on ABC. Project Fandom will begin weekly reviews this week.
