Quantico - S2E1 - Kudove

Previously on Quantico 

The Farm

Images: ABC

Alex’s new job with the CIA doesn’t begin the way she expects it as she is stuck behind a cubicle; however, while on a dinner date with Shelby and Ryan, Alex gets a call to meet at a secure location for specialized training. Ryan gets the same call, but of course Alex and Ryan keep that info from each other, which leads to a familiar conflict about trust. They are both working undercover for the FBI under the orders of Miranda Shaw and Matthew Keyes. Apparently, there is a conspiracy during CIA training in which someone wants to “make the CIA great again” by having free reign and zero accountability for their actions.

Owen Hall (Blair Underwood) is the prime suspect as the ring leader, and Alex and Ryan’s mission is to uncover what they have planned and get recruited if at all possible. Similar to the FBI, the CIA has its own type of tests for their new recruits, but Alex gets a bit of a rude awakening by befriending fellow trainee Lydia and going into hero mode trying to stop her from jumping out of a plane with a faulty parachute. Turns out, Lydia was the second trainer and immersed herself among the recruits as part of another test, which basically meant the CIA doesn’t need any heroes; they need people to follow the mission. Hopefully Alex learns and retains these lessons quicker than she did at Quantico.

Citizens of the Liberation Front

This season, the present day scenes take place one year in the future, where we find Alex preparing to attend a summit of world leaders. Alex has a suspicion that something isn’t right when she sees a person she thought she killed, as well as multiple white storage trucks around the vicinity. Alex is right on the money as it turns out the trucks are bombs and a diversion for the summit to be taken over by terrorists calling themselves the Citizens of the Liberation Front. Alex is determined to get into the summit to help any way she can.

Between last season and the one year time jump Alex has been working on her close combat skills because she was giving those terrorists  “dat work “.

As she is dismantling the Liberation soldiers she finds out Jeremy, the man she thought she already killed, is one of those soldiers and is ready to die in the name of this cause. He jumps out of a window before Alex can question him.

Meanwhile Raina, who invited Alex, is among the hostages, but is able to translate their demands of having the world leaders pardon prisoners. They start with American President Todd and threaten to kill the First Lady if he doesn’t comply. Ryan is a special advisor for the president and reminds him not to negotiate with terrorists, but Todd lets Ryan know they negotiate with terrorists all the time and will negotiate with them to prevent additional bloodshed.

The Liberation doesn’t just want their prisoners pardoned, they want Todd to go on national TV and give the order to pardon them.

Oh, Todd there is a reason you don’t negotiate with terrorists, because they can’t be trusted.

After Todd does his part, the Liberation separates the hostages and tells them that there are more members of the Liberation hidden among the hostages; they still take the First Lady and behead her on national TV because they are evil!

Federal Bureau of (no) Investigation a.k.a Central (lack of) Intelligence Agency

• As Alex was trying to get into the summit where the President, Ryan, and the others were being held, a terrorist got the drop on her. Why didn’t he pull the trigger before she went baby Black Widow on his ass?

Who’s Sexin Whom

• Ryan loves him some Alex so much that he’s ready to propose to her in the past. Of course she wants to accept, but only after the mission is completed. However, in the future their relationship is a bit strained - so much to that in the one scene they share Ryan is apparently asking for the ring back. Which is a very tacky move…  so I’ve heard. But Alex leaves the ring. Did I mention that they hint that Ryan has a new boo? I’m sure we’ll have plenty of scenes in the safe (sex) room this season to figure out what happened.

Answers and More Questions

• Okay, I’m going to bite on Lydia being a prime suspect in this conspiracy that Keys and Miranda believe is going down at the farm, but maybe she’s actually playing Owen with a line she dropped during the lie detector test montage - about deceiving a family member or is another member of Lydia’s family still to be introduced?
• How loud were Alex and Ryan talking on the plane? If they are undercover for the FBI they need to be cool and wait until they get to their safe place to bicker to till their hearts are content.
• Lastly, the modern day Tom Clancy’s Mr. Jeremy Miller. This same Jeremy who wouldn’t parachute out of a perfectly good airplane when everyone else was doing it (I wouldn’t have jumped either), who apparently made Alex believe she killed him, at some point joined this terrorist group and was down for the cause so much that he would join the suicide squad by jumping out of a building without a parachute? Someone had a heck of a change of heart and I need to hear all about it.
• Kudove, the episodes title, is a cryptonym the CIA uses for Deputy Director for Operations. They don’t give anyone in this episode that title, but lets put a pin in that to see where it leads.