This past Thursday, news broke that ABC’s “Quantico” had been renewed for a second season. Fan excitement naturally ensued.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before reaching the second season of “Quantico,” we still have the second half of season one to enjoy.
That second half commences with “Alex,” the midseason premiere.
Airing Sunday night, the midseason premiere maintains the show’s structure of jointly focusing on the present day acts of terror and the central characters’ time as Quantico trainees.
The present action picks up a few months after the explosion at the FBI’s emergency command center, which killed thirty two individuals.
The FBI’s official story is that Elias was solely responsible for both the Grand Central bombing and the command center attack, but Alex has her doubts.
In the Quantico flashbacks, the characters resume training in the aftermath of the midseason finale’s events. Believing them to be connected to a terror cell, the FBI is pressing Charlie for details on his kidnappers. Shelby and Caleb are in a tense place following Caleb’s discovery that Samar, Shelby’s purported half sister, was a fraud. Liam and Alex, meanwhile, are due to face the ramifications of their “moment” from the midseason finale.
Headline Planet had the opportunity to screen “Alex,” which officially airs at 10PM ET on Sunday, March 6. Here are some things to expect (do not fear – no major spoilers are included):
Present Day
Homage to the series premiere: In addition to providing some exposition on what has transpired since the midseason finale, the opening scene alludes to the series premiere. Alex once again showcases her sex appeal — and her uncanny ability to “read” men. This time, however, she is in a far greater position of power than she was with Ryan.
JAKE MCLAUGHLIN, JOHANNA BRADDY, TATE ELLINGTON
Alex is exonerated, but not out of the woods: The FBI’s declaration that Elias was the mastermind behind the Grand Central and command center bombings effectively cleared Alex of the charges. She is no longer considered a terrorist.
She is not, however, suddenly in the good graces of the FBI, of her classmates, or of those who lost family members in the command center bombing. Whereas the FBI believes Elias deliberately lured agents into the nearby hotel so that he could execute the command center attack, Alex’s gut tells her he was an unwitting decoy and that the real terrorist — someone else from her Quantico class — is still out there. She believes the FBI is blaming Elias out of convenience rather than accuracy.
In effectively accusing the FBI of a cover-up, Alex wins support from the anti-establishment public. She unfortunately loses the support of her team. All believe she is needlessly continuing the suffering of those who lost people in the attack, and while some are more receptive to her conspiracy theory than others, none unequivocally accept it, let alone agree to defend it publicly.
As a result, Alex is as alone as she has ever been.
Bad publicity: Alex is not the only character in the media’s limelight. Another character has become a notorious personality in the wake of the midseason finale. The negative attention becomes so overbearing that he/she has to temporarily move away from New York.
(Alex also moves — albeit within state lines. Not wanting to live in an apartment that was involved in a terror plot, she moves to a cozy new apartment in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn).
High-Stakes ending: Come on. It would not be a “Quantico” episode without an intense closing scene.
Back at Quantico
LI JUN LI, JAY ARMSTRONG JOHNSON, LENNY PLATT
“Turning Point” brings new blood: The “activity” for the week is the Quantico version of “color wars” (or, as Miranda likes to call it, “The Turning Point”). The trainees we know and love compete against a more experienced class — those who began their training a month earlier — in a variety of FBI-related physical and tactical challenges. The winning team gets to send five members of the losing team home.
Notable faces in the additional class include the flirtatious, yet cut-throat and calculating entrepreneur Iris (Li Jun Li), the brilliant, yet socially awkward rocket scientist Will (Jay Armstrong Johnson) and the handsome, arrogant former football player Drew (Lenny Platt).
Whether as tense rivals or as potential love interests, the characters gravitate toward specific members of the class we’ve come to know.
Interrogating Charlie: The FBI is hard at work trying to extract intelligence about Charlie’s kidnapping, but he proves extremely difficult to break. Obviously hiding something, Charlie forfeits only the most superficial, worthless details to his mother and the other FBI investigator.
It will take an unexpected, unconventional approach to interrogation to open Charlie up. Perhaps one of the NATs has the right skillset and personality?
The Samar Saga Continues: Caleb may have exposed Samar as a con artist, but her story is not over. Shelby’s attempt to make contact with the woman to whom she had long provided financial support opens the door to a new storyline.
Liam-Alex Follow-Up: “Alex” does not offer much in the way of a follow-up to what happened between Liam and Alex in the midseason finale, but the episode does not pretend nothing occurred. Sunday’s episode briefly teases the continuation of the Liam-Alex storyline.
