Quantico – ODENVY

By starrymag | November 29, 2016

By: Emily Cross

 

On the midseason finale of “Quantico,” we got a lot of valuable information about our recruits and their loyalties. We also got to finally see a bit of the AIC in action, so let’s jump right in.

 

THE FARM

 

Alex (Priyanka Chopra) and Ryan (Jake McLaughlin) have a rendezvous in the safe house, but Ryan quickly gets a call from Nimah (Yasmine Al Massri) to meet. When Nimah gets to the safe house, Alex questions her on why they’re meeting separately now, but Nimah can only tell her that the mission is evolving. Alex leaves and Nimah and Ryan discuss his recruitment to the AIC. She tells him that whatever they ask him to do, he must do it. They also discuss the current main suspects: Sebastian (David Lim) and Dayana (Pearl Thusi), who both seem changed after the torture scenario. Ryan remarks that Nimah hasn’t asked about Leon (Aaron Diaz), but she has her own intel on him. Shelby (Johanna Braddy) is trying to bait him into talking about guns and violence, but Leon doesn’t bite. Nimah asks Ryan about Harry (Russell Tovey), but since Owen (Blair Underwood) knows he’s MI6 it’s highly doubtful that Owen would mess with him. At the bar, Alex has filled in Harry on the full mission and asks for his help. He doesn’t quite trust Alex yet (or the absent Ryan) and wonders why she is asking him for advice and not her handler. Alex confesses that she hasn’t heard from Shelby and Harry promises to look into some things while on the Thanksgiving break.

 

Owen is still mad at Lydia (Tracy Ifeachor), but she still thinks it’s for his own good. She reveals that the CIA granted her request for another tour and she will be leaving next week. She wants to spend some time with him before she leaves.

 

This week’s lesson: coming up with believable lies to tell close family members and friends to keep them out of harm’s way. Before the recruits go home for Thanksgiving, they must come up with a cover story that will work in the real world. During the lesson, Ryan gets a text on his AIC phone stating a time and a place.

 

In a meeting with Nimah, Shelby expresses frustration with the fact that she isn’t getting anywhere with Leon. Nimah encourages her to exploit Leon’s survivor guilt.

 

One by one, the recruits tell the class their cover stories. Most pass on the first attempt, but Lydia rejects everything Dayana comes up with and sentences her to stay at The Farm until she can come up with a credible story. Owen and Lydia have one final assignment before the recruits leave and that is find the one person who will poke holes in your story, who can never let things go and figure out how to cut ties with them, forever.

 

After class, Alex confronts Ryan about spending some time together over the long weekend. He tells her she should speak to Miranda and Alex is understandably disappointed that in addition to Shelby that Ryan is also keeping secrets from her.

 

During the break, Harry visits a couple in London. Charlotte (Lara Pulver) tells her husband Phillip (Bradley Rose) and their daughters how she met Harry when her brother Elliot (sound familiar?) brought him home for Christmas. It turns out that Charlotte is Harry’s MI6 handler and hopes his time at The Farm is “getting us what we need.”

 

Lydia writes Dayana a cover so she can go home. Dayana resents this because she doesn’t want to cut ties with the people closest to her. Lydia assures her that she will stand stronger on her own, but Dayana won’t budge – even throwing in a dig at Lydia’s relationship with Owen. At his home, Owen sees a letter to Lydia from the CIA. He opens it and seems shocked at what he finds.

 

Shelby calls Leon and spins a story about her father being abusive towards her mother and being forced to watch it. He still doesn’t respond so she gives him an ultimatum: step up and show her who he is or find someone else to have fun with. Nimah arrives and Shelby tells her she made a play. Before they can discuss anything more, Alex bursts through the door.

 

Back in London, Harry reveals that the pilot program is a lie, but “everyone” believes it. Does that everyone include Owen and Lydia? He and Charlotte discuss the developing relationships he has and how important those ties will be once the UK formally exits the EU. Charlotte reveals that she’s been spying on Harry, saying “if we don’t spy on our spies, we never know anything at all.” Harry asks her to find some information and gives her a coded message she immediately throws in the fire.

 

Ryan arrives at the location he was instructed to be at by the AIC. Texts from the cell phone instruct him to use a stun gun to kidnap a seemingly innocent man and bring him to a different location.

 

At Shelby’s undercover apartment, Nimah reveals to Alex that Shelby has given up her work as Alex’s handler to be in the field. Nimah also tells Alex that she’s been pulled from the mission and the FBI wants her back in New York. Shelby admits that the situation could have been handled better, but tells Alex the truth: that she didn’t cut it.

 

Harry is caught by Phillip in an effort to sneak out. They talk about their shared past with Elliot, alluding to the fact that Elliot and Charlotte’s father had something to do with Elliot’s death and Harry and Phillip are sworn to silence.

 

After Ryan ties the man up, he is instructed to leave. After Ryan leaves, Leon enters. He receives a text to pick up a gun that is lying on a table and we are left to imagine what happens next.

 

Owen confronts Lydia, revealing that the envelope he found contained the list of fake names she had from the CIA about Owen’s burning. The names weren’t aliases – they were all made up. Lydia was testing him and knows now that his crusade against the agency will always come before her.

 

Leon visits Shelby’s undercover apartment, obviously very shaken up. He asks her what the worst thing she ever did was and she says it was sleeping with her boyfriend’s father. He reveals he’s killed a man and shows her his bloody hands, making her realize it just happened. She assures him that he didn’t have a choice and that she trusts him.

 

In the safe house, Ryan proposes to Alex, appealing to the connection they have and she accepts.

 

Lydia decides to leave The Farm, but gives Owen one last gift: the real intel. He was burned because he failed to protect an asset and that mistake was part of a pattern the agency couldn’t ignore.

 

Alex finally talks to Miranda (Aunjanue Ellis), who apologizes for how Alex found out and offers Alex a job in New York. Instead, Alex decides to stay at The Farm and take the AIC down herself, without the help of the Bureau.

 

Ryan, Leon and Dayana are called to a meeting place by the AIC. They all receive surveillance footage of their test and a text that warns them not to betray the AIC or they will be destroyed.

 

 

TERRORIST CRISIS

 

Nimah and Raina (Yasmine Al Massri) talk about what motivates them and what makes them so different. Nimah reveals that she joined the Citizen’s Liberation Front six months earlier because she believes in their mission: destroying the fantasy of America. She believes that there’s no way that people with differing beliefs will stop fighting each other so she fights as dirty as everyone else in order to survive. Raina counters Nimah, saying that she’s always thought of her twin as the other half of herself. But now she sees Nimah as her shadow, the darkness she leaves behind her. Raina accuses Nimah of fighting only for herself, driven by her resentment and anger. They’ve both felt the burden of being themselves in this country, but Nimah carried it harder and saw the hate in people that she wanted to see. Nimah tries to get Raina to join, but Raina would rather die than join the CLF. After exiting the room, Nimah instructs someone to keep Raina in the room until this is over and then breaks down in tears.

 

At the FBI, General Richards (Laila Robins), the head of US Northern Command, takes charge of the crisis from Miranda. Shelby gets a call from Alex, who along with Harry, Leon and Sebastian has made it to the bunker. Shelby tells Alex that there is still a signal from 28 Liberty. The theory is that it is a receiver for the biological weapon. If Alex can turn it off, it will give the FBI some leverage. Shelby questions if Alex can trust the people she’s with, but Alex doesn’t respond. Alex cuts the collars off of the rest of the crew while they discuss strategies for getting to 28 Liberty and finding and disabling the bio weapon. They build a blowtorch from supplies in the bunker to raise the temperature of the bio weapon, which will kill what’s inside it.

 

Shelby introduces herself to General Richards, who praises her on how well she’s been working on the crisis. Shelby informs General Richards about Alex’s position on the inside, but the General brushes her off and refuses Alex’s help.

 

Alex and company make it to 28 Liberty without any problems, but have trouble getting to the bio weapon that is on the roof. The only way they can make it there is crawling through air vents.

 

Miranda tells Shelby that she dialed into the conference room phone from Shelby’s phone when General Richards arrived. This allows them to hear that General Richards is planning on dropping a drone on 28 Liberty to end the crisis. They confront her, but General Richards refuses to cancel the drone. Shelby argues that they should give Alex a chance to save everyone. The General gives them 48 minutes to get results, but otherwise the drone will be launched.

 

Alex, Harry and Sebastian take the blowtorch through the air ducts while Leon and Dayana stay behind due to Dayana’s injuries. Harry drops the blowtorch down a sudden drop in the duct and Alex immediately suspects he did it on purpose. Alex sends Harry back to find another blowtorch while she and Sebastian go and guard the bio weapon.

 

Alex and Sebastian find the bio weapon, but it isn’t what they thought. It is designed to deploy the virus inside the building. Alex decides that they have to warn the FBI before the terrorists move the hostages back inside the building to kill them. On their way back to the bunker, they find Harry, Leon and Dayana. Before they can strategize any more, they are caught by the terrorists. One of them grabs Alex and forces her away from her friends. In a tussle, she pulls the terrorist’s mask off and…it’s Ryan! He takes advantage of Alex’s shock and pushes her inside an electric perimeter. If she crosses the perimeter, the weapon will be set off and everyone will die.