Quantico – Soon

By: Alex Steele

On the back of last week’s shock reveal (Shelby being the driver of the black SVU) we open this week with a frantic, understandably concerned Alex (Priyanka Chopra). She’s making calls, checking social media and leading messages in the hope that she hears something back about Simon (Tate Ellington) and Will (Jay Armstrong Johnson). Not making any progress on her own, she continues to search while at FBI headquarters. An assistant hands evidence to her that someone by the name of Mark Raymond rented the SUV. Does that mean Caleb (Graham Rogers)? Is he involved? She’s unfortunately interrupted by the ever so sassy Nimah (Yasmine Al Massri), who swiftly plants a tracking device on her laptop. She does so in order for her and Ryan (Jake McLaughlin) to be able to keep tabs on her.  At Quantico this week it is Physical Fitness/Medical Assessment week. They are screening for all things (blood tests, urine tests, fitness tests) and the NATS are put through their paces. Drew (Lenny Platt) and Alex are continuing on their flirtation as they share some banter while running on the treadmill. Shelby (Johanna Braddy) has received a letter from her parents (Really or did Caleb write it). Speaking of Caleb, he and Will are in the final stages of infiltrating Systemics, prepping for his intake interview. He seems pretty confident – that is until Iris (Li Jun Li) bursts in demanding to know what’s going on. Elsewhere, Miranda (Aunjanue Ellis) is meeting with an advisory board that consequently removes her from Quantico following the terror attack. She’s not happy. Can you blame her? She’s losing all sense of who she is. Tension is high all through Quantico as the twins are encouraged more and more to match in every way possible. (I am such an Amin Twin fan. Yasmine does a beautiful job at crafting two completely different people – emotionally and mentally).

The high stakes of this episode continue when Miranda leaves the advisory board and runs into none other than Clayton Haas (Mark Pellegrino). He is at Quantico this week to talk about security clearances. Coming face to face and asking who in fact voted to have her kicked out of Quantico didn’t get her any answers, just more stonewalling and avoiding the fact. Continuing on, the aforementioned reason of security clearances was the topic of for the NAT class this week, tasked with filling out a review document for their partner. Warned that this questionnaire reveals exhaustive details about their lives, the NATs believe they are being nothing but honest and transparent. However, upon assessment, Drew, Iris, Shelby and Raina are all flagged and not given security clearance. Uh-oh.

In future days, Raina receives a call from Alex asking if she would do a favor for the lone soldier – go undercover as Nimah to retrieve information regarding the whereabouts of one Caleb Haas. She reluctantly agrees; posing as Nimah she visits Ryan in his office to see where he is regarding Senator Haas (Marcia Cross), her security and all things relating to Caleb. The plan seems to be working out, but just as Raina leaves to make a phone call to alert Alex, Nimah (who has been preoccupied with Alex) alerts Ryan to the staging of such trickery. For once, though, someone refuses to sell Alex out as Raina refuses to talk stating she’d rather go to jail than go against a friend. If anyone else is as eager to find out what really happened between Nimah and Raina, please raise your hand.

Checking back in with the NATs we discover the reasons why some of them were refused security clearance: Drew’s outspoken rant regarding the NFL paints him us unpatriotic while Raina’s standing as devout in her religion illustrates a risk. As the other classmates argue for and against these fellow recruits, some truths and opinions come out. But what is interesting is the argument that Ryan and Alex are involved in regarding Drew. It is so public and for a second they forget that they are surrounded by a room of their peers.

After Raina quickly told Alex to run before getting caught by her sister and Ryan, Alex has managed to escape and make a run for it. Unfortunately, it is not before Senator Haas herself scoops her up in a black SUV. And in what may have been the standout moment in the episode, we finally discover where Caleb has been since the bombings that left his father dead. He has been kept captive (safe) and away from the public’s eye at his mother’s house. As Alex enters the room, we meet a disheveled, drug-addled Caleb. He’s smoking heroin as Alex walks in and we get the cruel reality of just how far this young man has fallen. Graham Rogers delivers a gripping performance in the next minutes that displays the heartache and guilt that he survived and that his father died is so insidious that we as an audience are right there with him. Alex is dumbfounded, but more so pretty disgusted in the fact Claire has kept him locked up. Come on Alex! The election is four days away. She can’t have her drug-addicted son parading around the city drawing attention away for all the wrong reasons. Wow. Ouch. No wonder Caleb has fallen so deep.

I swear the last ten minutes of any “Quantico” episode is always the most intense. Who am I kidding, the whole forty-two minutes is a tight-chest inducing festival of shock and awe, but that’s why we love it. Miranda takes the recording of her conversation with Liam (Josh Hopkins) to Clayton Haas and when he refuses to do anything (the evidence is shaky anyway) she lets rip. Miranda asks why it is that Clayton continues to go in to bat for Liam. Does he have something on you?

Elsewhere, Raina and Nimah commit to developing a “third twin,” a person with pieces of both; that way the constant swapping and changing won’t be so hard. After Drew cuts off Alex (he’s stepping out of the way so she and Ryan can try again) he is seen in his room where is reading when his hand starts to shake. Tremor? Is this an underlying condition we are yet to know about?

Tension continues to build when Iris comes clean to Caleb about outing Will. Wrong move, lady. You may have just put him in the worst danger possible. Caleb goes after him, and we learn that Caleb is actually himself in Systemics. Not Mark Raymond. He’s still in the cult and acting as a double agent for SYSTEMICS, giving them Intel on how to evade the FBI. So, this reveal was totally tripped out. Caleb Haas is one methodical and manipulative player. He’s swift, witty and completing unassuming. Oh Graham Rogers, you’re killing this game. Forced to beat up Will to save face, Caleb does so but not without a pained look. Unfortunately, Shelby shows up too late as Caleb is ushered away and Will lies there bloodied. These scenes are cut with Miranda offering some sage advice to Alex — this is a man’s world and men get away with murder — and that she is capable, more than anyone of shattering that glass ceiling. As soon as this line is delivered, we are back in future days where a despondent Alex waits outside the Haas residence after failing to get through to Caleb. But we all spoke too soon. Caleb has snuck out of the house and assures Alex that she’s got him. As he quickly goes to retrieve his backpack, he makes a call saying, “She fell for it. We’re on our way. See you soon.” Excuse me, what? Talk about a twist! There are no theories I could conjure that start to explain who could be the terrorist. Luckily, for me and the rest of the audience next week, we find out. Finally.

Other key notes:

• Miranda gets Liam drunk as a ways to catch him out about sleeping with Alex. It backfires.