What I’m Watching: Quantico

Quantico: Season 1, Episode 16 “Clue” (D+)

This episode was considerably more boring than most of the hours that came before it, and its quality was about the same. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Hannah managed to get herself found out and pulled from active duty almost immediately as soon as she teamed up with Alex. Part of the problem is that Ryan, who for so long was Alex’s rock and her number one advocate, is now watching her like a hawk, more firmly committed to seeing her downfall than any one of the actual enemies that she has made over the course of the show. And back home, Simon is on Alex’s side, actually making some real progress without drawing the attention of the world. It’s usually true that the flashbacks take up more of the episode than what’s happening in the present, and that was definitely true in this hour. I have to seriously question the choices that the FBI instructors make on this show, employing exercises that may ultimately strengthen the character and effectiveness of their agents but will definitely damage them in the meantime. Running a hostage situation simulation on a plane so that every single attempt could fail hardly seems productive, and it took a lot out of Shelby, who’s already in bad shape. I’m not sure how Caleb and Will will do trying to infiltrate the cult that nearly took Caleb’s youth, but they’re definitely going to try. As has been the case since the start of this show, I’m dubious that the past and present will actually be able to even out and meet somewhere in the middle by the time the former finally catches up to the latter.