Quantico episode 2 review: A steep fall from the great pilot

Priyanka Chopra’s Quantico returns with its second episode but sadly it’s a huge let down from the thrilling, action packed pilot. The show really needs to step up it’s game.

We could not stop gushing over how surprisingly good Quantico’s pilot was last week and now we are just as shocked at how steep the fall has been in the second episode. The show seems to have put all they had got into the first episode, keeping very little for the next.

Alex and the recruits receive their assignments for the week. (ABC)

Anyhow, this is what went down this week (spoiler alert).

In the last episode, we left Alex as she tried to flee FBI custody with the help of her Quantico trainer, Miranda Shaw. With its How to get Away With Murder kind of time shifts, this episode opens with trainees being asked why they want to be FBI agents. In this montage, we not only get to hear their answers but also get a glimpse into what their secrets are.

When Alex finds a clue, she gets way too excited. (ABC)

And boy, every single one of them has something to hide. We also see Liam and Ryan outside the interview room, pointing towards Alex from a two-way glass and saying that she is the ‘mark’.

We are also introduced to another trainee Natalie Vasquez. She wants to be the shining star of the class and is constantly trying to put down Alex, and is anything but subtle about it.

There is an Alex-Ryan-Natalie triangle developing which makes the show look like a ‘90’s high school drama rather than an action thriller.

The trainees are assigned a new task for the day and it was so boring, I dozed off almost every time it was mentioned. The trainees are divided into three groups, allotted three rooms where a supposed terrorist attack was planned and asked to gather evidence. The task is not exciting, it is slow and it is so not interesting. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

We also see Liam and Ryan outside the interview room. (ABC)

When Alex finds a clue, she gets way too excited. Unnecessarily upbeat background music plays all through this task even when two people are having a normal conversation.

Back to the present, Alex is on the run from the FBI and is trying to find clues as to who is really behind the attack at the Grand Central Station. She sneaks into her flat where Natalie finds her and they engage in a short fistfight, followed by a chase. Alex manages to escape but also finds that someone has sent her big, suspicious looking boxes of god knows what and it is stored in an empty flat next to hers.

When Alex calls Ryan to help her buy more time from the FBI, he suggests her that he could slow things down. She agrees and he does just that. However, I am still scratching my head as to how could that possibly help ‘slow down’ the FBI?

The show really needs to step up its game. (ABC)

The show makers really need to up their game or this die down as suddenly as it came to life. We have often seen how so many TV show promise us the world in the pilot, only to let us down later. Here’s hoping this will not be added to that list.

Read the first episode’s review here

The author tweets @soumya1405