Quantico episode 3 review: Regaining focus but without any subtlety

Last episode left us scratching our heads, wondering how anybody can possibly help Alex and this episode did not make things clearer either.

After a big hiccup that was the last episode, Quantico seems to have repositioned its feet for a better hold. In October 17th episode, Priyanka Chopra’s big American TV debut show managed to regain focus by concentrating on characters rather than jumping from one event to another.

Priyanka Chopra in Quantico. (ABC Network)

While it did make a few changes for the better, some things remain the way they were like the lack of subtlety and believability. Before we divulge into the reasons behind our reaction, here’s what happened in the episode (spoilers ahead).

Last week, we left Alex (Priyanka Chopra) still on the run when Ryan suggests her that she should tell the FBI that it was indeed her who shot him so as to buy her more time to catch the real terrorist. The ending left us scratching our heads, wondering how that can possibly help her and this episode did not make things clearer either.

Alex seeks out Simon to help her find out who was actually behind the attack and who was trying to frame her. We also learn that Simon is not an agent anymore and he was kicked out of the academy. This is where this episode gets a thumbs-up from us. The show has given us a beginning and an end point that Simon began his training and he is not an agent anymore. Now, it would be interesting to know what he did to get himself expelled.

Tate Ellington as Simon Asher in Quantico. (ABC)

Simon agrees to help Alex while the FBI gets their hands on Alex’s mom. The lady doesn’t seem too bent on helping out her daughter or not giving anything away to the investigators. She even needed an added pep talk from Miranda to not say anything to the FBI and believe in her daughter. How well it worked, well you should see it yourself.

Read: Quantico episode 1 review

Read: Quantico episode 1 review

Meanwhile, in the ‘9 months ago’ timeline, trainees are given a task to chart out the psychological profiles of other trainees. Everyone writes something about everyone and all hell breaks loose when they are shown their opinions about one another.

Everyone is angry at everyone for mean things that came out in the process. Like the last episode where the Natalie-Ryan-Alex love triangle reminds us so much of those regular high-school flicks, this episode reminded the viewers of them again. ‘Oh how dare you say that mean thing about me’, ‘Well, you said mean things about me first’- everyone is fighting for stupidest of reasons and you start asking yourself- are these really FBI agents in training? Well they sure are behaving like high school kids.

A still from Quantico. (ABC)

In this lot of incredibly immature agents, only Simon looks like he is onto something. Does he really want to help Alex or is he going to double, triple, quadruple cross her? We don’t know. All we can hope is that the creators don’t go shifting his loyalties as when the need arises and that they have an actual plan behind it all.

Even Nimah and Mina are turning out to be two very irritable siblings. And what is with that teeth-gritting, brow flexing look in every scene? Seriously, she does this all the time.

Sometimes there is too much of overacting in Quantico. (ABC)

As for Priyanka, wow she cried really bad in a scene. It was so bad that I felt embarrassed for her, sitting thousands of miles away. Everything goes fine when she is beating people up, looking nervous or just having a plain conversation with someone. But as soon as things start getting intense, she is unable to pull off easily. Either she takes it way over the top or doesn’t put all her heart into it, mostly the former. It is an incredible opportunity that she has got with Quantico and we just hope some really bad crying scenes don’t spoil it for her.

Priyanka keeps crying in Quantico. (ABC)