Quantico Season 2 Episode 1: Kudove Recap

We are back again for another season of Quantico but things are not quite the way they were when Season 1 ended. Alex and the gang found the terrorist and stopped them before they could destroy New York. Now where do we go from there? Disavowed by the FBI, Alex receives the opportunity to work for the CIA. How will that go? What will be the new conspiracy? What’s the twist? There are obviously many questions and here we get some answers.

The episode starts off with Alex in New York on her way to some sort of convention of world leaders. She still keeps in touch with her old gang as she receives a phone call from Raina. As she is walking, she can’t help but have a feeling that something is a little off. We see that the city has not forgotten about her and that she is now a civilian. Alex is there to meet Ryan who is now a member of the president’s briefing team.

They seem to both share regrets for something that happened in the past. Knowing how much this show uses alternate timelines, it will probably go back to this incident. Ryan has to leave for a briefing. While walking around, Alex sees some mysterious person. She calls Shelby with whom she is technically not allowed to speak to and asks her to identify him as he appears to be someone she has killed in the past, again the show will probably go back to this.

It’s now time for the first flashback going back 1 year ago and it involves Alex working in some basement in the CIA headquarters. Because she looks to be new, she is not taken seriously and ignored. Now we see a montage of people all around the country appearing to be recruited for something via post-it notes with different times written on them. How did they get there? Of course Alex gets recruited. We then see Alex, Ryan, and Shelby having dinner. The three are still close and we get to learn what other members of the gang are now doing and it’s all better stuff than Shelby. Ryan is also about to go on some sort of secret mission. Alex gets a phone call, alerting her of a mission of her own. This leads her to some classified government base where all the recruits have gone. Ryan is there too for some reason.

Back to the present. The person Alex recognizes has a different identity. Something looks about to go down. A group of trucks begin to explode around the world leader convention, leading into the show new’s title logo which looks very stupid (I’ll share a picture once I find one). Armed gunmen storm into the convention and use gas to knock everyone out.

Back to the past (I thought the show was going to use less of these). Alex and Ryan are confused as to why they are there together. We learn that Alex is still part of the FBI but in secret. Both Alex and Ryan are on a mission to infiltrate the CIA’s farm, posing as recruits while trying to root out a growing group of rogue agents who may or may not be led by the lead instructor, Owen Hall (Blair Underwood). Both are opposed to doing this but go ahead anyway.

Here we meet the recruits and get a glimpse into their personalities. The most notable ones are another female recruit who befriends Alex, Lydia Bates (Tracy Ifeachor), and a mystery writer (for some reason) named Jeremy Miller (David Call). They all seem kind of lame but it can get better. There is another montage involving the recruits being put through a series of tests. This was all kind of cheesy but seeing Alex and Ryan, who are already agents, do it was kind of entertaining. The recruits are then tested on their lying ability and of course, Ryan does the best.

Back to the present. The gunmen appear to want pardons for those they believe were unjustly imprisoned for the sake of government surveillance. Raina happens to be there and translates. They claim to have a bioagent, obviously, that they intend to use if anyone tries to interfere. Alex is still in the area and makes her way in. Ryan lies to the terrorists (because he’s good at it) and gets back in with the president (Danny Johnson).

Back to the past. Time for their first group exercise, they each had to get information on another recruit without giving away any of their own. Here we got to see more personality but the recruits were still kind of lame. Some of them get weeded out. Now they have to jump out of a plane for whatever reason.

Back to the present. The president is strongly considering complying to the terrorists’ demands. One of the terrorists knows Ryan’s name (interesting). The president pardons a prisoner. Alex is investigating the area and finds more terrorist gear and then gets into a fight with one of them.

Back to the past. It is time for the jump which is meant to test the recruits’ courage. Miller chickens out and is sent home. Lydia has a problem with her parachute but goes to jump anyway. Alex and Ryan save her. This was all a test to see if they would try and be a hero. They fail because they didn’t put the mission first. Lydia is actually an instructor who was posing as a recruit.

Back to the present. Alex gets the upper hand and on the terrorist and learns that he is Miller. He jumps out of a window before giving anything away.

Back to the past. Alex and Ryan are still conflicted by their mission but come to terms with it. We then get the first big speech of the season by Owen and Lydia. Alex and Ryan’s group isn’t the only one in the class. There is a ranking and whoever is last 2 weeks in a row is knocked out and of course, Alex is last. Owen and Lydia are father and daughter.

Now back to the present for the last time. That extra terrorist gear may now mean something since all the other recruits were apparently at the convention. The terrorists grab the first lady (Nadia Bowers) and appear to behead her.

Overall, this was a lame episode that kind of rehashes the idea of last season, at least until the end. It also featured new recruits that I am on the fence about. The story still has some promise but I hope there won’t be as many time jumps because they really hurt the momentum of both timelines here.

Score: 7/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.