Quantico Review: Clear (Season 1 Episode 13)
We knew someone would die on Quantico. Soon.
I just wasn’t expecting it to be this soon.
This week’s episode, entitled “Clear,” starts off with a bomb strapped to Natalie’s chest.
One of my favourite things about recent Quantico episodes is watching the girls hang out, gossip about boys, and be… friends. So it’s a real treat to see Alex and Natalie work together to solve, and maybe even outsmart, the terrorist- especially after their rocky start in the past.
But what happens when you get two already very intelligent girls together? They think they’re more intelligent than everyone.
When they send a “worm” to the terrorist’s phone to ping, and the computer explodes, it sadly takes Natalie with it. Again, we knew that deaths would be coming- especially after the major expansion of characters last week, but I didn’t think it would be so soon, or to someone we had just started to finally like.
The major conspirator in me- who watches too many supernatural dramas, tells me that we didn’t see the body- and well, neither did Alex; so, if Natalie is the terrorist, this is a great way to really confuse Alex, or the audience.
Either way, this episode really allows us to see what the world thinks of Alex. Not only is she demoted, but her peers think she is actually insane. The way Hannah speaks down to her, and downright tells her that she has no respect for her shows us what kind of stress Alex, and the whole FBI, must have taken for the past two weeks.
The last scene, which is probably Priyanka Chopra’s best performance to date on the show, really shows us what this whole situation has done to her mentally. We see her break down in front of Ryan, who immediately tells her he’s there for her and will do whatever she needs. She even goes as far to say that she’s ok to be checked in a clinic.
And then she gets a photo of her and Ryan, in real time.
This obviously causes her to flee the scene and really shows us how distraught Alex has become with Natalie’s death. Imagine what she’d be like if anything happened to Ryan- the man who, I’m pretty sure, she still loves.
All in all, this episode set up some major plot points and I really do hope that they continue with this momentum. If we can have the stakes this high almost all the time, with serious consequences like death, then this should could be the next Homeland, and I can’t wait for the ride.
Things to think about:
- I guess Liam and Alex did hook up on New Years Day. And I guess he did catch some feelings. I wonder if they’ll add some more to that story. Will Alex get closer to Liam now that she can’t turn to Ryan?
- Alex seems to be failing a lot of these exercises in the flashbacks. Is this standard? Are they set up to be failed? Because I thought she was supposed to show “great potential” as an agent?
- I do not care about Shelby’s not-sister. Just give me more Shaleb scenes!
- Speaking of Shaleb, good for Caleb for sticking up for himself. Shelby was totes taking advantage of him!
- Raina is not the terrorist. It’s too easy, and way too politically incorrect for ABC
What did you think of “Clear”? Tell us in the comments below!
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Quantico airs Sunday nights at 10/9c on ABC.
Smriti Jasra
Smriti (a.k.a Sim) is a TV and comic book enthusiast, and has been since the days of Angel and Alias. She watches over 20 shows a week, and her perfect idea of a date is sitting on a couch with some pizza, while having the ultimate debate of Marvel vs. DC. When she’s not live-tweeting her favorite shows or working at her day job, she’s usually writing fan-fiction. Her favorite shows include: Arrow, The 100, Suits, The Flash and Kingdom. Follow her on Twitter: @simjasra