Last time on Quantico, Alex learned that Claire Haas is hiding her son, Caleb, because he has a serious drug problem. Caleb initially refused to help Alex find Shelby but sneaked out to join her. The weird thing is that when he was hiding behind a wall, he told someone over the phone that Alex “fell for it.”
This episode of Quantico, titled “Fast,” sees the NATS learning about the different FBI branches on career day. That doesn’t sound very exciting, but maybe there will be a fun twist.
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Secret Hand-Shake
At Quantico, the NATS continue with their training. Shelby notices the tension between Drew and Alex, and is surprised to learn that Drew broke up with Alex. Drew is also experiencing some type of hand tremor that he is trying to hide. During physical training, Alex notices that Drew’s hand is shaking just before he takes to the climbing wall. Drew slips and comes down. Ryan is tough on him and demands to know what happened. Drew tells him he lost his footing, but obviously the issue with his hand is the cause. Soon, the rumor spreads that Will was jumped on his morning jog and is laid up in the medical center.
This doesn’t sit well with Shelby, who complains to Liam that Will was nearly beaten to death by Caleb. Liam points out that that is what Will is saying. Caleb left due to a family emergency the same night that Will was beaten at Sistemics. Shelby argues with Liam about the fact that Caleb is involved with a cult. Liam is done and warns Shelby to let it go. Shelby has no plans to let the matter drop and promises Iris that she will take care of it.
Pick your Department
Raina and Nimah are hoping that Alex will get assigned to New York so they can share an apartment. Alex has a bigger worry and asks the sisters if they would hide it if they knew that someone was sick. The Amin sisters tell Alex that her duty is to the FBI first. Alex waffles since it is none of her business.
Now it is time for the NATS to choose which department they would like to work in. They get to pick their top choices, and to aid the trainees in that endeavor are representatives from all the departments. Nimah and Raina have been assigned to the JTTF out of New York and meet their charming handler, Agent Marshall Freed. When the twins attempt to introduce themselves, he wants to call them “one” and “two.” When they mention Miranda, he tells them to let it go. “Let it go” must be the Quantico motto. The Amins try and look on the bright side and ask if they will be working on their undercover identities or on how to gather intelligence. No. They must write 5,000 words on two cases that deal with cartels. Freed frostily explains his order by citing the chain of command.
A Matter of Trust
Freed scolds Raina and Nimah for being late and for telling Liam that they don’t trust him as their handler. He also berates them for blowing the one mission that they went on. He has a lot to teach them, but he will only do it his way. He hands them a big duffle bag and tells them to polish the guns until they sparkle.
While looking for polish in his desk, Nimah finds an envelope of cash. Maybe the Amin sisters are right about their new handler. Nimah texted Liam, so he stops by. He is not happy that he was called when the cash was found. It was one of Freed’s tests, and the sisters have flunked. If they don’t trust him, he can’t be their handler.
Ryan pulls Alex aside and mentions that if she knows about another secret medical condition of a NAT, she has to tell them what she knows. Alex replies that it is more of a suspicion. Ryan orders her to tell the truth.
To Tell the Truth
Alex runs into Fred Baxter from the Office of Professional Responsibility. He actually met her when she was a child and calls Alex’s father one of the most inspiring men he has ever met. He asks if she has any questions, and Alex picks his brain about her quandary about a friend with a medical issue. Baxter tell her that she has to tell the truth.
Shelby meets Agent Ruiz of Cyber Crime. Ruiz is expecting her, and she has been following Sistemics for years because of their heavy online recruitment. No one knows what happens beyond the introductory assessments, and the FBI has never been able to catch them committing a crime.
Liam and Ryan thank the NATS for picking their top three favorites. However, this wasn’t about the NATS getting information. It was about the representatives checking out the trainees. Ryan hands out envelopes to the NATS that specify which programs are interested in them. A red envelope means one program is interested, and a white envelope means more than one program. The most coveted is the green envelope, which means that an elite unit is interested. Both Alex and Drew receive green envelopes, which means they will take place in a training drill. Alex and Drew will be one team, while Iris and Brandon will be teammates.
A Dangerous Drill
The drill consists of rappelling down the side of a building to the 20th floor, land on the balcony and neutralize the threat inside. It may be a drill, but the teams are cautioned to keep their lines clear so they don’t die. What could possibly go wrong?
Just before they are about to go down, Alex warns Drew that she is not putting her life in his hands if he has a medical issue. He shows her the steadiness in his hand since laying off the coffee.
Drew slips or loses his footing, and he and Alex’s lines get tangled. Yikes! They finally get untangled and finish the exercise. Drew is elated, while Alex is furious. She knows that Drew’s tremor nearly killed them both. She begs him to see a doctor, but he maintains that it is just anxiety or a lack of sleep.
Alex goes to see Ryan and reports Drew’s medical condition. Ryan and Liam pull Drew in and explain that they need a note from a doctor, and he is out of training until he gets one. Drew thinks that he has lost his career because of Alex. He voluntarily leaves the program.
Undercover Again
Shelby leaves a voicemail for Clayton Haas, informing him that Caleb is back with the group that he joined as a teenager. She adds that if she doesn’t answer, there is a good reason for it. Inside the Sistemics building, Shelby meets with a receptionist. Shelby tells her that she has a friend who is a member and that he told her she could attend the seminar. As soon as Shelby hands her a huge check, she is taken to Master Berlin.
While waiting to see him, she spots Caleb in the hall, clad in his best preppy look. Caleb tells Shelby that she is in danger and that he is undercover on an off-the-books operation for his father to bring down the organization. He even explains that Will lied so that Caleb could finish the mission. He is close to finally getting the proof that Berlin ordered Caleb to try and bomb a courthouse in Kentucky. Caleb’s eyeglasses aren’t just glamorous; they’re also useful since they record everything.
Berlin brings Caleb into his office. Caleb offers to be an agent on the inside of the FBI to protect Sistemics. When Caleb mentions his friend, Ross, Berlin mentions that Ross had to be sent to the Lodge for rehabilitation. Something tells me that is not as relaxing as it sounds. Berlin says that Ross is free, but I doubt he means that in a good way.
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A Job Well Done
Caleb’s father congratulates his son on a job well done. Berlin was arrested, but Caleb is saddened to learn that Ross committed suicide. Berlin is afraid of jail so he agrees to a deal that will in effect bankrupt Sistemics. Clayton warns his son that he cannot tell anyone, especially Shelby, about the details of the operation.
Caleb’s father lies to Shelby and explains that Caleb was not working on an operation with him. He states that Caleb was doing his own investigation and that he is now receiving help. Shelby is offered a position in Clayton’s office as a thank you for her discretion.
Where is Nathalie?
In the present day, Caleb wakes up on the floor of Alex’s bathroom. He is handcuffed to a radiator and sees bugs crawling out of his skin. Yikes! I thought that maybe Caleb was faking his drug addiction, but I guess not. He questions how they will find Shelby and how she is involved in “the voice’s” scheme. Alex has to leave for work, despite Caleb’s protests. After she leaves, he makes another cryptic phone call and says that Alex went to work and that Caleb wasn’t able to stop her.
Ryan is getting coffee when he is approached by Rosa, Nathalie Vasquez’s mother. She is concerned because Nathalie hasn’t been returning her phone calls. Ryan thought that Nathalie requested an emergency leave, and he is shocked to hear that Rosa last spoke to Nathalie a week ago. Ryan tells Nimah that he went to Nathalie’s apartment and her clothes and laptop are still there. Ryan even pinged her cell phone, and its last activity was six days ago by Ward’s Island. That was about 30 minutes before Alex appeared at Ryan’s apartment door, distraught. Nimah thinks they need more proof before going to Miranda.
Shelby is Found
Alex phones Caleb to ask for his old access protocols so that she can trace Shelby’s e-mails and locate her. Caleb tries to convince Alex to come back to the apartment to brainstorm some other ideas, which proves unnecessary as Alex sees Shelby in a conference room at the FBI. Alex enters the meeting to say hello to her old friend. Miranda is thrilled because Shelby is there updating their security system, as she graciously offered to personally supervise the transition to McGregor-Wyatt’s hardware and software. Shelby is such a giver, right? Alex suggests that they get together before Shelby leaves. But Shelby gives her the cold shoulder.
Alex is panicked at what Shelby could do with the FBI’s computers once her system is activated. When Shelby is about to start the upgrade, Alex goes to Miranda and tells her that Shelby is a security risk. She also lets her former instructor know that Shelby’s parents are still alive. Miranda orders Shelby to stop the upgrade and brings Shelby to the other room to talk.
Confronting Your Accuser
Shelby would like to speak with Alex. Shelby tells her former friend that she is in complete control, but her tapping fingertip tells a different story. She rakes Alex over the coals for being the reason that Ryan was shot and the person who drove Nimah and Raina apart. Meanwhile, Alex is making notes on a pad of paper. Shelby is tapping out some sort of code, and Alex is amazed to learn that Shelby’s message is “I’m on your side.” Maybe Shelby is being forced to work for “the voice” like Alex was?
Miranda watches the two women as Shelby explains that her parents died five months ago in a plane crash in Jordan. Miranda gets a call that Shelby’s story checks out and that she isn’t a security risk. Alex faces Miranda’s anger and threats of a talk very soon because of all the havoc Alex has been causing. When Miranda leaves the room, Alex finishes figuring out the rest of the code, which spells “stairs.”
A Smart Plan
Alex meets Shelby in the stairwell, which is one of the spots without a camera. Shelby states that she got a phone call that threatened Caleb’s life, so she did what “the voice” told her to do. She brought Will and Simon to a warehouse in Yonkers. Shelby never heard from “the voice” again. It was Shelby’s idea to upgrade the computer system. She figured out that “the voice” was two or more of their voices braided together, and it is coming from inside the building. She also tells Alex that Caleb was supposed to keep her out of the building to ensure her safety.
Alex and Shelby monitor the computers at the FBI through the backdoor that Shelby installed. Shelby gets a call from “the voice” demanding to know why she was in the FBI office that day. The terrorist threatens to kill Shelby first. They get a location on the cell usage, and it is in East Harlem.
It is a church and Will is there. He says to not come near him because he is sick. He reveals that he built a nuke with his bare hands before he collapses.
I liked this episode of Quantico. I was shocked about Will and what the terrorist’s endgame is.
Quantico airs Sundays at 10pm on ABC.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Kim has been covering television entertainment since 2013. She is addicted to Real Housewives, Pump Rules, Dancing with the Stars, and many more shows.
