Every year we get bombarded with a slew of new TV shows to get addicted to, last year we were obsessed with How To Get Away With Murder, 2013 was Orange Is The New Black, well this year ABC have a new hit on their hands in the form of Quantico.
The show follows a class of FBI trainees who are rocked by a terrorist attack that links to one of them being guilty. Initially the evidence points to class nerd Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra) who must chase down her classmates from the past while evading the FBI trying to capture her at the same time. Each episode is a mixture of current events with Alex and flashbacks to the training academy, revealing more layers about the classmates and teasing as to who this terrorist could possibly be.
Now watching this, you could easily write it off as How To Get Away With Murder : FBI Division, and to some degree this is a huge appeal of the show. The young and fresh cast explode on the screen, oozing with sexual tension. But it is the constant nods to terrorism, racial profiling, sexuality, religion and freedom that have me coming back every week.
Normally these topics are really hard to tackle in the TV landscape without offending millions of people, but this show seems to do it ever so slightly, and just enough to confront it, without any clear allegiance to which side of the coin the show runners sit on. This has provided some of the most thought provoking moments for me this television season and it is something I have not read about in other reviews of this show.
The biggest mystery of the show “who is the terrorist” is not given away lightly, in fact after 9 episodes in we are not even given a small clue as to who is behind it all. It could still be Alex for all we know, the majority of the show has been played out in flashbacks to Quantico training academy. The class’s head teacher and mentor Liam O’Connor (Josh Hopkins – Cougar Town) hides a rocky past with Alex and is developed as the show moves forward. As is her relationship with Ryan (Jake McLaughlin) who have the classic will they / won’t they thing going on. Muslim twins Nimah and Raima (Yasmine Al Massri) provide some of the most confronting themes about racism and the religion of Islam, but it is deal with in the most respectful manner, it is near impossible to poke holes in.
The first episode had me interested but not enough to keep coming back, it was only due to complete boredom that I persevered with this show and I am so glad that I did. The mystery surrounded by the drama is reminiscent of Desperate Housewives mixed with How To Get Away With Murder.
If the story isn’t enough, the onslaught of high rated guest stars about to hit this show are of the likes of Anne Heche and Marcia Cross (who starred in Desperate Housewives on the same network!)
If you haven’t caught the series so far, my recommendation would be waiting for the inevitable Netflix transition to binge in one delicious morsel! Add this to your must watch list and keep your eyes peeled for more news on Quantico.
