Quantico - Over - Review: "Seeing the bigger picture"

We received quite a few answers about our characters on last night's Quantico. Also, Alex might finally have evidence to prove her innocence, but there is a threat of a new bomb as well.

Overview of events
At Quantico, Simon tries to find out if he's more interested in Raina or in Nimah, Caleb and Shelby are still hooking up as are Nathalie and Brandon, and of course the recruits receive a new assignment. They all receive individual assignments and they have to make and later present a case against the suspect. The recruits quickly realize that all their cases are connected as part of seeing the bigger picture. In fact, they have to present their case at the FBI headquarters to some high-ranking agents. This gives Alex and Ryan, who has returned to Quantico, a chance to sneak into the evidence storage to find out what Liam is hiding from them. Earlier, a contact of Ryan's had given him a photo of Liam and Alex' father together, so Alex wants to know what is up with that. Anyway, the recruits present their case and subsequently learn that the case was real. A biological attack was successfully stopped by the FBI, and now the recruits have to do the same. So they all head out to the park to search for the suspects. Alex sees the first one, chases after him and catches him. However, it turns out the biological weapon is not in his bag, but rather the second suspect slipped it in Alex' bag. Everybody failed. Also, it gives Liam a chance to get back the file that Alex took from evidence. Alex is upset and confronts Liam, and the latter finally tells her the truth. Liam and Michael Parrish went undercover in a militia back in the days, but couldn't prevent a bombing in Omaha in 1993. They covered it all up. Alex doesn't really believe this, so she goes to Miranda's house who confirms the story. Miranda and Alex chat a little, until Miranda gets a call from her neighbor that someone is up on the roof. She goes upstairs while Alex waits downstairs, but after a few minutes Alex heads upstairs as well. She finds a bleeding Miranda, who has been shot or stabbed, and whispers her son's name. Alex goes to find Charlie, who had been with Miranda the entire day, but he has disappeared.

In the present timeline, Alex needs to remove the bullet from Ryan's stomach and finds an empty house where she can do that. She also calls her friends of The Unknown, who hack Clayton's FBI account and release all the evidence regarding the Grand Central Terminal bombing. While Clayton gives his son orders to delete all of the emails between him and Shelby because it might impact his mother's career, Alex finds receipts for bomb components that weren't part of the Grand Central Terminal bombs. Also, the wire she found in the apartment next to hers doesn't match the wire found at that bombing. Therefore, Alex deduces that there is a second bomb out there. Meanwhile, Caleb learns of an email that his father received from his assistant Tracy that indicated that a certain agent Goodwin called and said Alex' badge was used by another agent to enter the New York office. Caleb confronts his father about this, and Clayton admits to reading email, but he opened it in a hotel where he was with Shelby. Since the email was opened on the hotel's internet, putting the email into evidence would likely lead to Clayton and Shelby's affair becoming public. Also, The Unknown people offer Alex a ride out of the country via helicopter and while Ryan gets on board, Alex at the last minute does not. Instead, she surrenders herself to the FBI and claims there is a second bomb that has to be stopped.

Character board
In this week's episode, we learned the following about the characters:
-Alex discovers that her father was involved in a bombing in 1993 that killed some 200 people. Also, she surrenders herself to the FBI in the present timeline.
-Shelby is interrogated by the FBI about her monthly deposits, but is saved by Miranda who tells them the deposits are to Shelby's half-sister. Shelby is later seen Skyping with her half-sister. In a present timeline email, she confesses to Clayton that she still loves Caleb.

-Nimah and Raina can finally be who they are. For Nimah, this means moving in with Alex and having fun with everyone. Raina keeps the room to herself and also turns out to be more religious than her sister.
-Nathalie warns Shelby for moving too fast with Caleb, because the last time she did that, she found out something about that guy that she wouldn't wish on anyone. Could this be her daughter's father?
-Ryan returns to Quantico to keep an eye out on Liam and also helps Alex investigating her father. In the present, he survives his 'surgery' at the hands of Alex and leaves in a helicopter.
-Caleb tells Shelby that he was part of an organization (or cult) where he couldn't get out by himself. His father saved him by raiding the cult's compound with a bunch of FBI agents. Later, Caleb heads out as Mark Raymond to a two-hour analysis with a creepy guy.
-Simon discovers that he's more into Nimah, who surprises him, than Raina, who is into him. Also, Simon is in contact with the bomb maker that we saw in episode 4. He admits to him that he made a mistake by joining the FBI.
-Liam confesses to Alex that he was part of a cover-up of a bombing in Omaha in 1993, because he and Alex' father missed the warning signs. Liam asks Alex to let it go, because it would destroy a lot of careers.
-Miranda brings her son Charlie to work the entire day, but when he asks if he could ever be an FBI agent, she tells him he needs to have a clean record. Later, she is shot or stabbed in her own house while Charlie has disappeared.
-Clayton received an email from his assistant that some agent by the name of Goodwin said that another agent accessed the New York office using Alex' credentials. He wants Caleb to delete the email so the IP address cannot be traced.

No real new information on Elias or Brandon this week.

Review
This episode was all about answers, even though it also posed new questions. We finally know what Liam and Michael were doing and we have confirmation that Shelby's half-sister really exists. We also found out why Clayton needed to save his son. And now there is the threat of another bomb being out there. The twist that Alex surrendered herself is one I saw coming as the press release for the next episode kind of spoiled it, but it was still a bit of a shocker nonetheless. I wonder how things are gonna go from here. I assume Alex will have a really tough job proving her innocence, but at least we got the first piece of evidence that could exonerate Alex. If only Clayton would not put his career above proving Alex' innocence, that piece of evidence could have been investigated already. The weekly assignment at Quantico had its twists as always. I liked how Ryan and Alex are working together despite what happened between them. The flashbacks also ended in a cliffhanger when Miranda was left bleeding out. Of course we know she survives, but I am wondering what happened in her house and if her son had something to do with her shooting or stabbing. Speaking of Charlie, I felt sorry for him when he asked if he could ever be an FBI agent. There finally seemed to be some bonding between mother and son during the day, but obviously this won't be good for their relationship. Neither is Miranda bleeding out.

Terrorist wall
Here's this week's terrorist wall, including a ranking of every suspect and a change in the ranking compared to last week.
-Alex: 1/5 (no change compared to last week)
It is not Alex.
-Shelby: 2/5 (no change)
So Shelby's half-sister is real, but she might be in contact with terrorists. I am wondering that $1 million was really for her house, but there is no indication that Shelby doesn't think it is.
-Nimah and Raina: 2/5 (no change)
There is no indication to change my ranking of the twins.
-Nathalie: 2/5 (no change)
We still don't know enough about Nathalie to make her a suspect for the terrorist attack.
-Ryan: 2/5 (no change)
The guy was shot again and is now leaving the country. I can't see him being responsible for all this.
-Caleb: 2/5 (-1 compared to last week)
Caleb just seems to be a heartbroken guy that is looking for someone who loves him for who he is. I feel bad for him, especially considering he had to read and delete his father's emails to Shelby. Anyway, I don't think it's Caleb.
-Simon: 3/5 (+1 compared to last week)
Simon made contact with a bomb maker at the end of this episode. That makes him at the very least suspicious, so I bumped him up.
-Elias: 2/5 (no change)
No change since he wasn't present in the episode.
-Brandon: 2/5 (no change)
Again, we still don't know much about this guy, so I cannot suspect him of being a terrorist.
-Liam: 3/5 (no change)
Liam is probably one of the worst agents on this show considering he covered up that the FBI could have prevented a bombing that killed some 200 people in 1993. Who knows what else he is capable of.
-Miranda: 2/5 (-1 compared to last week)
I am not saying Miranda didn't do it, but I think if Miranda did it, it would somehow involve her son. However, since he got out of jail just a few episodes ago and the framing of Alex began when she walked into the Academy, it might not be Miranda.
-Clayton: 3/5 (no change)
At the very least, Clayton covered up a piece of evidence that might implicate that Alex is innocent. He says he covered it up because of his and his wife's career, but maybe he is responsible himself.

What did you think of "Over"? What did you think of all the answers we got in this episode? How are you feeling about Liam covering up the bombing in 1993? Who do you think is a worse agent: Liam or Clayton? Do you feel bad for Caleb having to go through his father's emails to Shelby? What do you think has happened at Miranda's house? And lastly, who are your current suspects for the Grand Central Terminal bombing? I would love to hear your opinions and theories in the comments below.

Quantio takes a break next week and is back with a new episode on November 29. Watch a promo for that episode below.

About the Author - Daniel van der Veer

Daniel van der Veer is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Madam Secretary and Quantico. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.

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