Quantico - Lipstick - Review

Lipstick picks up right where we left off, in the present timeline, after the First Lady has been beheaded. The terrorists round up the hostages and put collars on them that will tighten if they get out of line. Ryan and Raina figure out that some of the hostages are actually terrorists and they’re being swapped out whenever a group of hostages is separated from the main group. Raina tries to find a way to mark the terrorists to figure out who they are but they catch on and mark every hostage, ruining their plans. Ryan and Raina are no closer to figuring out who the terrorists are. Meanwhile, Alex enlists the help of Carl, an NYPD officer she met earlier in the day, and he leads her to a bunker under the building so she can contact the FBI. When they’re about to be caught, he bravely sacrifices himself so that she can make it into the bunker. I really liked him and I was hoping he would make it. Alex gets to a hardline phone in the bunker and is able to call Miranda and let her know what’s happening.

Back in the CIA training timeline, Alex and Ryan are finding it harder to stay undercover. They’re late to their first day of training after a rendezvous at their secret house. They’re certainly not doing a great job blending in and pretending not to be involved with each other. They're barely even trying! On top of this, Alex is having a hard time making friends. It seems like Lydia is out to get her, however, by the end of the episode she approaches Alex and tells her she only treats her this way because she believes she can be great. Alex does seem to find a friend in Harry, who invites her out for drinks. However, after spending the day learning about surveillance techniques, it soon becomes clear that drinks are turning into an exercise in evasion. Alex and Harry realize, after leaving the bar, that they’re being followed by many of their classmates, including Ryan. However, Ryan soon realizes that he’s not only the follower but is also being followed. He tries his best to lose them but he can’t. Both Alex and Ryan are really going to have to watch themselves because staying undercover could be harder than they think. Meanwhile, Harry reveals to Alex that he was part of the surveillance team the whole time, so basically, he had her fooled and she failed. After the exercise is over, the recruits find out that they will be constantly running these drills and watching each other throughout training camp. This will definitely make it harder for Alex and Ryan to meet up with their handlers or at their secret place. In the closing scenes, we start to see the early signs of Alex and Ryan’s relationship going wrong, when Ryan can't meet up at the house because he's with his handler. It seems like it will only get harder for them to find time for each other during this mission.

During this episode, we also learned that Shelby is Alex’s handler. She pretends to be a fan when Harry catches them talking in town, but he’s suspicious. It doesn’t take him long to figure out who Shelby is after looking at some media photos from last year. This seemed like a pretty ridiculous plan from the start. With all the attention everyone received during the attacks last season it seems pretty silly to even put any of them near each other in an undercover situation. It turns out that Nimah is Ryan’s handler, which was surprising because I didn’t realize they were that close. The whole logic of pairing these people together is that handlers should be close to their undercover person so that they can have moments to just relax and be themselves. I don’t really see that happening with Ryan and Nimah but I guess we’ll see how it goes. I’m happy we’re finally seeing Nimah but I wonder where she is in the present timeline.

Overall, I still don’t feel that close to any of the new characters, but it's probably intentional. The CIA is all about secrecy, so I don’t expect us to learn a lot about any of the recruits anytime soon. However, we did get to know Dayana a bit better during this episode. Before she came to CIA training she was a human rights lawyer and throughout the episode, she questions whether she should stay or go back to her old job. She’s still finishing up one of her cases and it’s causing her to lose focus and letting down the team. At first, Ryan seems upset with her but at the end, he has a really nice scene where he gives her a bit of a pep talk and motivates her to keep going with the CIA because it’s a once in a lifetime experience and her old job will always be there. It was nice to get to know her a bit more and hopefully each week we’ll get to know another recruit in the same way.

Last but not least, I have to talk about that big Miranda twist. Overall, this episode seemed a bit lacking in excitement and dramatic revelations, but thankfully the final scene gave us something to talk about. In the closing moments of the episode, we see Miranda text one of the terrorists inside that Alex is in the building. My first reaction was that Miranda is working with the terrorists but I really don’t want to believe that. I guess if Miranda has an inside person, she could just be letting them know that they have help inside with Alex. However, I really didn't like the look in her eye at the end, it seemed dark and I’m worried she might be on the wrong side this time around. So many terrible things have happened to Miranda, especially with her son, so maybe this has caused her to switch sides. I really don’t know what to think but I need some answers soon!

What did you think of this episode? Do you think Miranda is really helping the terrorists? Who’s your favorite new recruit? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!

About the Author - Kate Sidwell

Kate is a 25 year old, USA based, Psychology/Public Health Researcher - but that’s just her day job! In her spare time she is an avid TV watcher (some may even say addict!!). Some of her favorite shows are Jane the Virgin, Bates Motel, The Flash, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Rookie Blue, Silicon Valley, Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow, The 100, The Mindy Project, Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon a Time, The Royals, Orphan Black…so pretty much too many to count and a huge variety! She’ll give pretty much any show a chance! She also devotes a lot of time to her tumblr (eat-sleep-breathe-tv.tumblr.com) where you can find her reviewing and commenting on most of these shows and just generally fangirling! She’s excited to be writing for SpoilerTV on Complications, Baby Daddy, Proof, Switched at Birth, Secrets and Lies, and Minority Report!

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