Last season viewers became accustomed to see ABC’s Quantico with a split story line (half in the past, half in the present), and we are pleased to report that season 2 seems to be laid out in a similar fashion.
Season 1 left off with Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra) being let go from the FBI and recruited by the CIA. Season 2 picks up the story just over a year later. Here is a recap of what happened in Quantico‘s season 2 premiere, “Kudove”.
“There’s no such thing as a coincidence” | The first thing we see is Alex accepting the job with the CIA. It then flashes forward to several months later, she is working a desk job within The Agency. The camera flashes between several people going about their daily lives, then all receiving a blue post-it note with a time written on it. Alex is at dinner with Shelby (Johanna Braddy) and Ryan (Jake McLaughlin), when she excuses herself for a moment Ryan pulls out a rung box and shows Shelby the ring he got to propose to Alex with. Alex gets a blue post-it with the current time on it and immediately receives a phone call telling her she’s been selected for training and needs to leave the bar immediately. She leaves Shelby and a disappointed Ryan behind to go see what’s in store for her. Alex arrives at what is known as “The Farm” (where they train CIA case officers) and is astounded to see Ryan arrive shortly after her. He tells her that he is there undercover for the FBI, and she lets him in on a secret; she is too.
That’s right, Alex Parrish was not actually fired from the FBI, her and Ryan are now to work undercover at the CIA to try to uncover a possible coup attempt. Their job is to prevent the group of rogue agents from acting on their conspiracies.
Ryan, Alex, and the other recruits are at The Farm for 24 hours. During those 24 hours they take part in several tests that will eliminate recruits not up to the task of becoming a case agent. These tasks include passing a lie detector test telling all lies, getting information from someone without giving up any of their own information, and jumping out of a plane. Alex was tricked into thinking a fellow recruit was in danger, only to find out that recruit was actually an officer who sets a trap to see which recruits try to play hero. Alex, of course, does, and it costs her. She ends up on the bottom of “The Murder Board,” a ranking system the CIA uses to rank the recruits, and Alex is at the bottom.
The last thing we see on The Farm is Alex, Ryan, and the rest of the recruits she tested with join the other recruits and get their new rooms for the next 6 months.
“Welcome inside the perimeter.” | In the present, Alex is going through security to attend a meeting of world leaders. Alex and Ryan meet briefly to discuss his new position on the President’s Daily Briefing Team, and end up fighting. After Ryan leaves she takes off her engagement ring and leaves it on the table before walking out behind him. When Alex gets outside she sees someone she recognizes, someone she killed. She immediately calls Shelby and asks her to run a picture of him in the database. Shelby agrees, but quickly tells Alex that it’s not the guy she killed, then the call mysteriously drops. She notices several white trucks driving around, when suddenly they all blow up at once.
Summit Meeting | Everyone inside the Summit Meeting hears the bombs go off, then they are all knocked out by a gas in the vents. When they awaken they realize their weapons are gone and they are being held hostage by a terrorist group known as the Citizens Liberation Front. Raina (Yasmine Al Massri) and Ryan are part of the group of hostages, they even use Raina to translate from Swahili to English for them. They want the president to pardon Eric Boyer of his crimes, and if he does not comply they will kill his wife. Ryan goes with the President and First Lady to discuss their options, but ultimately the President decides to work with the terrorists to save his wife.
The President makes a live broadcast announcing that he is pardoning Boyer in order to spare the lives of those being held hostage, including his wife. During this time Alex is breaking into the building. She comes across one masked terrorist and fights him. After disarming him she removes his mask, it is the man she saw earlier, the one she killed. It is him. She asks how he’s alive, but instead of answering her he says there is much she does not know. Then he turns around and jumps out the window, ending his life.
The terrorists announce Boyer has been freed and that it is time to move onto the next part of their plan. They begin separating the hostages into groups, when they decide to pull the First Lady on stage. They force her to her knees and raise a very long, very sharp knife to the back of her neck. The last thing shown is the knife being raised then quickly lowered, before cutting to Alex reacting to the beheading.
What a way to kick off the second season! The premiere was full of plot twists, secrets, action, and of course, death. What did you think of the premiere? Are you happy that Alex and Ryan are back in training? Are you excited to meet the new recruits? Comment below to let us know what you are excited for this season!
Quantico airs Sundays at 10pm on ABC.