Miranda (Aunjanue Ellis) really might be one of the bad guys! Episode 4 of ABC‘s hit drama Quantico left off with Alex (Priyanka Chopra) killing one of her former CIA instructors after finding out she’s a terrorist. But before we dive into that, let’s rewind a year and go back to The Farm to see what’s going on with the bug found at the end of episode 3.
To pull the mission, or not to pull the mission | Miranda wants to pull Alex and Ryan from the mission, but director Keyes (Henry Czerny) warns her that if they don’t complete the mission, the AIC may become the agency.
Back at the bottom | Right before class, Ryan receives a package. It’s from Liam O’connor’s estate, apparently he wanted Ryan to have something after he died. In class, Alex walks in to find she’s at the bottom of the Murder Board again, she’s confused why she’s still there. Owen Hall (Blair Underwood) explains to the recruits that their assignment for the week is learning how to conceal their emotions and keep calm in stressful situations. Leigh (Helene York) announces to the class that she’s a pro at this because of her job, but no one seems to care. All the recruits are given a wrist monitor to track their vitals to make sure they are remaining calm.
The recruits mission of the week: go to a cocktail party with other case officers, mingle, and not let their vitals spike. Alex confronts Owen, wanting to know why she’s at the bottom of the Murder Board again. What Owen doesn’t know is that Alex is using this conversation as a distraction to get Hall’s phone to gain access to the recruits heart monitor information.
Alex’s conversation with Owen is more revealing that she anticipated. He reveals the reason she is at the bottom of the Murder Board and why all the other recruits have received strange news/gifts. The exercise was about trying ti rattle the recruits to see who keeps calm and who doesn’t. This applies to Ryan and his package from Liam, it turned out to be a scare tactic from Lydia (Tracy Ifeachor).
“It’s you.” | Alex and Ryan later meet at their safe house. Ryan tells her the CIA misidentified his weakness. He explains that it isn’t Liam O’Connor, it’s her, Alex. Ryan tells Alex he needs to distance himself so they can focus on the mission, Alex understands.
“She’s been listening to us the whole time.” | As Alex and Ryan go through the data they obtained from Owen’s phone, they make a shocking discovery. Leigh’s vita;s only spiked when talking to Ryan about bugs and if she had ever used one. They know she’s the one who has been spying on them.
Back in the present, Alex overhears some terrorists complaining about the number of hostages they’re holding. Enter more terrorists with Raina (Yasmine Al Massri), questioning her. She says she will no longer translate for them, but they show her who is really in charge when they begin tightening her shock collar.
“In one hours time, the Citizens Liberation Front will be prepared to trade 1667 hostages in exchange for the delivery of Eric Boyer.”| The hostages use Raina to broadcast a message, they want Boyer (Derek Klena). (Remember, Boyer is the hacker they terrorists got a Presidential Pardon for). They want him bad enough to exchange all of the hostages for him.
“Eric Boyer cannot get inside.” | Alex, still posed as a terrorist, is able to sneak by the others in order to speak with Raina. She tells Raina what she’s overheard, and thinks whatever they want Boyer for is worse than keeping all of those hostages. Alex’s plan is to have Raina stop the trade. Raina must slip Miranda a coded phrase that only she will understand. They decide to use “It’s like the boiler room down here” because that is where Miranda found Liam’s decoy bomb. Next, Alex tells Raina to find Lydia Bates. She might not like her, but even Alex has to admit Lydia is a good agent.
“You didn’t live up to your end of the bargain.” | Against Shelby’s (Johanna Braddy) better judgement, her and Miranda head to Queens to track down Boyer. Once they find him, Miranda has a private conversation with him, revealing that she is a representative of the terrorist group. Miranda tells him she has to turn him over to the terrorist group becauRe: Miranda. She’s one of them. |se he didn’t do what he was supposed to. He knows this is a death sentence.
Boyer quickly apologizes to Shelby for hacking McGregor Wyatt in 2012, and strongly suggests she check her personal emails from that year.
“She’s not a government agent.” | Lydia’s first reaction to hearing Alex’s plan from Raina is that she is not an agent, thus revealing Alex doesn’t finish her training at The Farm. Lydia wants to save as many lives as possible, or so she says. We still don’t know if we should trust her.
Miranda arrives with Boyer to make the trade. When Raina gives her the code not to make the trade, Miranda ignores it and goes through with the plan. Alex is watching from above and panics when she sees Boyer being handed over. She fires several shots from her gun into the air to cause panic, unfortunately the terrorists still get Boyer. Now the terrorists know Alex is around, they have been instructed to find her and shoot her on sight.
Re: Miranda. She’s one of them. | Back at work, Shelby decides to check her emails from 2012. She is surprised to see a new message there from Eric Boyer. It is very brief, and just tells her that Miranda is “one of them.”
“It wasn’t supposed to go this far.” | In the final scene of the episode we see Boyer seated in front of a computer, surrounded by several terrorists. Eric doesn’t want to do whatever it is they are demanding. Instead of obeying, he grabs the gun from the one closest to him and shoots himself in the head.
Can you believe how crazy that episode was? (Because we can’t!) Each episode makes it harder and harder to write-off Miranda’s motives as her possibly being undercover. Alex seems to be in a bit of a pickle, with several terrorists looking to kill her. Back on The Farm Alex and Ryan have to figure out Leigh’s motives before she finds out too much, and Lydia and Owen are definitely up to something. Let us know below what you thought of Quantico‘s fourth episode, Kubark!
Don’t forget to watch Quantico Sunday nights at 10pm on ABC.