Quantico is a new ABC drama that tells the story of a group of new recruits at Quantico, focusing on Alex Parrish (Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra from Barfi! and Agneepath). The present storyline shows Alex being framed for a terrorist attack, while flashbacks tell the story of the new recruits first couple of days at Quantico.
The Quantico pilot is wonderfully well-constructed and brilliant in how efficiently it establishes every character in the ensemble. It becomes clear this show is firmly in the “guilty pleasure” category when one character is revealed to actually be twins, but it’s a very well-done show if you’re looking for a prime time soap full of outrageous twists.
What makes Quantico stand out is its characters. Aside from Alex the recruits include: Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin from Believe), a handsome and pleasant love interest who is revealed to secretly be gathering information on Alex; Nimah Anwar (Yasmine Al Massri from Crossbones), a Muslim woman who had most of the funniest lines in the pilot; Shelby Wyatt (the wonderful Johanna Braddy from UnREAL), a beautiful Texan who talks about always being underestimated; Caleb Haas (Graham Rogers from Resident Advisors), who was only made it into the program through his family’s connections and is struggling to stay; and, last but not least, Simon Asher. He’s a gay virgin who acts like he has a crush on everyone and is easily my favorite new character of the fall season so far. He’s played by Tate Ellington who played music producer Bryan Turner in Straight Outta Compton.
The well-defined characters and the rapport they all have made the pilot shine and sucked me in much more than the big mystery. In particular, Simon’s banter with Nimah is fantastic and could be building towards a very unique friendship. I’m hoping that moving forward we get as much development of these characters and building of their relationships as we do big twists and turns.
