10.01.2015

Television: Quantico, "Run"

This show about a bunch of would-be FBI agents in training and how one of them is framed for a major act of terrorism is roughly hewn rather than neatly constructed. The characters—and there are so many I almost can't be bothered to keep track—are broad and blunt, not deep in any way. The writers seem to have confused backstory with depth, as each character has some complicated history that becomes the focus of the pilot when the trainees are told to dig up dirt on and then interrogate one another. Priyanka Chopra as Alex Parrish (the one eventually accused of terrorism) walks around with the same glazed look on her face as Katherine Heigl did in Grey's Anatomy. That was all I could think every time the camera zeroed in on her face. Which was often.

And this is like Grey's Anatomy, in a way. A collection of students, more or less, involved in life-or-death situations and lots of soapy drama. So if you like that kind of thing, with a little conspiracy theory added, then Quantico may be for you. Alas, because I'm the type to put character above plot, it may not be for me; I simply can't get over how unrefined the character development is here. Count Quantico as the kid dressed in black at the back of the school cafeteria who thinks everyone is wondering about him, thinking he's deep, when really no one has even noticed nor do they care.

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