Bonds were formed, tested, and altogether broken in Quantico season 2, episode 4, “Kubark.”
The Farm tested the stress levels of its recruits in this week’s episode, but we were the ones left with anxiety! Things are heating up in both timelines as Alex and Ryan gained a new suspect among the recruits, and Shelby learned some game changing information about one of our favorite characters.
The Farm
After the team discovered that a bug was already present at The Farm in last week’s episode, they needed to have a conversation about how to proceed. Miranda wanted to pull her agents out, which is way too confusing to begin to untangle, but Keyes wanted to continue with the operation.
They reached a compromise in which Alex and Ryan would “lay low” for the week, but that’s never really been Alex Parrish’s style. She and Ryan decided to use their assignment to press their fellow recruits for clues.
Quantico season 2, episode 4, highlighted the growing relationships between the non-FBI recruits more than ever before. Alex and Ryan are still trying to get to know them and their secrets, but we’re finding out a lot more about them by watching their interactions with the other potential AIC operatives.
Léon and Dayana are getting extremely close, which is interesting, since we haven’t seen them interact at all during the hostage situation. Another potential relationship is blossoming between Harry and Sebastian! The only question now is, which of these pairs will hook up first? Or, do I sense a steamy montage coming on?
Another very confusing pair (that definitely won’t be included in that montage) is Lydia and Owen. The recipient of Lydia’s, “I’m in,” phone call was never revealed, but we did see her having a covert conversation with Keyes regarding her father and whether he was “digging” or not.
Apparently, Owen doesn’t know why he was pulled from the field, but he’s desperate to find out. Now, it seems like Lydia is planning to work with him to find out, but is she playing her father, or is she playing the CIA?
One person who we know she was playing is Ryan Booth. All of the recruits had their perceived weaknesses exploited in Quantico season 2, episode 4, and Ryan’s pressure point was his involvement with Liam. The only strange part of this was when Ryan went to Lydia’s house to discuss the matter. Could Lydia be the “she” that Alex asked about in the season 2 premiere? Lydia and Ryan haven’t interacted yet in the hostage situation, but they could just be playing it cool.
Related: Alex and Ryan: Will they? Won’t they? Should they? in Quantico season 2
As for Ryan’s current love life, Alex Parrish is still his actual weakness. Honestly, their trajectory in this episode was difficult to follow but the final resolution cleared some things up. Apparently, Ryan needs to start pulling away from Alex during the public part of their mission in order to complete it. Hopefully they’ll be able to stay strong when they’re not in front of the other recruits, but if the future timeline is any indication, this could be the beginning of the end.
The only recruit who didn’t have a pair in this episode was Leigh Davis, who may be one step ahead of them all. Alex and Ryan’s side mission taught them that she has been the one bugging them! As for why she’s doing it, and how much she knows, we still have no idea. Also, don’t forget that Léon slipped something into his picture frame as well, so Leigh might not be the only recruit with more knowledge than they’re entitled to.
The hostage situation
The AIC continued to use Raina’s translation skills to their advantage in Quantico season 2, episode 4. Luckily, this afforded her the opportunity to talk to Alex! Well, only after Alex was able to use some casual Swahili that she’d somehow picked up. This is Ron Weasley in the chamber of secrets all over again.
Through Alex’s eyes, we got somewhat of a glimpse into how the AIC is operating. For some reason, they were looking to unload 1700 of the hostages. Apparently, the only ones they actually care about are the 112 in the room with Ryan and Raina (and all of the other characters that we’ve met).
The two pieces of advice that Alex gave to Raina were interesting. The first, which was to give a clue to Miranda, would have been great if we weren’t already so suspicious of Miranda’s motives. The second, to trust Lydia Hall, was more confusing. Will Alex and Lydia continue to bond at The Farm, or does this only make the possibility of Ryan and Lydia getting together more real?
The scenes between Shelby Wyatt and Miranda Shaw are definitely some of the most interesting of Quantico season 2. It’s great to see Shelby in such an important role on this case, since she’s done so much work to earn that position, but it’s so frustrating to see her progress halted by Miranda and her boyfriend at every turn. It would be amazing if Shelby were the one to solve the whole case at the end of things.
Between Shelby having a front row seat to Miranda’s sabotage, and Alex witnessing her ignoring Raina’s hint, the pieces were all coming together for these girls to realize that something was up. However, thanks to Eric Boyer, they don’t even have to! Whoever “they” are, Shelby now knows that Miranda is one of them, or at least, as she said, a representative.
We still have no idea what, exactly, Miranda is involved in, or what Boyer was asked to do, but it’s looking like it might be futile to hold out hope for Miranda’s innocence, at this point. It would be strange to make her out to look so guilty, this early, if she were leading the AIC, so potentially she’s being blackmailed into helping.
Alternatively, she could be trying to achieve something entirely different than the AIC, but is somehow using them to do it. Now that Shelby, and maybe also Alex and Raina, have been tipped off, we’re only getting closer to figuring out the truth.