Could two of Alex’s closest allies on Quantico really be working together against her and the FBI? I think so!
Ryan Booth and Drew Perales are two of the people that Alex has trusted the most during her time at Quantico and beyond. Fans love them just as much as she does because of their charm, kindness and the obvious: they’re really smart (yeah, let’s go with that). If you really think about it though, there’s something about these boys that’s not as trustworthy as Alex would like to believe. A lot have fans have done just that, and have come up with some conclusions.
Many fans are very suspicious of the ex-Marine, Ryan:
Ryan saw alex put the envelope under the seat WHAT IF RYAN IS THE TERRORIST #Quantico
— not ur mom's bahu (@dollylama__) April 4, 2016
The voice of the caller is Ryan Booth I'm sure of it! @QuanticoWriters @QuanticoTV @alibi_channel #Quantico
— Kav (@KavPlusK) April 4, 2016
I might be terribly wrong, but I'm going to call it anyway. The terrorist on @QuanticoTV is Ryan. #Quantico #ABC
— Brandolynn Price (@brandolynnamber) April 5, 2016
While others are pretty certain the former NFL star, Drew, is involved somehow:
Theory: the terrorist is Drew Perales. It has to be. #Quantico @lennyplatt ?
— . (@ochodesetiembre) April 4, 2016
What happened to Future Drew? Why have none of the new recruits been seen in the future yet? Hmmmmmm #Quantico
— Caroline (@caroline_gill) April 4, 2016
? who done it? Drew? #Quantico
— THE Gentleman (@Abovethelaw187) April 4, 2016
Related: Get to know new NAT Lenny Platt from ‘Quantico’
The truth is, it’s tough to make a compelling case against either of these guys individually. However, what if they were in it together? How shocking would the reveal be if both of the guys that Alex trusts/likes/loves/finds physically superior or whatever she’s feeling, were plotting against her the entire time!
Besides being almost certainly the television reveal of the year (or more), it would actually make a lot of sense. Don’t believe me? Well here’s why I think Ryan and Drew are partners in crime in the most literal sense possible.
The evidence
The biggest piece of evidence pointing me towards Ryan is the fact that “The Voice” is basically dealing with his ex-girlfriends club. Quantico has hammered it into our heads that “there are no coincidences” and the fact that most of the people who’ve been directly involved with “The Voice” have also been very closely involved with Ryan, and that would be a pretty big coincidence.
We know that Ryan was married to Hannah, had a close, romantic relationship with Alex, and was dating Natalie post-Quantico. Interestingly enough, that list looks suspiciously like “The Voice’s” contact list. This points to Ryan because these are the people whom he knows best, has the most access to, and can manipulate easiest. While “The Voice” didn’t necessarily choose to get Hannah involved, they could have tailored Alex’s missions to make that more likely.
The only person we’ve seen Drew get really close to since he joined our class of NATs is Alex. Yes, she is basically the world’s most beautiful woman but it’s a little suspicious that right from the start he is always partnering up with her. It’s almost like he’s purposely trying to keep her close and gain her trust.
Besides the possibility that these boys have been treating their baes as puppets, they have the fortunate advantage of both having access to Quantico before Alex arrived. It has been said that somebody started framing Alex before she got there, and while that doesn’t necessarily rule everybody else out, it definitely puts a larger target on Drew and Ryan’s muscular backs.
That explains how both of them are suspects individually, but where’s the evidence that they’re working together? The answer is in their individual timelines and the fact that they are perfectly mismatched. Just as Ryan leaves the convenience of Alex’s side, Drew steps in to take his place. Drew’s absence from the Grand Central timeline also means that he could be working behind the scenes, carrying out Ryan’s master plan while Ryan is busy being the center of attention.
The motive
I won’t attempt to answer “why” they carried out the attacks, because the reasoning behind attacks like those seen on Quantico can’t really be rationalized. Instead, I will outline the biases and possible motives the pair may have had for acting out against the FBI in such an unthinkable way.
Drew’s is pretty obvious, which is probably why Ryan went to him for back up. He may as well have “I’m suspicious of the FBI and I’m not afraid to take a stand” tattooed across his forehead based on what we’ve learned about him in his short time on Quantico. He was involved in big lawsuits against the NFL and has always had suspicions about his fiance’s death which had him questioning the FBI.
Ryan’s is more subtle but we have to remember, if he is responsible, basically everything we’ve seen him say and do so far has been a lie to help him accomplish his goal. What we have always known is that he was at Quantico working undercover to investigate Alex. We find out later that he was actually on probation from the FBI and was being forced to redo his training.
What caused him to be on probation? Perhaps he wasn’t performing well because he had something else on his mind. Maybe he was already trying to put his plans into motion when they sent him to Quantico. We also know that he took the fall for Liam for the Chicago operation that went wrong. This could have been one of many things that lead to distrust and disdain for the FBI. There is also a lot about Ryan’s past that we don’t know that could have been contributing factors.
The means
Okay, so if Ryan and Drew are working together, how did they pull this off? Well we’ve already established that they had more access to Alex pre-Quantico than any of the other NATs we could suspect. Drew probably screened Alex before she was even admitted to the program, so he had all the insider information you could ever want to try to frame somebody.
Ryan could have gotten to Drew before Alex got there, knowing that Drew would join Alex’s class someday in the near future (I’m assuming the training cycles always work like this), or possibly only later when he realized he would have to leave and needed someone to complete the job. Either way, Ryan is up to bat first while Drew takes a seat on the bench.
Ryan was working undercover investigating Alex so he would absolutely have access to any information or resources he needed to get this frame job done. He would have also had better than average access to steal Simon’s plans for the attack. He got close to Alex and she grew to trust him, which only made the whole plan so much easier. When he left Quantico, Drew stepped in to fill his blue henley, and the rest is history until the actual Grand Central bombing.
After the attack, guess who the first person at the supposed scene of the crime (Alex’s apartment) was…you guessed it! Ryan Booth. He said he went there to “apologize for what happened at Quantico.” Who knows “what happened,” but the explanation seems a little weak to me. I think he was actually there to finish the frame job he had set up.
Things only get worse for Ryan from here. When they check the list of all the NATs from their class that were on site at the time of the attack, the list consists of Alex, Ryan and Caleb. They just brush over Ryan’s name because they’re all having a fit about Caleb’s presence, but Ryan was present and accounted for too!
So where is Mr. Perales during all of this? Well if you recall the mysterious blind spot in the security footage outside of Alex’s apartment, I’m betting that’s where you’d find him. The driver of the car known to be in the blind spot said that he dropped off a man carrying a large duffel bag. Sounds like the kind of bag a football player would have, right? Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch. I guess anyone can go buy a duffel bag, but my guess is that this particular duffel bag belongs to Drew.
Another mysterious “man” in this situation is the one who blackmailed Elias. Elias told two stories about how he came to be associated with “The Voice.” One involved him being pushed into traffic, while the other involved him receiving a phone call. Either one could be Drew, but if there’s any truth to the traffic story, it’s almost definitely Drew. If we’re truly dealing with people we know from Quantico, Elias pretty much knows all of them too. However, he didn’t know this one! He also didn’t know Drew, since their time at Quantico didn’t overlap (I’m also assuming Drew never became an actual agent).
After Alex gets away and Ryan gets out of the hospital, he is pretty much thrown into all the chaos with her. This would leave Drew to take care of everything else, including everything from planting the second bomb to taking pictures of Alex and Ryan together in his apartment.
Why would Ryan go through everything he does, like getting shot and tortured, if he had set the whole thing up to begin with? I can think of two reasons. The first possibility is that it is all part of his grand scheme. We still don’t know the end game of “The Voice” (obviously not talking about the TV show since we all know Team Blake is going to win again), so anything Ryan does could be to accomplish his ultimate goal.
The second possibility is that he actually did fall in love with Alex, and he is now trying to reverse the frame job. That’s where the second frame of Elias came in. This one actually makes sense because Ryan was all about Team Alex until she wouldn’t let the whole thing go following Elias’ death. That would explain why his whole attitude toward her changed so drastically at that point since she was ruining his plan.
Let’s see if we get any more clues when Ryan and Drew finally come face to face in Quantico, season 1, episode 17, “Care.”
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