QUANTICO Like Grey's For the FBI

Article originally published as QUANTICO Review on Seat42F.

Joining veteran Once Upon a Time and new drama Blood & Oil on Sunday nights is QUANTICO. This drama is about a group of FBI recruits training at the famous academy in Virginia. There is a mildly non-linear story structure and plenty of mystery, as well as soapy personal drama as we get to know the characters. Think of it as Grey’s Anatomy meets How to Get Away With Murder, with just a touch of Alias tossed in.

QUANTICO has an ensemble cast, rather than a single lead, but if I were to name the most important person in the pilot, I’d go with Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra, Barfi!). Sneaking away from her family to be a member of Quantico’s newest class, Alex is also the subject of the flash forwards that take place in the aftermath of a terrible event nine months in the future, or most likely, the end of the first season. She is intelligent, brave, comfortable with herself, and interesting. She’ll do as someone to root for.

Joining her in classes are: Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin, Believe), her love interest who is much too curious about her; Nimah Amin (Yasmine Al Massri, Crossbones), a Muslim woman who is taking advantage of scoring the lone single dorm; Shelby Wyatt (Johanna Braddy, UnREAL), a pretty girl who is very good with guns; Simon Asher (Tate Ellington, The Mindy Project), a busybody gay; and Caleb Haas (Graham Rogers), who has his peers wondering how he got in. There is a seventh member at first, too, but since ABC has not included him in the cast photos, I think it’s safe for me to say he will not remain part of the group, though I won’t spoil why.

Now, a lot of those descriptions are simplistic, but the characters are not. Everyone in QUANITCO is hiding something that’s not obvious, from each cadet, to the administrator, Miranda Shaw (Aunjanue Ellis, The Mentalist), to the instructor (Josh Hopkins, Cougar Town). Each member of the cast quickly begins finding out at least one other person’s secrets, but QUANTICO thrives on what characters don’t know, hard as that might get to track, and I don’t expect anyone will come out into the open soon. Expect the unexpected to happen on a regular basis.

QUANTICO is definitely a sudsy soap, and that’s OK. Personal issues are as much as part of the story as stopping terrorism, and there will surely be numerous hook ups and crushes, besides what is shown in the pilot. It’s a juicy guilty pleasure series, which also has a pretty compelling story, and just enough action.

I would call the show fast-paced, but not too much so. A lot happens, and more will keep happening, but the writers don’t blow everything right away, and it doesn’t move so quickly that developments don’t make sense. It strikes that balance that makes for layered entertainment without requiring too much work. It’s a feat I’ve seen far too many dramas fail at lately, and it’s nice to see one do better.

Which is not to say it’s my new favorite show. The soapy nature does keep the quality down at a mediocre level. I enjoyed this pilot, but there are much more complex dramas with far better actors out there. Still, for ABC, it’s pretty decent, and within its Sunday night lineup, paired with Once Upon a Time and Blood & Oil, it is the best, even if it’s not quite the most original, of the three. I’m willing to give it a couple more hours to see if it can kick itself up a couple of notches, or if it will begin losing steam quickly. Either are realistic possibilities for this show.

QUANTICO premieres Sunday, September 27^th at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

Yo Ho CROSSBONES

Article first published as CROSSBONES Review on Seat42F.

NBC’s CROSSBONES is pure summertime popcorn fun. It features the noble hero, Tom Lowe (Richard Coyle, Covert Affairs), going undercover as a doctor in an attempt to get close to and assassinate the notorious pirate, Blackbeard (the great John Malkovich). It’s a swashbuckling action adventure, a bit cheesy, a tad unrealistic, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Because CROSSBONES airs on NBC, it is at a disadvantage to its Starz competitor, Black Sails, which can show more blood, violence, and nudity. After all, this is a series about pirates, and unless one makes outlaws of the cartoonish variety, one is going to want to see some of that gritty reality, even if there’s a light spirit about. That’s just the nature of the show, and CROSSBONES has to keep these things toned down, hinting at much more than showing such elements, not getting anywhere near as bloody as the boundary-pushing NBC series Hannibal.

Yet, even so, I enjoy CROSSBONES. It could be the simplistic hero story, one that inspires and excites in the right hands. We know who is on the side of good, and we cheer for them to succeed, even if we want it drawn out a bit to enjoy the villain a little longer. Or it could be the excellent Malkovich, playing Blackbeard as an odd, thoughtful, intelligent commodore ruling an island in a way that only Malkovich can. Whatever it is, the show draws one in and captures the imagination.

Malkovich helps set the tone for the piece, distinguishing it from its peers somewhat. Because of who the actor is, Blackbeard is someone viewers are likely to feel sympathy towards, and with the uneven balance of power in a land run by those against institutions, his position is precarious and likely to change. Alliances will be formed and broken, and one is never quite sure what Blackbeard will do, his unpredictability being a positive.

In the name of fairness to the fairer sex, CROSSBONES, like Black Sails, makes sure to include plenty of women in its ensemble. There’s Selima El Sharad (Yasmine Al Massri, Carmel), who Blackbeard tasks with decoding the plans for technology captured along with Lowe, and who thinks that she knows better than the commodore. Kate (Claire Foy, White Heat) is the wife of the man Blackbeard asks to build the machine, and an obvious love interest for Lowe. And Nenna (Tracy Ifeachor, Doctor Who “The End of Time”) is a pirate henchman, pretty much on equal footing with the other pirate in the show, Charles (David Hoflin, Neighbours), both of which are not completely loyal to Blackbeard.

Should there be so many strong females in this series? Well, that’s debatable. Black Sails adds females through the inclusion of prostitutes and the capable daughter of an important man, while CROSSBONES makes the girls more part of the action. In the name of historical accuracy, the balance probably should be more male-heavy. Yet, these actresses do a fine job, and a little political correctness, as long as it doesn’t take away from the story, never hurt anything.

There’s also the obligatory scenes showing that Lowe’s boss, Governor William Jagger of Jamaica (Julian Sands (24, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), is not on the up-and-up. This will provide opportunity for Lowe to work with Blackbeard down the line, possibly even setting up Lowe and Blackbeard to be the only characters we really get behind, them against the world. Yet, it’s unlikely fans will care about such predictability because they will enjoy the results of the structure.

CROSSBONES is confined by limitations and light on continuity and believability. Somehow, though, it’s highly entertaining anyway, and that’s important for a network summer series. There’s enough good stuff here to make it watchable and fun, a break from the dark drama filling the airwaves September through May. That’s why it works.

CROSSBONES premieres Friday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.