Unspoiled Speculation: No Confidential Informants Allowed

[Just Here]

So, Grand Central Terminal gets bombed. (Google Maps view for comparing with the trailer)

 

My money's on Grand Central's fictional owner being ultimately behind this so they can redevelop the above tracks area and build a huge new skyscraper.

[Anela]

So, is the boss the terrorist?

[skotnikov]

Yes, it looks like the guy from the "Cougar Town" is the terrorist, and I bet that blonde girl is his accomplice, because she's from the conservative South, and the tone of the show is very anti-republican (the fact

that they have a mormon guy who raped a 14 years old Malawi girl

is quite telling).   

Edited September 28, 2015 by skotnikov

[Trini]

There are a few interesting things in the character descriptions on the ABC website; some things that haven't been revealed yet on the show. Like, Simon is the first gay recruit -- doubt it!

[k1ptog2]

I call it now - her father isn't dead, he is behind the attack, and she will have to shoot him all over again.

[dungeonwriter]

Could Simon be Mossad?

There's a few holes in history.

At one point, he says he is fluent in Hebrew-Very few American Jews are fluent in Hebrew. They may speak a bit of Biblical Hebrew for prayers, but very few are fluent in Modern Hebrew unless they make a special effort. I was sent to a private school, where I learned it and I'm still not fluent.

"Strict" Zionist family? --I mean, what is that? That's like saying "a strict Democrat" family. I mean, I grew up with an Israeli mother and an American father where Israel was a major part of my life (marched in parades, went to lectures, sent money to Israel, had cousins in the military, I volunteered for the country) but I wouldn't call it a strict one.

Knows how to use a gun.

Went into Gaza and never told anyone.-I have Zionist parents, and if I went to Gaza, my parents wouldn't disown me. They'd be horrified but grateful I wasn't killed in the crossfire. And very few people can just "sneak" into Gaza, he'd have to go with some help.

[DavidJSnyder]

Her father's not behind the attack.  Her father's the good guy.  Her mother is the bad guy.

[tennisgurl]

At first I thought it was the guy who Alex hooked up with, but now I`m pretty sure its the blond girl who`s the terrorist. Like, shes part of some militant right wing faction that thinks the USA has become complacent, and want to create a terrorist attack to get America to return the US to its paranoid immediately post 911 days. Or they want to induce state of chaos to create a police state, Hydra style. Either way, my money is on her.  

[Cardie]

Every one of the possible suspects seems too obvious to be the one, if you really think about it.

[Trini]

Maybe it's me being kinda cynical, but I don't want to put too much stock into the first set of clues, because there's a good chance that the writers have NOT decided who the terrorist actually is yet, or they may change their minds halfway through. Right now, it could be anyone, or even a character that hasn't been introduced yet.

[Lady Calypso]

Maybe it's me being kinda cynical, but I don't want to put too much stock into the first set of clues, because there's a good chance that the writers have NOT decided who the terrorist actually is yet, or they may change their minds halfway through. Right now, it could be anyone, or even a character that hasn't been introduced yet.

 

I agree. I think the show has actually done a really good job in setting up each of these characters as potential suspects for terrorism. It kind of beats the typical 'terrorist is the LAST PERSON YOU'D EXPECT' which usually means it makes little sense for them to be the terrorist. Pretty much, the reveal could be done well and not be used as pure shock value.

[mertensia]

Could Simon be Mossad?

There's a few holes in history.

At one point, he says he is fluent in Hebrew-Very few American Jews are fluent in Hebrew. They may speak a bit of Biblical Hebrew for prayers, but very few are fluent in Modern Hebrew unless they make a special effort. I was sent to a private school, where I learned it and I'm still not fluent.

One or both of his parents could have been native speakers and thus he grew up speaking it at home.

[dungeonwriter]

True, he might be part Israeli. 

 

Still, I'm hoping he isn't the terrorist, since I find him so cute. He's kinda my fantasy guy (if he wasn't gay) 

 

I think it would be cool if Golden Boy did it. Hated the FBI for ruining his life. 

[fauntleroy]

A terrorist act of that scale is less likely the work of some lone nut with a grievance than the work of a team with plenty of logistical and financial support, so it's reductive to think in terms of so-and-so 'did it', if that is the direction the show is encouraging us to go. After such an event the identity of the single member who happened to be an FBI recruit should only be one line of the investigation. They did find Alex unharmed in the rubble with only a bit of decorative dust on her pretty cheeks, but presumably they will in due course determine she was set up. The apartment full of weapons and bomb gear seemed ridiculous for example. So we'll sit through say three episodes where she gets exonerated.

 

If they are using such destruction as merely the backdrop for a whodunit where viewers ponder for months which glamorous young regular character is the guilty party, that's pretty horrible. I would hope we'd see the larger context, the wider investigation, not just the one focused on these six or whatever kids. It may be difficult to uncover this one, but they only have to find the easiest member to find, and that's where the conspiracy should unravel.

 

The eventual discovery of the identity of the individuals, and more important their motivation, will have to be as politically inoffensive as possible. A politically palatable motivation that is, one that the greatest number of viewers can agree is objectionable, thereby offending the fewest people. Might be extremist Islamist belief such as Salafism, and support for the Muslim Caliphate a la ISIS. It might also be an anti-Muslim act - I think a pro-Israeli motivation would be suitably objectionable to enough people these days. Their other option is an ideological motivation so obscure that nobody knows enough about it to be offended, but that will leave us thinking even more that it was merely done as a plot mechanism.

 

So I'm more interested in what the justification for the act will turn out to be, than who the individual in the FBI is, because I bet it will be ridiculous and presented as an afterthought.

[Lady Calypso]

Well, I'm just gonna bump this up and reiterate my speculation for where I think the second bomb is: I think it's where FBI HQ is set up. Alex will be searching for the bomb with her friends and she'll discover the bomb in the basement, right as it counts down to explode...or, better yet, it actually is all the way back at the actual Quantico.