S01.E09: Guilty

[henripootel]

Wonder what repercussions he faced, after the FBI found him torturing one of their own agents, nearly to death?

The one who, as far as everyone knows, had done nothing?  On the off chance that Alex would even give a crap?  

This may actually be one of the less stupid things on this show.

 

Well, we're grading on a curve here, but it's still pretty stupid.  Hard (and useless) to try and lull the terrorists into a false sense of security when they have a perfectly genuine sense of security already.  We the viewers and the terrorists share a fairly accurate view that the FBI are incompetent boobs who haven't arrested a single actual terrorist even though the FBI must have assumed that Alex couldn't have acted alone.  I can't imagine what Agent Cougartown's plan is here - overhear the actual terrorists laughing out loud when Alex pleads guilty?  That they'll drop their sneaky ways cuz they think the coast is clear?  They're professional terrorists, and so far they've done a pretty much perfect job of escaping detection, I wouldn't count on them getting sloppy based on a confession they know with absolute certainty is false.  Alex will not be able to provide the Boob Squad with details of the bombing because she can't possibly know any, then it's back to 'investigating'.  No real worries there, and no reason to change tactics.

Edited December 1, 2015 by henripootel

[Noirprncess]

I think I missed something, but why was Liam a drunk all of a sudden? I was disappointed that he didn't go see Miranda, considering that she got shot and it was allegedly by her son.

They tried building into the show that he's a heavy drinker. Liam was chided by Miranda in an earlier episode about his heavy drinking and its effects on the quality of his work. He was at Quantico because she helped him into the job, otherwise he was about to be fired or demoted.

I think Alex was supposed to take pity on Liam after his "confession" about what went wrong on the mission with her father. I guess her comments about her father was meant to suggest he also was a heavy drinker and tortured soul. However, I suspect that the TWO glasses in his kitchen around the decanter suggests that ALEX was the one drinking with him. Otherwise, how else would she know where he lives and that the door was open?

I'm starting to think Ryan is part of the plot. If he "safely" got away with the people from Everywhere (Quantico's version of Anonymous) to get medical attention, how exactly did HIG find him so quickly?

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Interrogating Alex
Caleb jumps over to Team Alex, Liam jumps down a bottle, and Booth gets beat up again.

[wanderingstar]

Nimah found the blindspot and tracked down the random cabbie? Maybe she should run the GCT bombing investigation.

[thuganomics85]

Wow, even by this show's standards, the entire plot involving Simon and Anne Heche was ridiculous.  So, Anne Heche is some kind of big-shot profiler (speaking of which, has profilers ever come off looking good on TV.  Because, I swear, most shows I watch, they always make them idiots on some level), who apparently falsified a death to make it look like it was done by a serial killer she couldn't pin down.  So, she stupidly brings the case as an "example", leading to Simon finding this out and confronting her.  So, she suddenly just turns into a psycho and was pretty much going to murder him, had Booth not interfered.  Simon gets his revenge by exposing her to a cop/news, only for the rest of the recruits to get pissy at him for helping letting a "killer" go free (extra points to the one twin making sure to emphasize that the victims were women, because I guess if the guy killed men, it wouldn't have been as bad....)  This leads to him meeting that bomb making friend of his, ranting about how the FBI blows, and getting plans for the train station.  I can't believe I just typed all that and that all actually happened.  What the fuck, Quantico?

 

Meanwhile, Alex gets yanked away from the FBI, and into the hands of some creepy guys (CIA?), lead by Oded Fehr.  They apparently somehow got their hands on Booth (I guess those hackers weren't that good), and he tortures him, until she almost breaks.  Thankfully, Liam "heroically" saves the day, because all of Alex's former classmates manage to convince him she is innocent.

 

But wait!  She's still going to prison!  Because... well, let me try and figure this out.  Liam basically thinks the real bad guys need to pretend their plan is working, so she has to be found guilty?  The hell.  If anything, wouldn't they be suspicious that Alex pled guilty?  If they wanted to trick them, it would make at least a little more sense if Alex was still claiming she was innocent and putting up a fight.  Going in willing is just suspicious as hell.  Fucking hell.

 

Way to keep things on the down low, Caleb and Shelby.  I guess they don't have an agent/trainer behind the runners, so they're just free to sneak off and roll around in the leaves (romantic?)  I did notice that Shelby apparently wears the tightest running pants of all time, which I certainly won't complain about, but that can't be too comfortable.

 

Oh, right.  Natalie has a child that she loves, and her evil ex is trying to take from her.  So exciting!

 

Elias returns, because Alex apparently made him her lawyer.  Alrighty, then.

 

Now, it sounds like Miranda's attacker wasn't her son, but the sone was kidnapped instead.  At this point, it could be anyone.  Maybe it was Anne Heche.  Hell, I'm just going to say that Anne Heche is responsible for everything going on here, until proven otherwise.

[Netfoot]

You think it's Anne Heche?  Because, I thought it was Oded Fehr!  He is, after all, a part of PISSKAT the Presidential Independent Snatch, Sieze, Kidnap And Torture squad...

[Couver]

This episode was very uneven. I finally felt like the acting & characters settled into a comfortable pace this episode so that was a plus. I like that most of the recruits are on the same side now including Natalie. I'm looking forward to seeing them work as a team to solve this. No more 'she did it!', 'he did it!' fake outs please. 

 

But some of the things that happened were still way too random and odd. I agree with everyone about the bizarre situation with Anne Heche's character. I thought it should have stopped at Simon calling her out on it and her alluding to it being true but impossible to prove. It was totally unnecessary to make her suddenly want to kill him! I forget who mentioned this already but whoever asked why she had that needle with her, spot on. Who does that!? Has she done this before? Is she that crazy? And in an episode where we already had corrupt higher ups torturing confessions out of people did we need yet another corrupt Quantico instructor? And if the pay off is just that her actions pushed Simon over the edge that isn't enough. They could have found a more believable way to do that. I see no reason why she would be the one who attacked the train station. Simon was silly to blow the whistle but I also rolled my eyes when recruits who apparently came to Quantico to protect people were angry at Simon for telling the truth and not at the crazy, unstable person who falsified evidence to get a conviction and left another killer out there. 

 

There are little details the show could fix to make things run smoothly too. Like the sudden revelation that Alex called Elias before turning herself in was odd. He had little to no relationship with any of the other recruits except Simon. But Alex still kept in touch with him? And he knew she was innocent right away even though he was not involved in trying to help her before? Or he was as petty as he claimed and just took the job to stick it to the FBI? I don't know if the show just made the role for Rick Cosnett but the Elias character is so poorly thought out. It's like they have to find reasons for the character to even be involved in anything and it always feels forced. Rick Cosnett deserves better. 

 

Other little details that would be helpful to know were ignored. What happened to the hackers that those bad FBI people captured? Given how corrupt they seem did they eliminate them? 

[HalcyonDays]

But wait!  She's still going to prison!  Because... well, let me try and figure this out.  Liam basically thinks the real bad guys need to pretend their plan is working, so she has to be found guilty?  The hell.  If anything, wouldn't they be suspicious that Alex pled guilty?  If they wanted to trick them, it would make at least a little more sense if Alex was still claiming she was innocent and putting up a fight.  Going in willing is just suspicious as hell.  Fucking hell.

 

What I don't get is the timing and actions of the FBI and of why she has to actually DO something like this. They want Alex to plead guilty to make the actual bombers complacent (this is the assumption). Fine. Spirit her away from the media and all, and plant a story in the media that she will plead guilty because the evidence is overwhelming. She doesn't need to stand in front of a judge the NEXT DAY and plead guilty. Usually these high profile trials take months to set up. So plant several stories in the media saying the "FBI has definitive proof that Alex Parrish is guilty", and that she will plead guilty, and that's it. They could even have her be on camera saying she will plead guilty, but not in front of a judge. Why is Alex actually doing this in front of a judge, which means it's legally binding. They could have a closed courtroom, a "fake judge", and film her pleading guilty and televise that. Maybe that's what really happened. But still, if she actually plead guilty, it makes absolutely no sense.

 

The only thing I can say is that when she stands trial, the others have enough evidence that they could prove her innocent. But still. It's binding.

 

I'm still blown away at how the FBI is so focused on Alex, they don't even think about someone else, or look at possibly other evidence or anything like that. It's like deer in headlights for them. Originally I thought Liam was running some shady op to target Alex deliberately, but now he's not so...I don't know.

[Dowel Jones]

That's the deal with a guilty plea, though.  She has to testify in open court as to what she actually did, and then she is sentenced.  There is no actual trial to "prove her innocence"  (except maybe in tvland).    That's why it makes no sense to me either. 

[Lady Calypso]

I've just accepted that either this show has another plan up their sleeve and they're actually writing smart by having Alex fake all of this being guilty because she knows exactly who the real terrorist is and is drawing them out....or this show is incredibly stupid. I'm going with the latter, personally. None of what happened this episode made sense and I kept rewinding to see if I missed something, but nope. These people are just stupid. 

 

At this point, Ryan Booth better be the terrorist because why not? Adds another stupid element to it. 

 

I hated this episode a whole hell of a lot and do not want a second season of this stupidity. 

[wanderingstar]

The Big Bad now knows something is hinky.

Especially if said Big Bad is actually IN the FBI, which the show has strongly implied - if not outright stated - several times.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Gillian Rosh

[txhorns79]

I appreciated that they managed to find a sexy looking orange jumpsuit for Alex.  It's hard to look good in one of those things.
 

 

I agree with everyone about the bizarre situation with Anne Heche's character. I thought it should have stopped at Simon calling her out on it and her alluding to it being true but impossible to prove. It was totally unnecessary to make her suddenly want to kill him! I forget who mentioned this already but whoever asked why she had that needle with her, spot on. Who does that!? Has she done this before? Is she that crazy?

 

It was so weird.  So apparently she was just a complete psycho whose cover up and falsified evidence was so obvious that a trainee spotted it within the course of a short class assignment?  I suppose you can appreciate the person who is ready to commit murder on a moment's notice, but give me a break. 

[Lady Calypso]

Especially if said Big Bad is actually IN the FBI, which the show has strongly implied - if not outright stated - several times.

 

And that is what loses me. Right now, it's only certain that Alex and Liam know about the 'plan' (no matter how stupid it is) to plead guilty in order to let the bombers feel comfortable...or something. But they also already know that Alex knows the terrorist is in the FBI (ok, granted it's one of the regulars that we've seen). Which means the terrorist already knows that Alex isn't guilty and is probably up to something with suddenly pleading guilty. They know Alex isn't just going to have her friends stop looking while she's in jail, and Liam is now on the 'Alex is inno' train. Unless the terrorist is Oded Fehr or something, I'm pretty sure they'll realize this is a stupid trap. But who knows? This show has such shit writing that the traitor might actually believe they're all good and slip up. But still, doesn't make any sense whatsoever with this information of knowing the terrorist knows Alex and works in the FBI.

[KaveDweller]

There are little details the show could fix to make things run smoothly too. Like the sudden revelation that Alex called Elias before turning herself in was odd. He had little to no relationship with any of the other recruits except Simon. But Alex still kept in touch with him? And he knew she was innocent right away even though he was not involved in trying to help her before?

 

Maybe she called him because he's the only lawyer she knew? And he took the case because he knows it will be big for his career?

[wanderingstar]

I was doubly amused that she latched onto Simon because I am old enough to remember her as twins Vicky/Marley on "Another World", and Simon has a twin fixation.

 

Ha! I totally forgot about AH's time on Another World. Now, I feel ancient.

 

(speaking of which, has profilers ever come off looking good on TV.  Because, I swear, most shows I watch, they always make them idiots on some level)

 

Well, Fox Mulder on The X-Files was a profiler, and he always came out looking good - or at least right, even though his partner Dana Scully frequently gave him side-eye on his theories.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Gillian Rosh

[twoods]

I couldn't pay attention to anything after Mr Torturer told Alex that the bullet wound was infected with sepsis. Umm, show, you do know that sepsis is not an infectious agent, right? Apparently not. I hate it when shows have their characters say really stupid medical things that make no sense and reveal that their writers can't even crack open a dictionary.

This line didn't bother me because a non medical person said it, and it was more to scare Alex. I would have been more annoyed if someone said it on a medical show. The writers on this show can barely make any sense with all the other scenes so why would they get this right?

I was impressed with Priyanka's acting during the Booth torture scenes. She has been subpar so far, but I felt her anguish.

Anne's character was creepy. Simon is of course acting shifty, so he can't be the bomber.

[muessigkeit]

About that Simon subplot: I'm kinda with his classmates here tbh. Now, hear me out. I don't think it's right what the profiler did but once the damage was done I don't see how Simon's actions corrected that wrong. All he achieved was that instead of 1 violent criminal getting off, there are now 2 violent criminals getting off. The serial killer gets his conviction overturned but the actual killer won't be convicted for his crime because the evidence has been tampered with. So while it was obviously wrong to falsify the evidence in the first place, what Simon did was kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

 

Now, I don't think he should have stayed quiet, that woman did want to kill him after all (which btw was completely unnecessary, Quantico writers, have you ever heard of a thing called "nuance"?), but what he should have done first imo is go to his or her superiors. Him saying "I found someone who'll believe me" makes no sense because he didn't try and fail to convince anybody. The only people he talked to about his suspicion were his teammates who just thought he was wrong about the exercise and the person responsible herself. So her saying "you'll never prove it" was enough for him to decide the whole FBI wasn't interested in hearing the truth and going straight to the media (and then to his bomb maker buddy)? When he didn't even try to tell them the truth in the first place...?

[dubbel zout]

The point of the justice system is to convict the right person of the right crime with the right evidence. It sucks that a guilty man goes free, but whose fault is it that the evidence that would have convicted him is tainted?

[henripootel]

The serial killer gets his conviction overturned but the actual killer won't be convicted for his crime because the evidence has been tampered with.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but is there even a smidgen of evidence that suggest this guy'll go free?  I mean the brain trust trainees thought so but they're at least as dim as the real FBI here.  If I recall correctly, all Simon had were a few stylistic inconsistencies in one murder, easily explained away by ... anything.  I'm honestly not sure what's more preposterous; that this would be enough to make Anne Heche admit to anything (to say nothing of gom jabbaring Simon out the door for a bit of cold-blooded murder), that any newspaper would consider it worth printing, or that anybody would even think this was enough to make a court of law even consider a retrial, to say nothing of a slam-dunk overturned verdict.  Yet all of these have to be true in order for us to think Simon did much of anything by his 'reveal'.

 

I'm seriously beginning to see this show as a concatenation of idiot plots, as virtually every significant thing that's happened would have been solved or ended were it not for every character being a complete idiot.  

Edited December 3, 2015 by henripootel

[betsyboo]

Caleb jumps over to Team Alex, Liam jumps down a bottle, and Booth gets beat up again.

http://previously.tv/quantico/interrogating-alex/"> Read the story

(Miranda's son's name is Charlie.)

[madam magpie]

Don't we think Liam is part of the plot against Alex since he's the one who convinced her to plead guilty? Now he's got her in jail and captured, and her reputation is ruined. Wasn't that the point??

I was so confused by the Anne Heche plotline. She tampered with evidence to convict a guy who was actually guilty of other crimes? Why didn't they go after him for the other crimes? And she was going to kill Simon, but she wasn't the killer of that woman? WHAT?!

Edited December 5, 2015 by madam magpie

[wanderingstar]

I was so confused by the Anne Heche plotline. She tampered with evidence to convict a guy who was actually guilty of other crimes? Why didn't they go after him for the other crimes? And she was going to kill Simon, but she wasn't the killer of that woman? WHAT?!

 

That was the point at which I was taken out of the episode. It made even less sense than other stuff on this show - and that takes some doing.

[queenanne]

I agree about the extra layers of stupid burning a hole in this episode.

Clearly Alex has only pled guilty so that this binds her to something she has no desire to be bound to in the actuality. "Gotcha!!1! You said GUILTY! There are no takebacks in the federal judiciary!"

Anne Profiler is committed to keeping her career, I'll say that for her, but an absurd bit of Marty Stu for Simon plus the fact that she's willing to kill to protect herself, this isn't a horror movie where anyone could kill you at any moment.

Feel sorry for Lady Cop Agent but that's a stupid plotline too. "I have a good fairly well-regarded job plan which men have in place all the time, but somehow you're supposed to believe that this would be enough to wrest custody away from me and hand it to my babydaddy", ugh.

I might put this one in the DVR killfile.

Edited December 6, 2015 by queenanne

[aradia22]

Yay! Oded Fehr. He's better than this though. Loved him as Zankou on Charmed and he was better than Covert Affairs deserved for as long as I could watch that show.

 

All the NATs being mad at Simon for turning that woman in for falsifying evidence was ridiculous. #QuanticoLogic

 

What I do know is that these actresses all have glorious hair that I envy. Along with their magnificent eyebrows. So, there's that.

YES