Cover Story this no one Everyone has something to hide in ABC’s

from The Brainerd Dispatch TV Week November 1st 2015

by Brainerd Dispatch and Echo Journal

Late Laughs

By Kyla Brewer TV Media

It’s tough to have a network TV hit these days, but thanks to a heady mix of intrigue, romance and mystery, freshman ABC thriller “Quantico” seems to have audiences hooked. In fact, ABC has shown its confidence in the new hit drama by giving the series a full-season pickup — a total of 19 episodes, and possibly more to come.

Created by “Gossip Girl” writer Joshua Safran, the show follows a group of FBI recruits through their training at the famed FBI Academy. A new episode of “Quantico” airs Sunday, Nov. 1, on ABC.

In the series premiere in September, New York’s Grand Central Station had just been hit by the city’s worst terrorist attack since 9/11, and new FBI recruit Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra, “Fashion,” 2008) had been arrested for the crime. “Quantico” follows Parrish’s escape and subsequent struggle to prove her innocence, while also using flashbacks to tell the story of her training at the FBI training academy.

“’Quantico’ is a show where you can’t trust any character. You can’t trust anyone — you can’t trust Alex,” Chopra explained in an ABC press clip. She went on to say: “Everything is deception. There’s conspiracy, there’s setups. Even I don’t know what’s going to happen in the end of the show. Even I don’t know who the terrorist is. And I’m looking forward to finding out with everyone else.”

If Parrish was truly framed as she claims, it seems just about everyone else is a suspect in the bombing. At the FBI facility in Quantico, Virginia, Parrish makes the acquaintance of other new recruits, each of whom seems to have something to hide.

Shelby Wyatt (Johanna Braddy, “UnREAL”) is a blonde beauty who’s been secretly communicating in Arabic with a mystery caller. Wyatt’s potential love interest — Caleb Haas (Graham Rogers, “Revolution”) — initially flunked out of the FBI academy, but weaseled his way back in as an intelligence analyst. Yasmine Al Massri (“Crossbones”) does double duty playing twins Nimah and Raina Amin, who are posing as one person, unbeknownst to the other recruits.

The twins seem to be of particular interest to Simon Asher (Tate Ellington, “Remember Me,” 2010), a rookie who spent some time in Gaza. Parrish’s biggest rival is Nathalie Vasquez (Anabelle Acosta, “Ballers”), who appears to be sporting a fake scar behind her ear.

Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin, “In the Valley of Elah,” 2007) is actually an undercover FBI agent posing as a new recruit so he can keep an eye on Parrish. Booth was planted by Liam

O’Connor (Josh Hopkins, “Cougar Town”), the seasoned services, traditional broadcasters have taken a hit in recent years, but they’re fighting back with higho,” and stars like Chopra, who is the first South Asian actress to headline a major American drama. While American audiences may not be familiar with her work, she is an international superstar with more than 40 Bollywood films under her belt. Chopra fell into the acting biz after her mother sent some photos of her to Miss India, which led to her later being crowned Miss World 2000. Her win resulted in a number of movie offers. In an interview with ABC’s Albert Lawrence, the self-proclaimed geek who once intended to become an engineer explained that when opportunity knocked, she an-

“I’ve always been instincsaid Chopra. “Whenever anything comes to me, I’m like ‘Hmmm, that’s interesting — let’s do it, let’s take a chance.”

She went on to explain that, after 40 movies, she feels like she’s trying it all over again on “Quantico,” her first real television series save a celebrity hosting gig in India’s “Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi” in 2010.

“I have newfound respect for television actors and people who work in TV because you’re doing, like, nine scenes a day and working, like, 16 hours a day. It’s nuts,” she admitted. “And to keep up with it — to know your lines and your character and your motivation ... that’s a lot.”

Like the confident, tough Parrish, Chopra is a force to be reckoned with as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for children’s rights, GQ magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2010 and an advocate for various women’s issues and women’s rights campaigns, particularly the education of girls in India, through her charity The Priyanka Chopra Foundation. More than just a pretty face, Chopra is also a writer, having submitted pieces for The New York Times and The Hindustan Times, as well as her monthly column “Preta-Priyanka” for Elle.com. As a recording artist, she released her debut single “In My City” featuring will.i.am in 2012, a song that was later used as the intro for NFL Network’s “Thursday Night Football.” Her latest project seems to be elevating her career even further as audiences become smitten with Parrish and her colleagues in “Quantico,” a series she admits is unpredictable. Described as “Grey’s Anatomy” meets “Homeland,” the new ABC drama has the pacing of a thriller with a Shonda Rhimes flair for romance, which shouldn’t be too surprising considering the fact that “Quantico” executive producer Mark Gordon spent a decade overseeing “Grey’s.” The drama also shares the kind of ethnic diversity seen on “Grey’s Anatomy,” another audience draw.

“Quantico” attracted more than 12 million viewers to its debut episode and it’s been holding strong, thanks to plot twists and turns that keep audiences guessing. Chopra promises “It’s going to be a ride that you will not forget,” so tune in to a new episode of “Quantico,” airing Sunday, Nov. 1, on ABC.

ACROSS

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