In case you’ve been living under a rock these past few months, you should know that actress Priyanka Chopra currently headlines an American prime time network show called Quantico. Chopra, who hogs a whole lot of limelight in a series meant to be an ensemble piece, plays FBI agent Alex Parrish, suspected of a terror attack in New York – the biggest since 9/11 (which the characters never fail to remind you). The story moves between present time, where the FBI hunts for Alex as she eludes them trying to prove her innocence, and her days at Quantico in the past, undergoing training to be an FBI officer. She’s surrounded by a bunch of diverse characters at the training centre, all of them painfully stereotypical, and each of who could be the terror attack mastermind.
The show’s pilot was action-packed and fast-moving, even though it could not hide its severe writing and acting deficiencies, and the next two episodes have followed a more-or-less similar storytelling style. Several reviewers have drawn parallels with Peter Nowalk’s How To Get Away With Murder – not an unfair assessment. Unlike the Viola Davis show, though, Quantico seems to be trying too many things at once, resulting in a messy plot and unappealing characters. Everyone on the show seems to be hiding a secret, a new layer unravels every few minutes, and characters change sides often. Quantico, by design, lacks intricacies or depth – “Why burden the viewer when you can merely serve up clichés and implausible plot-twists?” seems to be creator Joshua Safran’s mantra – but even TV shows meant to solely provide “guilty pleasure” entertainment, need to be smartly written.
Unlike films, though, a TV series can get better – small screen writers enjoy the luxury of hindsight and feedback, which if put to good use, can change the fortunes of a show (as we saw in the TV show, Tyrant, Season 2 of which was far superior to the first one). Quantico seems to have a fairly intriguing plot in place (when you keep aside the unnecessary frills it seems to be revelling in currently), and a decent enough lead actor in Chopra, who seems to be the only performer who knows what she’s doing (which doesn’t help the show).
Your relationship with a TV show is dependent more on characters than plot – characters keep you going back even when plots go haywire after a few seasons. We have to see if Chopra can create that kind of an impact in her first American outing, even though she’s done well so far. But without Safran getting his act together, Quantico looks like an impossibly boring show to follow for too long.
I’ll probably keep going back for a few more episodes in the hope that it gets more watchable eventually, and Chopra doesn’t muddle up at least one important line with her accent each week.
(Aniruddha Guha is a film & TV critic. Follow him on Twitter: @AniGuha.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)