Shelby takes centre-stage in this episode titled Fear and Feargarch. Lives are in danger as the team protects Shelby when she reunites with someone from her past, resulting in deadly consequences.
Finally Quantico lets us in on Shelby’s back story but does not come close to plumbing the depth. At the end of three seasons, we still know very little about one of the members of this special ops team, playing a pivotal role and appearing in every episode.
The series has a penchant for messing up with timelines. All we get to know is the fact that Shelby was with the CIA in Damascus, where she witnessed some war crimes. The events that unfolded in Syria could have made for better TV and a better arc for Shelby.
Every episode throws up an arbitrary baddie at the cost of meatier character development. The plot of Fear and Feargarch was definitely full of possibilities but Shelby being under-utilised affected the episode as well.
Similarly Alex’s (Priyanka Chopra) miscarriage in the previous episode is swept under the carpet after some cursory, evasive talk. We saw her devastated in the previous episode and there is no mention of her loss in the consequent episode. The show moves on ruthlessly.
So, Shelby fell for Nasir in Syria and then married Ryan. Many crucial years of Shelby’s life have not found screen space. This sets the speculation mills into overdrive - is the marriage of Shelby and Ryan one of convenience? Is it a cover? Did they rush into it? Every episode inches closer to the love triangle or quadruple in the offing - Ryan, Andrea and Mike - who will Alex chose? Everybody loves PeeCee. We are definitely rooting for Mike. And thankfully, this episode seems to have demolished the Frank/Jocelyn/Owen love polygon.
It was a bummer to see less of Harry in this one. He infuses the show with the much needed wry, sardonic humour.
With the stakes rapidly mounting with one death per episode, the show seems to be intent on going out with a bang.
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