Quantico

Drooling over the female lead, I really wanted to like this, but even the stunning Ms. Chopra can't keep me wasting my time anymore. The problem with this show is that it's a dumb soap opera trying (and failing) to pass itself off as having depth and something to say. Season 3 is even worse about this than ever. Say what you want about the perfectly made-up hot actresses and high school romance plots, but when this show KNOWS it's a silly guilty pleasure romp, it's far better. When it gets above its station and takes itself too seriously with these ridiculous attempts at social commentary, unnatural cliche-ridden "inspirational quote" dialogue and hollow attempts at nuanced family drama, its cringeworthy tripe stops being fun and starts getting dull.

Throw in predictable twists and desperate attempts at "edgy" shock value and you have an unoriginal, unwatchable mess. Having Marlee Matlin join the show could have been more interesting in the hands of more capable writers and that actress deserves much better material. Instead she is reduced to cheesy lines and has to "kick some ass" like every action heroine seems to have to in order to be interpreted as "strong". It's all so very forced.

Quantico wants so transparently to be an "important" and "intense" show and thinks that bludgeoning viewers with heavy-handed obvious emotional ploys is the way to get there. It's basically Baywatch deciding it wants to try and be prestige television, and that goes exactly how well you would expect.

To be honest ... that could have been after the first season. Even that could have maybe have had a shorter amount of episodes. But at least season 1 (which I would have rated higher if only that was up for discussion) was quite intriguing. Like many other movies and shows (24/Shooter) before it, it may not have made too much sense, but we were engaged while watching. The suspense was "real" (well fake obviously, but we could feel it).

Having said that, even during season 1, all the red herrings, all the missleading clues and twists and turns could get too much for its own good. Don't even start trying to make sense of most of it ... relationships get build and taken apart. And binging this really brings out the incoherent writing ... well maybe that is too harsh. But it really does not try to hide the fact that it doesn't care about certain things. Like realism ... like previous set up "facts" ... like things it tells us are important in season 2, just to completely ignore them in season 3. And that does not just include the ending of season 2, that should have left it at that.

There is a nice component in season 3, a new member to be more inclusive (good on them) and the last season is way shorter ... which is something I appreciate very much. So good start, not so good middle and finish ... back to training it goes (or obscurity, whichever works best)

Writers are the worst. The episodes are written in the simplest possible way. The writers only believe the terrorist anonymity is the central piece of the story and misses how boring each episodes are. Apart from that, every episode shows their training at quantico to prepare for their role in the future in that very same episode. So it just looks like filler content for the episode. Second thing, the whole idea of bringing in new NATS was just poor reason to not develop story with just old NATS and required more characters to build up a complex plot(!??!) and add lot of curiosity in the story. This series requires some series good writers. The writing is very linear and episodes are insanely boring to watch. Most of the training scenes are purely fillers and has less significance for the story. That just means to me to kill time you show the training required. Sorry I started this series with so much curiosity about how they gonna write and twist the plots. It is a huge disappointment.

I guess I've always thought of the flashback as a shortcut in story telling. The continuous back and forth of this show is interfering in my enjoyment of very interesting current story line. It's interesting enough that I'll continue, until I can't. I really think the series could have cut the flashbacks almost in half and told the same story.

I wanted to like this show. I saw the trailer/teaser for it and I was intrigued.

Sadly, the real show doesn't stand up to the excitement generated in the trailer.

The good thing - the show is technically well made. The photography for the most part is well done, the sound is good, etc. The women are beautiful to look. They are trying to create lots of mystery to draw the viewer in for the long haul.

The bad - the story is just stupid. The premise and the way the characters interact to keep her on the run even though they know she is innocent is silly. The acting is so-so to pretty poor. It's hard to really believe any of these people are FBI trainees. And the actual classes at Quantico are unbelievable - in a bad way.

I have lasted 2 and half episodes and I am done. I have given up.

I don't think it's worth the time to watch the entire season to solve the "mysteries" they generated,