Warning: This post contains spoilers from Friday’s Quantico series finale.
The final mission of Quantico‘s three-season run is a doozy: Take out a seemingly uncatchable crime boss who’s personally responsible for the deaths of several members of the team’s loved ones. Are Alex & Co. successful in their last outing? Of course — but their win exacts a serious price.
In a moment, we’ll want to know what you thought of the series-ender. But first, a quick recap of “Who Are You?”
REST IN PIECES | Alex, Owen, Ryan etc. are all over the place at the funeral for Eamon Devlin in the hopes that Connor will show up to pay respects to his brother. The Dublin police are there in full force, as well, but when the boys in blue look the other way as Connor walks right into the church, the FBI realizes that the cops are in Devlin’s pocket, too.
Inside, Connor ascends to the pulpit to vilify the Americans, whom he claims killed Eamon — something we know to be a lie, given that we saw Connor shoot his bro in the head — and to announce that he’s giving up all vendettas and blood feuds against any Irishman in the name of “peace.” That courtesy apparently doesn’t extend across the Atlantic, because when Alex and Mike go to grab him on his way out of the sanctuary, Devlin calls Alex “Parvati,” signaling that he knows about her season-starting sojourn in Italy. Or, as she tells Mike with horror, “Devlin has Andrea and Isabella.”
INSIDE MAN | Alex sobs for a hot second, then pulls herself together and gets to work. When Mike tries to console her, she pulls away: “Everyone who gets close to me gets hurt. I’m just giving you a chance to avoid being one of them,” she warns him.
Downstairs at the manor house that’s serving as FBI field headquarters, Jocelyn and Owen look at some surveillance photos she took during the funeral. Based on his body language, she notices that Little Bobby, Eamon’s former right-hand man, seems to really dislike Connor. And after the gang grabs Little Bobby and helps him realize that Connor — not the Americans — killed Eamon, Little Bobby becomes a very important asset.
Meanwhile, Alex runs point on the excursion to recover Andrea and Isabella, whom they find locked up in a stable. Andrea’s WTF?! face only gets more egregious as Alex hurriedly tells him she’s actually an American FBI agent, but c’mon dude — nobody who’s ever toiled in an agricultural field would wear espadrilles and a sundress for a hard day’s labor. You really should’ve known at least something was up.
A gunfight breaks out between the agents and Devlin’s men outside, which Isabella thinks is a great time to run away. Unfortunately, she runs straight into Devlin, who holds a gun to little Bella’s head as he makes a getaway. Alex is beside herself, and Andrea is (understandably) apoplectic. Later, when Alex asks him to trust her, he spits, “Trust you? I don’t even know you” and skewers her with the line designed to do the most damage to kidless people the world over: “If you ever had a child of your own, you would understand.”
BOOTH FOR BELLA | Devlin wants to trade Isabella for Ryan, aka the man who killed his son. The team plans to just shoot the heck out of Devlin and his men, in the hopes that they won’t actually have to make the exchange. Andrea is resolute in his desire to accompany them, and even though it’s the worst idea ever, Alex says OK.
Andrea is really great at being sexy and Italian, but really bad at being rational when his daughter is in danger. So during the tense situation, he rushes out to try to reason with Devlin, which prompts the older man to shoot him. Alex cries out and rushes to pull her former love into her arms, but it’s too late: As his blood exits his body at a rapid rate, Alex promises Andrea she’ll bring his daughter home, then he dies.
The only option left, then, is for Ryan to surrender to ensure Isabella’s safety. “I love you,” he calls out to a shocked Shelby as he’s manhandled into a car with Devlin. Bella then is released safely. She runs to Alex, who gently cautions her to close her eyes so she won’t see her dad’s corpse on the cobblestones behind her.
RIDING TO RYAN’S RESCUE | While the FBI brokers a new power deal between Little Bobby and another high-powered Irish criminal, a quick-thinking Ryan surreptitiously manages to activate a tracker he had on him. That action doesn’t stop Devlin from beating the snot out of Booth, but it does eventually lead to his rescue while Devlin is out of the room. While Ryan is comatose in the ICU, Little Bobby lures his boss to a bar, where he’s ambushed by Owen and his team. “It ends here,” Little Bobby says, shooting Devlin in the throat and killing him while the agents do nothing to stop him.
After the bad guy’s death, we see the members of the team getting to relax just a little bit for the first time in weeks. (Well, not Shelby, who’s crying her eyes out by Ryan’s bedside, but pretty much everyone else.) Owen kisses Jocelyn, who seems a) unsurprised and b) totally into it. Alex and Harry discuss how Ryan’s probably going to be fine, thanks to the lack of brain trauma. And Alex gets some wisdom from Shelby, who reminds her that “truly loving someone” is the real deal in life: “As your best friend, I’m telling you: Stop running.”
And the next time we see Alex, she’s sitting down next to Bella. When the little girl wonders aloud what will happen to her, Alex asks if she’d like to accompany her to America. (Side note: That’s sweet and all, but is relocating a grieving and traumatized child to a country where she has no roots and/or family — speaking of family, doesn’t she have relatives in Italy who’d be better-suited to taking her in? — really the best idea?)
Anyway, that’s how it all shakes out. Grade the episode via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
That was terrible? Ryan’s in a coma, Harry’s sister is still missing, and the little girl’s dad gets shot to death. Did they not know this was a series finale? I should have known when they started this season and it didn’t have any direction that the ending would suck. :(
Harry’s sister was rescued. Remember the MI5 lady who set them up in the warehouse last episode when Connor killed his brother.
The end of such a show needed closure for the characters. It left alot hanging and unresolved. As a viewer, I was disappointed that each agent had no closure. I watched this series from beginning to end each season. For a series finale, this was poorly done. I had to Google to make sure the series was over and there wasnt one more episode to wrap up all the loose ends.
I agree. So did Alex choose the agent also? She was looking st him but when she turned to the girl he put his head down.
I agree it was a great series but they would of been better doing a two part series finale disappointed they should of ended it better
Unfortunately, they wrapped the season before it was announced it was canceled so they didn’t know if they were going to be back. Still, they probably should have had a contingency plan in place since the third season renewal was kind of surprising in the first place.
This was the contingency plan. Most of them were likely left open-ended for us to wonder, especially if you notice how the characters’ dialogue seem to sound more positive at the end of the episode’s last act, but there was still a sense of closure where it doesn’t necessarily leave you hanging (Ryan will “eventually” recover from his comatose, all the FBI agents will come home and get debriefed, and Alex will adjust to a new life with her new ward while finally deciding who her OTP will be for life).
They found Harry’s sister and rescued her
This was completely terrible. I had to google to confirm it was actually the finale. Nothing was resolved. I feel so let down. TERRIBLE
I felt the same. Cheated out of an ending
This was a pretty good show at one time. But like so many shows ( Castle, LMS and Roseanne) the fans get a little cheated out. It is what it is.
There was no happy ending for Alex and we don’t even know if Ryan actually made it. All that wait for nothing ughhh.
Does Ryan wake up and recover? Does Alex get married? Does Alex adopt the little girl? A lot of open ends and I thought Harry found his sister…
So glad I stopped watching last season. The ending was better last season.
Agreed… I stopped last season also and I’m happy I did. The season 2 ending was much better.
This was clearly written with another season in mind. But why be so stupid to think that. They could have easily have cut ten minutes of “action” and wrap it up to go either way.
Or gave us a “wrap up” hour.
Well sad to say, but I’m happy I stopped watching after last season. All I remember is Ryan and Alex jetting off to Anywhere, Paradise. Ryan and Shelby…I couldn’t stomach it
Seriously. No wonder ratings went down and it got canceled. I’m glad I never wasted time on season 3, and now that I know the ending, I definitely won’t watch it.
I am disgusted at the fact that it stayed that way. But I guess it teaches them girls that you fail to hold on to a good thing, your friend is right there to catch it.
I was very disappointed, nobody got a happy ending. I wish I had not wasted my time!!!
How this recap not mention the fact that the snowball that led to Ryan’s getting beaten up was Mike being all snarky with his “well he killed my sister” in front of Andrea during that countdown, that led him to panic and run out.
One of the worst shows in recent memory. Complete pedestrian and beyond inane. This show never should have been picked up in the first place, let alone run for three seasons.
Well, sounds like you watched it. Loved this series, but very dissapointed in the finale. Poor ending, so many unfinished story lines.
The ending sucked but I know why the did it that way. Left a ton of unanswered issues.
They left the story end like a cliffhanger. Educated guess they are hoping to bring back the series in the future.
Agree
This is the series finale. It still left some loose ends
I would have actually like to see another half hour where they give the characters a happy ending. Who is with whom, does Ryan make it? Does Alex find love afterall? Something to close each person off not just wonder what happened or guess your own ending. After all that rime we needed 30 more minutes to tell that story i feel
Agree. Let’s keep complaining till we get a real wrap-up, like NBC is doing for Timeless. I love the characters and want to see their stories come to a close. (Even in spite of still being angry about the Alex-Ryan split)
Agree… I am soo disappointed with the finale. They need to bring two more shows to end it.
Yes, let’s get another 1 hr special, gice rhe fans that much
As a season finale it was pretty good. Except for the girl running off and then the father facing off with the villain…just lame…characters acting stupid to further the pplot. It was a good wrap up to the 5 parter but as a series finale it was a fail. No real closure at all for the characters It should’ve had a more definitive ending. Odds for another renewal were low so they should planned for this to be a series finale just in case. CSI New York did that three seasons in a row IIRC.
Glad someone else thought that was stupid. I say kill the girl
Not a great ending to a not so great show. But I guess it goes hand in hand.. maybe it’s better this show ended when it did
So wrong to make the FINALE like this
Relatively sub par..far too much predictable outcomes with too many unanswered questions…if shot before they knew if the series was to be renewed..forgivable….but really was let down !!!
Alex should’ve ended up with Mike and both of them taking Bella to America
Oh besides Alex not ending up with mike and both of them taking Bella back to America, they didn’t find Harry’s sister and Ryan could have at least woke up and seen Lindsay. It was more like a season finale instead of a series finale. I live the show but kinda disappointed by the ending.
Harry’s sister was rescued and it’s not Lindsay, it’s Shelby.
While not executed well, the episode did wrap up most of the stories. Shelby is with Ryan. He will wake up, as they said several times. Alex is choosing a life with the girl (although Kim Roots’ point about Isabella’s family is spot on). Overall, the show was like watching a train wreck. This was the first season with a coherent (albeit predictable) storyline. Too little too late.
I agree. I’m a bit surprised at how negative the comments here have been. The show’s big mistake was not moving to its Season 3 conceit (kind of a prettier Mission Impossible team) in Season 2 rather than having a silly Season 2 that merely repeated Season 1 (this time with the CIA in place of the FBI). As for this season and its ending, I think they hedged their bets pretty well with this finale. And besides, I don’t understand the demand for a happy ending that wraps up all the loose ends.
I too thought the same like a season finale not a series finale. I felt like there should have been more into the storyline. I didn’t like the ending so much it could have been more. They could have had a part 2 to this finale to end it better. I love Quantico and wish they’d never canceled it. It seems like they’re always canceling the good shows and keeping or renewing or Reinventing older series that are crap. Sorry to see Quantico Co I loved all the characters and hope to see them again. Maybe they can reinvent Quantico too!
Exactly how I feel- cancelling the good shows and renewing the crap.
We could be friends. Haha. I’m sad there is no more Quantico to look forward to. I’d stay up late, away from the kids, and stream Quantico. It was worth missing a bit of sleep for.
This show should’ve ended after season 2. Season 3 was too big a departure, and it ruined Quantico for me. It was always supposed to be Alex and Ryan, and to end with anything else is a letdown.
Agreed.
I agree! Loved season one. Alex should be with Ryan. It started that way and should end that way. The show must have got new unimaginative writers – almost every episode was predictable the original concept was awesome. They should have followed the original formula that was successful like the blacklist
It would have been better if Alex & Mike ended up together also. Why do you all cancel go shows and keep “stupid” stuff such as Modern Family?
They must bring Quantico back!!! That was not an ending!! Please!!
Yes!! Please!!
Would have liked Alex to reach out to Mike at end taking Bella back t her relatives in Italy. Would have liked a pleasant ending with the team happy.