This fall’s class of new drama recruits is laden with bullshit. Blindspot isn’t merely a Bourne Identity-esque amnesiac mystery—its Jane Doe also has an almanac of future crimes tattooed across her body. Limitless isn’t just an adaptation of a half-remembered Bradley Cooper vehicle—it’s a sideways sequel in which the film’s mind-expanding drug becomes a law-enforcement aid. The Player isn’t your grandaddy’s thriller about a security expert foiling crimes in Las Vegas—it’s some crazy, high-stakes Trading Places nonsense where the ultra-rich wager on whether or not that security expert can prevent Sin City from sinning.
ABC’s soapy espionage tale Quantico isn’t immune to this trend: Joshua Safran’s pilot script unfurls like a firework snake, stacking flashbacks on flashbacks and twisting the plot until the very last scene. The difference between Quantico and other new dramas is that Quantico totes its bullshit with a sense of wit and style. Running its FBI cadets through an exercise in which they must dig up their classmates’ dirtiest secrets, the premiere demonstrates a strong grasp on who these characters are—down to the confidential information that’s for dramatic irony’s eyes only. With its photogenic cast, indie-pop soundtrack cues, and conspiracy-laden whodunit, the show invites comparisons to ABC’s Shondaland stable; one of this summer’s hottest TV critic pastimes involved giving Safran’s show a new, TGIT-ready title. From the ratings and spectacle perspectives, there are worse models to follow, and the heat generated by How To Get Away With Murder undoubtedly helped Quantico blossom, what with its in media res opening (the aftermath of an attack on New York’s Grand Central Terminal) and intimidating Annalise Keating figure (Aunjanue Ellis as Miranda Shaw, assistant director of the FBI’s training division). But Safran has his own methods for throwing off dramatic sparks, as evidenced by his work on Gossip Girl and Smash.