Quantico recap: God

Let “God,” episode 6 of Quantico, be remembered as the turning point of this freshman show. True, we do get a few more mysteries thrown into the mix, but for the most part, this episode was about giving answers — not all the answers, but enough to keep us sated. And the biggest thread running through these answers? Wow, these people make bad life decisions.

After last week’s sex-a-thon, everyone has apparently decided not to even worry about getting caught breaking the rules. Alex and Ryan are having sex in their shared dorm shower; Shelby and Caleb hook up in a the Hogan’s Alley apartment that’s been bugged a hundred ways and all over Quantico; and even Raina and Simon are getting flirtier in public. You would think the Lesson the Week — Surveillance — would teach them that someone is watching… No, seriously, the guest speaker (played by the underused Valerie Cruz) tells them “someone is always” watching, but that just seems to turn up the heat on these crazy kids.

There is some trouble in paradise: Caleb thinks Shelby is dating Brandon (Jacob Artist, a.k.a. Puck’s little brother from Glee), the second richest NAT in their class. Caleb sulks all day — and Shelby doesn’t do anything to assuage his fears — but it turns out Brandon is actually dating Natalie. (Is anyone worried about breaking rules at the FBI!?) Shelby says she really likes Caleb, but she wants to focus on being a good agent, not on a relationship. Shelby haven’t you heard: It’s 2015 — women can have it all!

Just ask Alex. She and Booth seem to be rock solid in their “relationship”… if we are calling it that. However, when Miranda decides to mix up the surveillance training, things get dicey. For reasons I can’t really figure out, Miranda tells the class to investigate her for the day and figure out Miranda’s plan for the evening. Apparently she has no qualms about the class learning about her son, Charlie. He’s out of juvy, and she doesn’t feel comfortable leaving him at home. So Liam, who spent lots of time with him during the affair, volunteers to stay at the house. The problem is Alex and Ryan take surveillance duty at the house. Liam finds Agent Booth outside the house, and since he doesn’t know everything is taped, spills the beans about the Alex investigation. See? Trouble. In. Paradise.

WANT MORE? Keep up with all the latest from last night’s television by subscribing to our newsletter. Head here for more details.

The other couple that takes it up a notch this week is Raina and Simon — well, as far as he knows, it’s “Nimah” and Simon. Simon slyly asks her out, but Raina just gets up and runs back to her dorm room. She reminds Nimah how Miranda said they shouldn’t get close to anyone, so she wants her sister to take over and shut it down with Simon. But anyone watching knew THAT wasn’t going to happen. Instead, Nimah goes back to Simon, tells him that they should get kicked off the assignment to spend time together, and asks him to meet back in her room. Once there, Simon explains that he just let people believe he’s gay in order to not show who he really is. She says she has boundaries, too, which she’ll only bring down with someone she can trust. Then she takes off her hijab and kisses Simon. Guess she trusts him!

NEXT: Simon is in for a surprise.

Later when Simon and Raina/Nimah have the same day off, she tells him that they should go on a walk; he comes to her room, opens the door, and finds both the twins. He has clearly not watched Big Brother because his reaction to the twin twist is sheer panic. Nimah knows he can’t go blabbing about it, so they lock him in the room; he tries to get out but ends up knocking his head on a counter. Raina runs to get help from Miranda, and Nimah locks him in their bathroom. This can’t end well.

Academy Lessons and Questions:

• Charlie keeps saying his mom made the whole school-shooting thing up. Why do I have a feeling there’s some truth to this?

• He also says his father died; was THAT under suspicious circumstances?

• Miranda says she burned a note of his she found — was it a suicide note? A manifesto explaining his assault on the school? A love letter to Liam’s daughter!?

• Yes, Liam shows Charlie a picture of his daughter, who was at the targeted school. What are the odds these two had a relationship?

• “Let me guess: We’ll be surveying each other, secrets will be revealed, and lessons will be learned.” —Caleb, summing up the show

• While surveilling Miranda’s house, Alex says, “Maybe Liam spending the night is Miranda’s plan.” How close are the NATs to figuring out Miranda and Liam’s past? And at what point does Liam fall in love with Alex? She’s no longer speaking to Booth and puts zero blame on Liam, so I’m guessing it’s coming soon.

• But maybe I’m not giving Alex enough credit — her absolving Liam of anything could have just been her cover for sneaking the bug into his office.

• “That was me, not the assignment!” Liam wins for cheesiest line of the night.

Last episode ended with Shelby not turning in Simon and Ryan to O’Connor. That was the start of her being Team Alex, and now she’s fully on it: The two women are having a lavish room-service breakfast in the hotel suite The Unknown provided Alex. They’re watching the news as it shows cellphone camera footage near Grand Central; Alex was dropping off a large box, which she says was full of flak jackets. But this footage inspires her to get access, too. She wants to see what the FBI is seeing. The DITU (Digital Intercept Technology Unit, which we coincidentally learned about in the academy flashbacks this week) is being run out of the Command Center at the moment. And guess who’s running it…none other than Caleb Haas.

According to Alex, Caleb had been stationed in San Diego, but he requested a New York assignment just days before the attack. She wants Shelby to question him about it, but Caleb hasn’t spoken to her since Quantico. Whatever happened between the two of them, she doesn’t believe he could be responsible for a terrorist attack (but she believed Alex could be!?).

Caleb is reviewing the public video footage — but as Alex points out, he’s only looking for her and will be missing everything else. Tech wizard Simon helps Alex get eyes on what Caleb’s watching; he’s rewinding back days before the attack, and he’s going too fast to really be looking for someone. But then Alex sees him trash a video file. Thanks to more tech wizarding from Simon, she’s able to drag the file from his trash to her computer.

As Alex watches the deleted video, they see it’s Director Clayton. Oh, and a little bit of information we learned this episode: Director Clayton’s last name is Haas. As in Caleb Haas. As in he’s Caleb Haas’ dad. Oh boy.

NEXT: That’s not even the biggest shock.

Shelby stands over Alex as she watches the deleted file; she’s clearly agitated, and she keeps telling Alex to delete the file because it’s a family matter — the video is of Caleb and Clayton arguing by a cab — but the video ends abruptly. But Caleb isn’t done digging: He does a facial-recognition search for his dad and finds video of him in Grand Central Terminal…MAKING OUT WITH SHELBY.

She spills everything to Alex: She and Clayton worked closely together over the past few months, and it slowly turned into an affair. They decided to spend a couple days alone together to see if there was really “something there.” So she purchased tickets to Buenos Aires as a cover story and holed up in a hotel with him. Caleb knew she was having an affair, but he didn’t realize it was with his own father. Ouch.

At the Command Center, Shelby tries to confront Caleb. He’s not only upset that his dad is cheating on his mom, but also that the ONE person who made him feel like maybe he was better than his dad is now sleeping with him. Double ouch.

While all of this flash-forward stuff is going on, Natalie has noticed a lot of calls from “O’Connor” in Ryan’s phone; they’re actually from Alex, but Ryan is a clever enough FBI agent to not have her number saved as “Alex”…but not THAT clever because he gets a call from “O’Connor” when the real O’Connor is standing in the other room, clearly not on the phone. The episode ends with Natalie going to tell Liam that Ryan is probably helping Alex and with Caleb (and therefore Shelby and Alex) seeing video of one of the twins at Grand Central two days before the attack. Do we have a new Suspect No. 1?

Post-Attack Lessons and Questions:

• Natalie and Ryan are together, possibly living together. WHY?

• Caleb’s mom is apparently “in office.” My wild guess is vice president or something pretty high-ranking.

• When Alex sees Nimah/Raina on the Grand Central video, she says “one of the twins.” Does everyone know they’re twins now?

Alex: Not Guilty.

Liam O’Connor: Not as Guilty as usual. He’s looking more and more like a clueless bystander in whatever the actual con is.

Miranda Shaw: Guilty. We haven’t seen her much post-attack lately, but something about her interactions with her son made me suspicious of her again.

Ryan Booth: Not Guilty.

Nimah and Raina: Guilty. I don’t think this will stick, though.

Shelby Wyatt: Not Guilty. Well, Guilty of cheating, yes, but not a terrorist attack.

Simon Asher: Not Guilty. He’s helping Alex way too much to actually be the terrorist.

Caleb Haas: Not Guilty. He’s just broken-hearted. Poor Caleb.

Natalie Vasquez: Not Guilty of the attack, but Guilty of still being annoying.

Elias Harper: MIA. Not Guilty.

Executive Assistant Director Clayton Haas: Guilty. Without a doubt. (For now.)

Give me your craziest theories below or on Twitter @realdalener.