ABC’s Quantico successfully copes the Shonda Rhimes playbook

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"A lot of Quantico is vaguely familiar,” says Pilot Viruet “—24‘s terrorism, How To Get Away With Murder‘s structure, Homeland‘s ridiculousness, Prison Break‘s clues, Lost‘s large ensemble cast — but it still manages to pull off genuine surprises, in both gasp-inducing dramatic moments and legitimately characters’ unpredictable personal secrets. It isn’t all good: some characters are stereotypes, the pilot involves the occasional eye-rolling exposition, and the show runs the risk of either blowing its mystery early or prolonging an answer for so long the series could get tedious and drop off. Despite all of that, however, Quantico might be the most engrossing, dramatic pilot of the fall season.” PLUS: It’s as if a Shonda Rhimes series hooked up with a paranoid ’70s political thriller, Quantico is adept at absorbing TV’s most popular thriller tropes, why Priyanka Chopra left Bollywood for Quantico, and Quantico’s true central mystery might just be “How long can you make bulls*it look good and feel entertaining?”