My name is Alex Parrish.
Protecting our country had always been my dream,
but my life took a drastic turn.
It all started nine months ago, on my way to the FBI academy.
My mother didn't shoot my father. I did. Who was he?
He worked with the FBI. I'll have more for you soon.
You think one of these people is a terrorist?
We're pretty sure they already were a terrorist
when they got to Quantico.
I never thought before I'd save our country,
I'd have to save myself.
There's a terrorist out there, and no one's even looking for them.
I can help, but I have to make it look like I think you're guilty.
-Do you have any idea who shot you? -It was Alex Parrish.
I need to find the truth.
FBI! Hands! Show me your hands!
Hands!
This is sink or swim, ladies and gentlemen.
Break free of your ties and get out of the pool.
Show me you and your partner know how to work together
or fail and sink to the bottom.
Did you cross your wrists before they closed the zip ties?
No. Why?
'Cause it gives you enough slack to do this!
There you go.
Way to go, partner!
I think if we lock our elbows,
we could use the leverage to break the straps.
Pulling real hard works, too.
I thought we were supposed to do this together.
You'll feel better if you figure it out yourself.
Eyes on the road, Georgia Peach.
A hero's welcome.
Taking a bullet doesn't make anyone a hero.
It's what we do today that matters.
Are you sure you're ready for this? You don't need to be here.
Yes, I do.
Right answer.
The executive assistant director's ready for you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm walking into that conference room with no new information.
When I walk out, I want answers.
I want progress.
I want to know where Alex Parrish is.
It's good to see you.
You too.
Oh, I cut myself getting out of those zip ties. No big deal.
Oh, my wrist could use a little tender loving care, too.
You worked me over in there.
Oh, my God. I'm so sorry, Shelby.
But you have to admit, you were dragging a little today.
Maybe you're tired from all those late night phone calls
you take in the bathroom.
Someone missing you back home?
Just the family business. Money never sleeps.
And, apparently, neither does Alex
if she's awake before the London opening bell.
I hate that I barely finished in time, no thanks to her.
Don't blame yourself. Vasquez just plays to win.
So do I.
I'm just getting tired of losing.
Hey, really cool spy training. What's next?
How fast you can close a sandwich in a Ziploc bag?
Admit it. You miss it.
Looks like you have a fan.
He's more like a stalker.
Guy's obsessed with poking holes in everything I tell him.
Guess he's been away from the courtroom so long,
he's decided to put me on trial.
Well, what's wrong with that?
You afraid you won't hold up under scrutiny?
I have a boyfriend.
You wanted to know about your father.
Here's your answer.
What is it?
Everything the bureau has on him.
Commendations, field reports. 20 years of his service, all right here.
Are you sure you want to read it?
That's why I'm here, Liam.
To find out what kind of man he really was.
I just want to prepare you.
You've been waiting for answers for a long time,
and these may not be the ones you hoped for.
I'm, uh... I'm here if you need to talk.
Thank you.
Lance Corporal Ryan Booth.
Served four years in the Marine Corps, including two tours of duty in Iraq.
Recipient of the Bronze Star.
Ms Shelby Wyatt.
Yeah.
Champion marksman, Rhodes Scholar.
- Whoo-hoo! - And proud debutant.
These are the faces you present to the world.
The story you tell about yourself.
But underneath that narrative lies the psychology that drives you.
When dealing with the crime, the evidence tells you how.
The psychology tells you why.
It allows you to know the criminal.
Before you know the enemy, you have to know yourself.
When you applied to the FBI,
we constructed psychological profiles of you.
Breakdowns of your mental strengths and emotional weaknesses.
But it's not enough for us to look inside you.
You have to prove that you can look inside each other,
NAT and analyst alike.
In the field, this is the kind of work that you do
with a subject you've never met.
Here, you've been together for three weeks.
So, you are going to conduct profiles
based on the strengths and weaknesses you find.
Get real, get deep, don't hold anything back.
I'd better be impressed.
Profile me all you want. I'm an open book.
Yeah, I've heard of it. American Psycho.
This will be easy.
I've never had trouble reading people.
It's usually the smartest people who have the biggest blind spot.
Alex Parrish.
Second-generation special agent, first in her class.
Or should I say first in your class, O'Connor?
-You must be so proud. -Sir...
No, I talk, you listen.
Somebody has to tell me why
the next 9/11 was pulled off by one of our own.
Because I have to tell the press something. Anything.
We have Miranda in custody for helping her escape.
More bureau fingerprints. What else?
We have a planeload of evidence
from the site where Parrish constructed the bomb
en route to Quantico as we speak. Components, blueprints.
All you're giving me is "how."
What I need is a "why."
There's a big country out there.
We need to take it by the hand, tell it a story.
We wait too long, somebody else will.
Then we'll never get control of this thing.
Sir?
The van just landed.
O'Connor.
Is there someone more important you need to see?
Yes. And so do you.
You want to know why Parrish bombed Grand Central?
Ask the woman who raised her.
But I already said I don't know anything. I... Why won't anyone listen?
Will she talk?
I'll make sure of it.
Good, because you and I go on camera in an hour.
Looks like you got the message.
You give me one good reason why I should help you.
Because if we don't find out who really bombed Grand Central,
who knows what they'll do next?
Ryan called.
He asked me to help.
I told him I didn't trust you.
He said I didn't have a choice.
And he was right.
You think I did it, Simon?
The Alex Parrish I knew at Quantico wasn't a terrorist.
I'm still the same person.
Are you?
Help me figure out who did this.
How? You're the FBI agent.
I'm the guy that got kicked out of Quantico, remember?
And that wasn't fair.
And I was always on your side. You know that.
You deserved better.
Yeah, well, maybe Agent Asher could have helped you,
but Simon Asher only works for a startup.
A tech startup.
With equipment you can use to analyse this.
Whoever framed me staged my apartment to look like I built the bomb,
but they left that behind.
I'll never forget how you handled that bomb at Quantico.
Ultimately, it didn't matter, did it?
Everybody got to see the real me,
and didn't really like what they saw, did they?
I did. Besides,
looks like you landed on your feet all right.
Look, Simon, these are the only bread crumbs I have
to find out who the real terrorist is.
And you're the only one who can help me.
Please, just... Just take a look.
- It's C-4... So it's military. - Right.
It could only be made in America or Britain or Iran.
All right, okay.
My firm does have government contracts
that allow me access to secure databases.
I could poke around, maybe...
-Yes. -And see what I can find.
Look, pack up.
-Let's get moving. -Okay.
Tell me what you see, Alex.
I see a narcissistic sociopath that's in over his head.
Huh? I see a butterfly.
How would you say you feel about your mother?
Not as good as I feel about yours.
I didn't do anything.
You squinted. That signals contempt. It's a reflex.
You want a signal that's not a reflex?
You reach a river in the forest. Do you cross it or go around?
I would have checked the map first.
Show you mine if you show me yours.
Hey, let me ask you a question...
Your daughter blew up a landmark.
She killed 118 people.
And those are just the ones we've found.
Maybe we should give her a minute.
We don't have time. And she's wasting it, anyway.
-Natalie... -Clear the room.
Hello, Sita.
Can't even look an old friend in the face?
Do they all know?
About you and my husband?
My history with Michael is a matter of record
and totally irrelevant right now.
Sita, we have to bring your daughter in before she hurts someone else.
How?
I barely know her any more. I live across the country.
We haven't even talked since she graduated Quantico.
You know her better than anyone. You're her mother.
Okay, look, I know you want to protect her,
but it's in Alex's best interest that you let go.
I asked you to dig deep.
And you delivered.
Beyond expectations.
Perhaps the most searing insights into one another
that I have seen in my time here.
I'm very proud.
You can see the results of your profiles posted outside.
Enjoy your evening.
Wait. That's not...
That's not my score. That's my profile.
They took our profiles and boiled them down to the greatest hits.
"Amin is clearly the weakest link among the trainees.
"Her ability is subpar, and her attitude so unpredictable,
"she almost has a split personality," says Vasquez.
"Alex relies on the approval of authority figures, but only men."
Are you serious, Nimah?
"A jarhead drone who will follow anyone's orders
"and never question anything."
Nice one, buddy.
"Wyatt exploits her personal tragedy
"to justify a simplistic black-and-white crusade."
How dare you.
The truth hurts.
But it's what's most important.
Knowing the truth about yourself, no matter how painful,
is what your training here is all about.
Your lives will depend on it.
So, this wasn't about proving we could profile.
It's about exposing what we think of each other.
Why?
So you can use it.
Each of you will submit three names of trainees
who you think should be cut from the programme.
Who's too weak to carry a badge, who you wouldn't trust with your life.
You have two hours.
What if we don't play along?
Then I'll cut 10 myself.
Three or 10, it's your call.
There's nothing to worry about. Nobody's here.
After what happened this morning, I told everybody not to come in today.
What do you do here?
I handle their tech.
They let me have all the toys I want.
Now, I think I can isolate the country of manufacture
based on the chemical taggant,
but we should also run your fingerprints.
They told me my fingerprints were all over it.
That's confirmation bias.
They weren't looking for anyone else's.
Sometimes, people make the simplest mistakes
when under pressure.
Voilà.
How do you still have access to the fingerprint database?
I'm a fan of backdoors.
The prints are yours.
As they said.
Wait.
Where's my scar?
-Your what? -My scar.
You remember that sink-or-swim exercise we did at Quantico?
I cut myself breaking out of those zip ties,
-but these fingerprints... -Don't show it.
Yeah.
When was the last time you were fingerprinted?
Um...
When we got our ID's at Quantico, same as everyone else.
I see the scar. That's significant.
-Yeah. -It's not on the C-4.
Oh, my God.
Which means whoever's framing me, they didn't start last week or last month.
They started to frame you the day you walked into Quantico.
-You found something? -Did I ever.
Okay, now, the C-4, all right, that's useless.
Now, whoever did this, they wanted us to find it.
All right, that's... That's why they put it there.
But this wire,
this wire is the rara avis.
It is a total black swan.
They fabricate these things for nuclear warheads.
So they can sit on the shelf for a century without corroding.
Wait. Are you telling me
the entire bomb was made with government resources?
Okay, we can find that out with time, but this wire is the key.
This is the only piece of evidence that's real.
The question is, who left it there?
I'm sorry.
I guess the zealot who exploits 9/11 should be more careful.
It's okay, you know. This control freak teacher's pet
who only looks out for herself didn't even notice.
Oh, really? It seems like you notice plenty.
Like my... My secret phone calls that apparently I lie about.
Hey, sweetheart, maybe if you made a couple friends,
they'd call you, too.
Not to be... What was that incisive clinical term you used?
"Creepy", but could you ease up on the body blows?
Hey, sorry, bro, just following orders
in my wilfully ignorant and potentially lethal way.
When did you get so good at this?
Guess you missed something about one of my personalities, huh.
Border cop?
-You proud of yourself? -Maybe. A little.
This is not how we do things around here.
I mean, do you want them at each other's throats?
I want them to get stronger.
There's no place here for the weak.
You're worried about them killing themselves.
You keep this going, they're gonna be killing each other.
I told you I was gonna turn up the heat, and I did.
You'll thank me later.
Sita, look at the evidence.
Her apartment, where she planned and built the bomb.
Her request to work perimeter detail at the DNC in New York,
giving her access to Grand Central.
Her go bag. Everything she needed to make her escape.
How long was Alex in the FBI academy
before she finally admitted to you she wasn't in grad school?
You believed that lie.
What else are you holding on to?
If Alex is secretive, it's my own fault.
We kept too much from her as a child.
Like the fact that her father was an agent.
She deserved to know.
But you wanted to protect her.
Just like you did when you took the blame for his death.
Sita, we both know she pulled the trigger that night.
You took the blame,
but she carried the guilt.
Maybe the weight of it, you know, that secret,
maybe that one action changed her forever.
Sita, don't let what you wish were true
keep you from admitting what you know is true.
I wasn't only protecting Alex that night.
I was protecting you.
I still am.
I never told anyone what you and Michael did.
Come get her. Take her away.
Shelby.
Talk to me.
It's not a lie when you don't tell somebody
who you're talking to on the phone. That's normal.
Not when you hide in the bathroom to do it.
You don't have a boyfriend. What are you hiding?
Oh, you want to talk about hiding?
-Yeah. -Well, great. What's the file in your...
None of your business.
Get your hands off me.
Look, it's okay. We both said things we didn't mean.
Yeah, and some things we kind of did.
Wait, I'm sorry. Was that too slippery for you?
Hey, you really think me being a vet makes me unstable?
Why don't you ask Timothy McVeigh?
I don't know why you're mad.
Everyone was criticised.
Everyone wasn't.
But you said they wrote we were average and aggressive.
-I did, but... -Then why are you mad?
They're foolish.
I'm not mad at them, Nimah.
The things they were saying, they were talking about you.
Your aggression, your bad performance that I have to match.
You are average. That's why I'm mad.
I didn't even want to be here in the first place,
and now that I'm here, I'm not allowed to do my best.
I'm stuck doing your best.
They are going to vote us out.
I hope they do.
What... Since we're being honest here,
what is it that makes me creepy?
Okay, you can tell me.
You following me right now, how's that?
Okay, that's not an answer.
All right, does it... Does it make me creepy
that I notice that you get up every time Alex leaves a room?
Or that you go on long runs in the woods by yourself?
Or that you somehow seem to know this campus...
You really wanna know?
-Yes, I do! -You wanna know?
Every time you talk, every time you smile,
I can see the little wheels spinning in your head.
Every gesture, every laugh, every move that you make,
it's like a calculation. It's a performance.
You're not just a creep. You're a freak...
You sure you want to do that?
You want to call your imaginary friends at the marine base to help you out?
Enough!
This is what Miranda wanted, all right?
For us to turn on each other!
Which is exactly why we shouldn't.
But if we don't vote, she'll cut 10.
Let her!
But if we turn on one of our own,
we'll never be able to live with each other.
Or with ourselves.
Ten from her is better than three from us.
Where's Simon?
Come in.
May I help you?
There's been a turn upstairs.
We decided not to cooperate with your exercise.
That's unfortunate.
I'll have to cut 10.
No, you won't.
Life's full of hard choices.
This wasn't one of them.
Looking out for yourself?
No.
It's for the greater good.
Found anything yet?
Still looking.
It's been almost an hour, Simon.
We're talking about a military-supply database.
You can't just click "search."
Maybe if you stopped hovering.
I'm sorry.
You gave me no choice.
Sir? Sir, we just got report
of an intruder matching Parrish's description
at a technology park in the Bronx.
Security ID'd her off the CCTV and passed it up the chain.
We have the footage?
Get the local police up there now and get the footage to the media.
We got her.
I know how this looks.
I'm guessing so do they.
Look, I can't get away with helping you
unless I can prove that it was under duress.
I needed to do everything in my power
to make it look like I alerted the authorities.
By getting me arrested again?
Okay, I'm gonna get you out of here before that happens.
Why should I trust you?
Because...
I'm good at this.
You better be. Move.
They're really doing it. They're sticking together.
For now.
One defection, and it won't even matter.
You take care of everyone else.
You ever let anyone take care of you?
You've been distracted. And not just by this. I can tell.
It's nothing I want to talk about.
Hey, buddy.
Where you been?
I just went for a walk.
-After curfew? -What do you care?
Oh, right. I forgot.
I intrigue you.
I'm sorry I can't say the same.
Wait, Simon, did you vote?
Yeah.
And so should everybody else.
Why would you do that?
Because every single person here worked so hard to get in.
Now, if it's a choice between losing three of you or 10 of you,
that's no choice at all.
I thought I knew you.
Nobody knows anybody else.
Ever.
You guys, we can't do this.
We have to stick together. We have to be unified.
Everybody should go to Miranda's office and vote.
All right? It's the only fair way.
I mean, isn't it time to end this?
So we can get back to doing what we are here to do.
Training to be agents.
Some of us, anyway.
Sounds good to me.
Come on.
Come here. Come here.
They caved.
People are going to vote.
Maybe you'll get lucky,
and you won't have to carry me on your back any more.
I might as well put down our name myself.
-We should have never come here. -Right.
Or maybe we should have stayed home
in our boring, safe, traditional lives, just like all the women in our family,
where you never get to regret anything,
because there's nothing better than what you already have.
I want more, and you should, too,
especially since you're so good.
I can learn to run faster or fight better,
but you can never learn to be your own person.
If you leave now, the only thing you'll ever be
is someone's daughter, sister, or wife.
All right.
As hard as it is for you here, you still want to stay?
Okay.
But if I have to match you, you have to match me.
Are you going to vote?
I may not like what anyone said about me, but I like myself.
And if I voted, I wouldn't.
Where are you headed?
To vote.
That won't be necessary.
You know, I have to say,
we've run this exercise on every class of NATs,
and it always turns out a little different,
but no class has decided actually to vote.
Did any of you think
that the whole point of this was to test your character?
There will be no cut.
But there will be a price.
Asher, you just earned a formal reprimand.
That puts you on supervisory probation.
Your next mistake,
you're subject to termination from your training at Quantico
without review.
For what? Doing what you told us to do?
For turning on your people when they needed you the most.
I need to go to the bathroom.
Yes, now.
Mrs Parrish,
we need to talk.
Okay, look.
You know exactly where to go and how to get there, right?
I want to make sure you're safe.
Safe in FBI custody, maybe.
Look, local police will get here first, all right?
There's no access to the main street on this side of the building,
so you'll have a head start, but only if you go right now.
All this time, and I still don't know who the real Simon Asher is.
Nobody's ever just one thing.
Now, look, when they get here, they're gonna have a lot of questions,
and I'm gonna have to be able to answer them,
but only if you make it look good for the cameras.
I know the playbook they're running on you.
I taught it for years.
You can resist it.
Why are you blocking the door?
They want you to turn on Alex.
But what if she did it?
I know her. And if you turn on her now,
if you turn on your blood, you'll never forgive yourself.
How are you so sure?
I know you.
You're that agent whose son...
Mrs Parrish,
your daughter has the weight of the FBI pushing down on her.
If she loses you, what will she have left?
We good?
We're roommates.
Kind of have to be, right?
I'd apologise, but...
Deep down, you kind of meant it?
Maybe I am creepy.
And maybe you're a drone.
Just 'cause you follow orders doesn't make you a drone.
You have no idea what it's like over there,
what it does to you.
I know more than you know.
Yeah? Why's that?
'Cause you handed out blankets on the Gaza Strip?
You saw a mortar or two?
It's because I saw what people are really capable of.
I refuse to go to bed on week-old sheets.
And I refuse to go to bed angry.
Good policy. On both counts.
For the record, in my profile, I listed plenty of your strengths.
You weren't wrong about my weaknesses, either, Shelby.
You're right, I... I do try and control everything.
I just figure that if I know what's happening,
I won't be blindsided.
Like that file in your bag.
My father was an FBI agent.
I always wanted to know so much about him,
but now that I have it, I...
You're afraid you might find out something you don't want to know.
Well, you might not know this,
but my dad died on 9/11.
Hmm...
-I may have heard a rumour. -Yeah.
And you know what?
If I can exploit that right now to help you, I will.
You see,
my dad always wanted me to be his little country girl, and I was.
And my mom wanted me to be her little pageant queen,
and, boy, was I ever.
But I spent a lot of time
trying to make them both happy when they were alive.
And when they died,
I had to clean up the mess they left behind.
And, um...
Well, let's just say that I learned a lot about them,
that they probably hoped
their little country pageant princess would never find out.
I'm so sorry, Shelby.
I'm not.
Because while it might look like I joined the FBI
as some avenging angel,
I'm here for me.
And you are here for you.
Need to get that?
Mmm...
First things first.
Take all the time you need.
I want you to watch something.
More propaganda?
No, not propaganda,
and not some misguided ambush in the bathroom.
Just the truth.
This video, taken just moments ago,
shows the suspected Grand Central bomber, Alex Parrish,
taking a hostage at gunpoint.
The manhunt continues as authorities from several states
are going all-out to track down the suspect...
-Enough. -...considered the...
After her father died,
I sent Alex to India to live with my family.
And she stayed there for 10 years.
But we only knew where she was for nine of them.
She lied.
When you said you were gonna turn up the heat,
I had my doubts.
But I think I get it now.
In order to make our agents stronger,
we have to break them down to build them back up again.
It's the only way.
Thank you for keeping up appearances.
The trainees think you're the bad cop now.
They're afraid of you.
Well, they're closer to each other.
You should get some rest.
I have an appointment.
I hope you find what you're looking for.
Night.
You know what?
You make me sad.
'Cause I'm so much better than you?
Because this is all you care about. It's all you have.
When we finish here, I have people to go home to.
I have a family.
What do you have?
Someone's looking a bit woozy.
Well, Elias and I got a little plastered,
so if I'm not looking directly at you, it's 'cause there's, like...
There's like 20 of you.
Hmm.
The only thing in my profile from you was nice.
You could have said so many mean things.
Well, there's too many to choose from. I couldn't just pick one.
Thank you.
Guess you needed some air, too, huh?
You still don't feel like talking?
My father was a special agent.
Uh...
I had no idea.
Neither did I.
For most of my life.
I... I just knew him as two men.
The father that I loved, who made me feel safe,
and the bitter drunk that scared me so much that one night...
All my life, I told myself
that the second man was the real one
and the other one was just a lie
or an act or a mask. God, I was so wrong.
What are you talking about?
He was a hero, Ryan!
He saved hundreds of lives.
He was one of the most decorated agents
in his 20 years at the bureau. I...
My mother didn't shoot him.
I did.
I killed a hero! What did I do?
-Oh, my God, what did I do? -Come here. Come here.
The daughter I knew was a good person.
But what she's done
cannot be forgiven.
And the truth about her past should no longer be hidden.
For too long, I ignored the red flags.
You look better.
Are you eating again?
You're still not talking to me?
Why would I?
You put me here.
Clearly this isn't working.
No, they think it is.
Which is why I'm gonna get paroled.
I'll see you soon, Ma.
Maybe she felt trapped.
Please put her on.
We went over this.
Please let her talk to her mommy.
I told you if you went away for five months,
you'd never see her again.
Maybe she felt she was serving a greater good,
even at the cost of her own soul.
Nimah? Nimah?
Or maybe she felt she was completely alone in the world.
She may have deceived me.
And us all.
But as a mother,
I say this to my baby girl.
Stop running.
Turn yourself in while you still can, while you're still alive.
Please, my dear.
My love. My blood.
How was the debrief?
A couple of field agents questioned me.
I convinced them I had no idea where you were going, so...
Mission accomplished.
Hey, look, I can come back.
-I mean... -No.
We have work to do.
So, you're setting up all the NATs and analysts that were in our class?
Even the ones who washed out?
Or died?
Yeah.
You know, the bomber could have had accomplices.
And we know they were already there on day 1,
so at this point, we can't afford to take anything at face value.
Even me.
I think you're in the clear.
-Yeah. -Uh, it's my boss.
Look, I'll be right back, okay?
Yeah. No, don't worry.
Thank you, Agent Asher.
Slow and steady on this one.
I'll be in touch. Maintain your cover.