There's realism and there's downright patheticness (Is that even a word?).
This is something people overlook and not just with this show - recognizing the difference between realistic and realism. Even an absurd premise can have realism. I only saw a handful of X-Files episodes, so I can't really say, but if you accept the unrealistic notion that aliens are among us, there are supernatural forces and whatever else happened, then once you accept it, everything else they do makes sense. Like I said, I only saw a few episodes, so I don't know if it got absurd even with their rules. But that's what Quantico does, it gets absurd even with its own set of rules. Back to the Future is another good example of an absurd premise without any realistic aspects, yet the story still achieves realism. They invented rules, then never broke them. Once you accept the absurdity of how they travel through time, the rest of the movie(s) stay true to their own logic. The characters and their actions for the situations all make sense. That should be the goal of fiction. Be as unrealistic as you want in the world you create, but apply realism to it.
This is where Quantico colossally fails. Alex goes back and forth from having to keep things quiet and work by herself because she supposedly can't trust anyone to an episode later spilling the beans to someone she still shouldn't be able to trust. Which is it? How many times did she avoid going to Miranda (when it wasn't convenient for the plot for her to do so)? Then a few episodes ago (and the plot was convenient for her to do so), when she got suspicious of Shelby, she went right to Miranda to point the finger at her. If she really trusted Miranda that much, why didn't she go to her sooner? Miranda's experience and connections could have come in handy, no? It's not like Miranda proved her loyalty in that episode or something, so it wasn't believable. Either she's trustworthy or she's not.
I can accept the unrealistic notion that FBI trainees are all attractive (though I might have cut the part where Caleb couldn't do a pushup yet an episode later is seen without a shirt built like an Olympic athlete), among several TV tropes used for entertainment purposes or mild rule breaking for convenience (and I stress mild). But when the characters start contradicting their own ideals to the degree they have, that's not only do they fail at being realistic, they fail at any sense of realism. For example, half of these trainees being accepted to the program when the rule established by the show is that they are big on integrity, character, and excellence. Caleb was in a cult, but they figured he was safe. Iris sued SIX different business partners, but that didn't seem like a red flag that she wouldn't play well with others. Too many red flags for main characters were overlooked yet when convenient, characters without a last name were dismissed for taking too many ketchup packets in the cafeteria.
How about that the FBI has a "you can't train with real guns" penalty box, but the instructors don't share that list with the place where you check out the guns (if you recall Caleb was free to check out guns without problem despite being in a time out). Knowing that they can't even make sure a memo makes the rounds at their own base, we're asked to accept that the FBI would coordinate a complicated international exercise where the trainees are asked to break the law and sneak through customs. So which is it? Are they super organized and work out the most complicated scenarios requiring the most efficient levels of preparation or they can't even remember to put a cover sheet on their TPS report? They can't have it both ways.
Now on this show you can accept certain things as the premise, like the FBI telling you it has a co-ed dorm and they have 0 problems with trainees having sex with each other
Not only trainees sleeping with each other, but with the instructors who are supposed to remain objective and not abuse their authority. And when the authority figure does break that rule, they are immediately offered a big promotion.
If they had Simon escape the apartment by walking through a wall without claiming he has super powers, would that be okay?
Since I consider this a sitcom at this point and suggest they just go the whole 9 yards with the absurdity, now I really want to see this next season.
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tuning_guy16
9 years ago
sorry didnt read all of it but just wanted to say back to the future broke its own rules and its realy obvious if your a fycicist ( dont know if i typed it right but i mean fysics as a job) anayway in BTTF2 old biff goes back in time with the sport almanac to give to his younger self and then returns the the same future he came from. now when marty and doc also go back there and marty says we can just go back and stop old biff from going doc says no we cant because the moment biff gave the book the future changed and we would go back to a different future so old biff could not have returned to the same future he first left. thats litteraly breaking your own rules.
was my favorite of the 3 when i as a kid but now that is a MAJOR plot and and own rules *beep* that it destroys the movie for me
it only ends once , everything before that is just progress.
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