When season two begins, Alex finds herself at “The Farm,” the CIA’s mysterious training facility. As Alex navigates the dark world of espionage, far different and more dangerous than what she’s learned before, she’s pulled into the center of a deadly conspiracy that not only threatens the lives of this country’s citizens, but the lives of countless others across the globe. This conspiracy calls everyone around her into question, be it new faces from the CIA or old ones from the Bureau.

From the FBI to the CIA, season two gives us the familiar groundwork from season one and a whole new set of conflicts and even higher stakes than ever before. This time, instead of running from the government, Alex must run towards and save the President of the United States and all of the world leaders who have gathered at the G20 Summit in the Financial District (on a Saturday, to discuss putting an end to global surveillance). Because if there are important people in Manhattan, and Alex happens to be in the vicinity, that’s not really good news. Or is it?

“So while the world might call me great, all I feel is empty.” – Alex

The season two premiere takes us to NOW, when the latest terrorist attack has taken place and THEN, one year earlier, when Alex is recruited for the CIA’s training program, “The Farm” which will take her from agency asset to operative, if she makes it to the end. If this sounds like Quantico, it’s Quantico 2.0, aka Quan2co, as they put it in their title sequence, which was absolutely fantastic by the way. The CIA doesn’t have to play Mr. Nice Guy to get the job done. They are known for doing whatever must be done to get the job done. This is much different than the FBI, which gives the writers a much bigger playground for season two. So to say that I am excited about what’s ahead is a gross understatement indeed.

While we grew to know and adore everyone in Quantico over the course of season one, we’ll only be seeing a handful of those faces for much of season two. One of those faces meets Alex at The Farm. None other than Ryan Booth. Can we talk about Ryan Booth for a minute? NOW, Alex and Ryan meet awkwardly in a conference room and after he exits, Alex leaves a ring next to his belongings. A ring! Yes, a ring! My exact thoughts were, “Is that a ring? It’s a ring! A ring! But why is she – noooooo!” If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be hit with the news that a couple you absolutely adored and have been rooting for, for so long, was engaged and then in that same thirty seconds, find out that they are seemingly no longer engaged, this is the episode to watch. That on top of the actual conversation they’re having, Alex asking “How is she?” and us wondering who “she” is along with Alex wishing they said no to the mission and something about chasing ghosts. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. THEN, we get to see Ryan fangirling over the engagement ring with Shelby and then attempt to propose to Alex, who tells him to do it after the six month training at The Farm. A smart plan considering how challenging The Farm is and not being able to celebrate your engagement is lonely, so best to put that off. If he really did propose 6 months later, that means they were only engaged for six months. Here’s to hoping she just needs Ryan to get her a new sized ring. Ha.

NOW, in Manhattan, Alex comes across a man who she not only knows, but killed a year ago. So how is it that he’s walking around the streets of New York City? And who exactly did she kill? The way that this show is crafted is so well done, it is truly mind blowing how perfect the storytelling is. It’s just so brilliant how information is revealed through both THEN and NOW, the stories so intertwined. Obviously, since one leads to the next but the craftsmanship here is just beyond.

It turns out, the man she killed is former famous author and one of the men she trained with at The Farm, Jeremy Miller. Not only that, he’s in on the terrorist attack. The attack which barricaded a 5 block radius around the Summit and set off a dozen bombs so that no one could easily get in or out of the area. And if anyone tries to get in or out, a biological agent that will devastate the area will be set off. So. It’s not looking good for those being taken hostage at the Summit. Talk about a well trained and well organized group of terrorists.

They’re known as the Citizens Liberation Front and they’re fighting for people around the world who were unjustly persecuted for breaches of global security. Their demand? By day’s end, they must be pardoned or many will die. So.

Jeremy says to Alex before jumping out of the window, “If you think you can stop this, you’re wrong about that.” Do you think Jeremy simply escaped or he took one for the time so as not to compromise his mission, and killed himself by jumping out of the window? Also, a more than harsh reality to face is knowing that there are more terrorists hiding among the audience in the Summit. Cue the panic attack and dying of fear.

They’re not messing around. Going so far (which for them doesn’t seem to be very far at all) as murdering the First Lady in front of the entire G20 audience. Whoa. Talk about jarring, disturbing, straight up absolutely terrifying. Horrifying.

Can we take a moment to acknowledge the President and First Lady? Can we take a moment to celebrate that not only is the President of the United States a black man but his wife is a white woman and this is a glorious interracial marriage? Most people never thought they’d see the light of day when a black man would be elected President, I’m hoping that a miracle will happen where in my lifetime, I’ll get to see a President in an interracial marriage. And in general, most of the new characters this season are diverse so a round of applause for that. Cheers to that, people! This is why I love this show. Quantico was one of the most diverse shows on TV before it even aired and it keeps giving us reasons to celebrate that.

THEN, Alex and Ryan are undercover for the FBI at the CIA’s Farm. Miranda and Matthew Keyes (Henry Czerny) tell Alex and Ryan that their assignment at The Farm is to get chosen to be one of the people being recruited for the rebel CIA/FBI group so that they can get more information about those working for the CIA & FBI who no longer want to be controlled. Those who want to be the good guys how they see fit and don’t mind crossing the line, erasing the line altogether. Jeremy was clearly recruited at The Farm but who else was recruited and is in on the attack? Hmmm….

Alex and Ryan aren’t the only ones at The Farm who know each other. The Farm’s co-directors are father and daughter duo (I was not expecting that revelation!), Owen Hall (Blair Underwood) and Lydia (Tracy Ifeachor). Can we take a moment to applaud the deception of Lydia’s introduction? That was brilliant. (I realize I’ve said brilliant a lot but I can’t help but not say it when talking about this show). Alex was duped in the most basic way. She’s come so far and yet. Not only was she duped but during a test, she “played hero” and got herself knocked to the bottom of the ranks on “The Murder Board.” If you’re at the bottom twice, you’re out of The Farm. Alex was at the bottom literally right away. I love that this show doesn’t give our main character any leniency. She’s just as capable as failing as anybody else, even when you think she’ll be fine. Unless this last on the murder board thing is just a way to cut people to get them to be recruited for the rebel group. Only time will tell.

Back to Owen for a moment. He’s been the leading instructor at The Farm for the past 14 years and hand selected every single one of the recruits. I wonder what he knows about Alex and Ryan that prompted them to be recruited. I also wonder if, after all of Lydia’s talk about preventing things that the FBI attempts to figure out, if they knew/know anything about or are involved in the attack in NOW.

Anyway, I loved the test that the recruits had to take in which they had to take a lie detector test and answer with all lies, testing to see how well they can deceive. WOW. Ryan is a good liar. Like. The perfect score liar. I wonder not if, but how this affected Alex and Ryan’s relationship over the past year. Because it obviously must have, there’s just too much emphasis on it, understandably so given the profession. But back to the test, watching the episode again and seeing how they put them through that test as well as watching Lydia deceive Alex and the rest of the recruits during basically the entire first 24 hours…absolutely brilliant. And it really forces the viewer who wants to theorize about what’s next to think harder about what’s happening as it’s happening. I love it.

Finally, what’s up with Alex’s distressed roommate at The Farm? Looking forward to finding out more about her! Was she already recruited for the Citizens and is distressed about the rest of her experience at The Farm being a sham? I’m terrible at theorizing so this is probably completely wrong. What do you think?

The season 2 premiere of Quantico delivered intriguing new roommates, exciting new allies, and terrifying new enemies. Along with absolutely superb storytelling, wonderful pacing and transitions and music, Quantico season two is all around proving to be as far away from a sophomore slump as a show can get. I hope you’re watching!

Watch Quantico Sundays at 10/9c on ABC.