'Quantico' season 1 episode 5 recap: The NATs go undercover; Shelby believes that Alex was framed

In episode 5 of “Quantico,” titled “Found,” the trainees left campus for the first time when they were tasked to do some undercover work. Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra) and Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin) also get closer. Fast forward to the future, Alex decided to tell her side of the story and sat down for an interview. [Spoilers Alert!]

The episode begins with Alex taking Shelby (Johanna Braddy) hostage. Alex suspects that Shelby was the one who framed her, but the latter does not think Alex is innocent. Ryan contacts Alex to warn her that the FBI has issued a shoot-to-kill order for her.

Back at Quantico in the flashback timeline, Ryan flirts with Alex. In class, Miranda (Aunjanue Ellis) assigns them to go undercover, requiring the NATs to create a fake Fortune 500 business entity. The winner of the challenge will get to go out and determine if people actually believed that their fake enterprise was legitimate.

Alex pretends to be a lawyer as part of her coverup. Liam (Josh Hopkins) brings the NATs to a Fortune 500 conference, and the trainees' main goal is to get a personal meeting with the CEO, Norman Reed. Shelby gets angry at Caleb (Graham Rogers) for sabotaging her during the uncover task. They both go to an empty room to continue their argument, only to end up having sex. In the end, Alex, Ryan and Nimah (Yasmine Elmasri) win the task and get a meeting with the CEO.

Back in the present time, while Simon (Tate Ellington) and Ryan are busy trying to identify the real bomber of Grand Central Station, Alex decides to share her side of the story and agrees to be interviewed on television. She thinks that if she can convince the public that she is innocent, the FBI would not kill her to prevent public outrage. She gets in touch with a hacker group called “Anonymous” to broadcast a video that the FBI cannot trace.

Later on, Alex goes live and says that someone from Quantico is framing her. The FBI subsequently manages to locate Alex in a chapel during Ramadan. Alex manages to escape and leaves Shelby in the basement. The hacker group helps Alex get into a hotel using a fake name and gives her a cell phone and a laptop.

Flashback to Quantico, Alex and Ryan are in the hotel drinking and they also end up sleeping together.

The episode ends with Miranda telling Ryan in Quantico that Alex is a threat to national security. Meanwhile, in present time, Shelby tells Ryan and Simon that she no longer believes that Alex was the bomber. Caleb may actually be the terrorist, as Ryan and Simon managed to get the list of agents near Grand Central Station during the bombing, and Caleb was one of them.

The next episode of “Quantico,” titled “God,” will air on Nov. 1 on ABC.