But PeeCee has proved her detractors wrong and how!
The actress has made a confident debut in the Josh Safran-created Quantico, the first episode of which aired in India an hour ago. As Alex Parrish, her ethnicity is largely irrelevant to the plot which prevents her from getting attached to stereotypical traits. In fact, the show brings in a lot of flavour and sexual diversity as it prominently features characters that are Jews, Muslims, straight, gays, Blacks without their origins ever interfering with individual narrative arcs.
The thriller begins with an explosion at the Grand Central station, which is described by the federal agency as the 'worst since 9/11'. As Priyanka emerges from the rubble, we look at her not with empathy, but a fair amount of suspicion. And that needle of doubt more than adequately sustains the intrigue-level for the first episode as the narrative goes back and forth. The investigation into the Grand Central bombing runs parallel with the training of Quantico's recruits.
Before arriving at FBI's Virginia headquarters, each of the five cherry-picked trainees are given contextual significance as they are introduced on screen. After they are assembled together, they are told frightening things like, "You've made it to Quantico. Now let's see if you survive."
Priyanka's intro sees her having a fling with Ryan Booth (a hunky Jake McLaughlin), whom she meets in the flight. With Holmes-level precision, she gets basic intel on him and then smugly tells him why he is not her type, moments after they've had sex.
Now this is a character Priyanka would hardly get to play in a Bollywood film. And if any actress does, she is (unfortunately) slut-shamed, just like Deepika Padukone's sexually liberal character was in Cocktail.
Meanwhile, PeeCee's performance is nuanced and the confident demeanour that one sees in the initial scenes slowly crumbles as she exposes her vulnerabilities with the calculated ease of a seasoned manipulator. Her expressions reveal a persona hardened by tragedy; her smiles, a mechanism of coping up with the same. Her half-American origin justifies the twang in her accent and with that decidedly husky voice, sounds deliciously sexy.
Actually, it's a show with a lot of sexy people - Yasmine Al Masri, Johanna Braddy, Jake McLaughlin, Graham Rogers, Tate Ellington complete the competent supporting cast. The minimal make-up and stylish formals used in the show gives you enough faces to crush on and fantasise about.
All of this then, makes you interested enough in knowing the journey of Alex, who seemingly is the central character, propelling the show's narrative - has FBI's finest recruit become its worst enemy? Is she the truth-teller or a wager of war?
Yes, Homeland comes to mind and comparisons are inevitable. Will the show match the standard set by Showtime's premium terrorism drama?
For now, I'd say there is enough promise.
Image Source: hollywoodreporter/quantico/cast