In last night’s episode, “Found,” the Quantico recruits finally get an evening away from the Academy. Elias, the intelligent, gay analyst-in-training, has spent the entire series trying to dig up dirt on Simon Asher (Tate Ellington) after he turned down Elias’ advances during earlier training exercises. As the recruits invade a local business convention to test their undercover abilities, Elias finally hits pay dirt, and digs up the evidence he needs to take down Simon.
As Simon plays the convention floor, Elias interrogates Max, Simon’s supposed boyfriend in a room upstairs. Max folds quickly, revealing that he’s only met Simon once, when he asked him to pose in a picture outside Grand Central Station. Despite Max’s infatuation with Simon, the pair has never been in a relationship.
Simon is caught. He has co-opted the gay rights struggle, and for this heinous crime, it’s time to kick him out of the FBI.
Elias: Looking for Max? He came and went. Here's the thing that bothers me. It's not just you lying about being gay. Don't get me wrong, that deeply offends me as a gay man, a man who was actually bullied, a man who actually fought for marriage equality, a man who's actually done things to another man, and recently, too.
Simon: Look, Elias, this is
Elias: and it's not how you're about to suggest life is complicated. Or that you're bisexual.
Simon: I'm not gonna say it.
Elias: No. Unh-unh. Don't co-opt that struggle, too. No. The thing that bugs me is the lengths you're willing to go to maintain this facade. You manipulated a complete stranger to come here, an innocent person. Who does that? You want to know the truth, Simon? The truth is, you're dangerous. So when we get back tomorrow, I'm making sure you never step foot in Quantico again.
It’s over, it seems. All the foreshadowing about the unspeakable act Simon committed to get himself kicked out of the FBI Academy has been for nothing. The bespectacled nuisance will go down for being a fake homosexual unless he can give Elias some plausible action for his behavior.
When in doubt, blame Israel. In a show whose writers’ have already called military veterans unstable, and fantasized about an anti-abortion bomb plot, this sudden shift across the ocean to bash the Jewish state may be abrupt, but it’s hardly unexpected. Faced with his imminent expulsion, Simon reveals that he hides his true self from the world because it’s the only way he can cope with the atrocities he committed in the Gaza Strip on behalf of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Take a look:
Simon: Knock, knock.
Elias: Don't bother. I already made an appointment with Miranda's assistant.
Simon: You were right about me. I am dangerous.
Elias: Look, not now, okay? I don't have time for whatever new fiction you're trying to
Simon: please. Please. I was in the Israeli Defense Forces. They sent me into Gaza. I didn't just see things. I did things. Things that haunt me every single day of my life. After I got back, living undercover was the only way that I could cope... With what I did... With myself. So I made myself a lie. I don't wear glasses. I don't even like coffee. And I'm not... I'm -- I'm -- I'm not... I'd understand if you hate me.
Elias: You should keep the glasses. They look good on you.
It’s unclear whether Simon truly served in the IDF, or if this is just another layer of the onion of lies that is Simon Asher. Frankly, it doesn’t matter, because one of the FBI’s top analyst trainees buys his story.
If Elias thought Simon was dangerous for pretending to be gay, this excuse should be an even bigger red flag. Simon has all but admitted to being a war criminal who lied his way into the Academy, but instead of running to the director with an actual cause for concern, it appears Elias is satisfied with his story, and is going to let him slide.
In Quantico, it’s better to be a ruthless sociopath than to be straight and kiss a man for social media. Long live political correctness.
