Quantico’s writers just can’t resist the temptation to take shots at the American military or to reinforce left-wing stereotypes. In last week’s episode, the trainees uncovered a plot to burn down a Planned Parenthood. This week, we are told to be suspicious of all veterans; they’re unstable, just like Timothy McVeigh, explains Simon Asher (Tate Ellington).
The assertion is included as part of Asher’s profile of fellow recruit Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin). The FBI trainees were required to compile profiles of one another and expose their weaknesses. The instructors post the completed profiles publicly and give the trainees a choice: use the profiles to vote out the three weakest class members, or do nothing and see ten dropped from the program.
It’s then, while reading his own profile, that Booth discovers his service as a Marine is considered a red flag rather than a badge of honor. He confronts his roommate Asher, but rather than walking back his claims, Asher doubles down, citing Timothy McVeigh as proof that veterans are mentally unstable.
Watch for yourself:
Transcript:
-Ryan: Look, it's okay. We both said things we didn't mean.
-Asher: Yeah, and some things we kind of did. Wait -- I'm sorry. Was that too slippery for you?
-Hey, you really think me being a vet makes me unstable?
-Why don't you ask Timothy McVeigh?
Timothy McVeigh’s attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 20 years ago was unforgivable. He killed 168 people including 19 children in the facility’s daycare center. But it’s far past time for Hollywood to stop using McVeigh’s service in the Army as a bludgeon to tarnish the reputations of the rest of our armed forces.
