“Homeland”'s Surprising Down Low Saudi Reveal

Apparently the CIA has spy cameras in DC bathhouses

There are two big reasons to be an avid viewer of the first season of Showtime’s recently renewed Homeland. One is the great Claire Danes as the wonderfully loopy Carrie, a CIA intelligence officer with a personality disorder. Another is ginger Damian Lewis’ twitchy Brody, who may or may not be a one-man terrorist cell. 

This week's episode featured something a little extra that might be of interest to AfterElton readers: a little man-on-man action. Now before you get too perked up, I should mention that things end badly for the gay, which is how it usually works on dramatic TV. Still, the week's gay storyline wasn't entirely a cliche and had an interesting twist.

Acting on information of a terrorist plot, Carrie’s boss Saul (played by Mandy Patinkin) informs his fellow spies that the agency has been tracking Saudi diplomat Al Sahrani, a man with three wives and ten children and he’s a devout Muslim. 24/7 survelliance has uncovered that he’s heavily in debt. And he’s gay.

Undercover video shows Al Sahrani entering a Washington, DC bathhouse off Dupont Circle, then follows him inside to show some semi-explicit hanky panky. The gathered spies view the footage and Saul remarks, “As you can see, he’s a naughty boy.”

So it is decided to extract information about the terrorist plot by blackmailing him for being gay. “Being gay in Saudi Arabia is like being the antichrist here,” Saul says.

Blackmailing gays? Really?

Al Sahrani has a memorable reply to threats

When ultimately Carrie confronts Al Sahrani and threatens to expose the bathhouse pictures, the predictable story is upended when he spits back, “Go ahead. Tell everyone you want. Tell them all, I don’t care. I suck c—k! And I love it! Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy!”

Okay, I did not see that coming. Al Sahrani goes on to say his wives already know. “Put me on CNN. I’ll admit to everything.”

Score one for the strong gay character.

In the end, the gay must be vaporized

Of course, then they had to go and spoil it all by having Al Sahrani dead before the end of the episode, a victim of a bombing inflicted by the terrorist he was aiding and abetting. One of these days, gay bad characters will live to wreak havoc another day.

Homeland airs Sundays at 10pm ET/PT.