Things take (another) turn for the worse on Homeland.
Carrie Mathison is a liability. For all her miraculous efforts in coercing Brody onto the CIA’ side, there are moments of sheer spontaneity that make you wonder whether she’s about to throw everything away. Saul semi-trusts her, Quinn is agitated by her and I’m not exactly sure how much more Estes can take before a true fallout takes place. It’s only Nicolas Brody who seems to give her the reassurance she needs. But where does Carrie draw the line between acting in the CIA’s best interest and being there for Brody? In the latest episode of Homeland, that thin line only seems to get thinner as Abu Nazir’s attack grows more imminent.
Growing impatient with Brody’s insistent use of the “CIA secrecy” excuse, Jessica refuses to accept that reporting Dana’s hit and run to the police would have compromised his position. Brody seems to be defeated; he can’t continue to spit out lie after lie to his family and he certainly can’t blow his cover for the CIA, but reconciling the two seems to be impossible.
After a brief blowup between with Brody, Jessica storms out in frustration, leaving behind a hollow Brody. As usual, Carrie and crew are outside of the Brody household keeping a close watch, so when she realizes that her informant is late for meeting Roya Hammad, she steps in to pick Brody back up. Once again, the Congressman/former terrorist sympathizer is in his usual fetal position, unable to convince himself that all this secrecy is doing him any good. With a little help from Carrie Mathison, she has a shaky Brody back up on his feet and ready to meet his target.
The meeting with Hammad, however, doesn’t go exactly as planned. Brody is obviously still reeling from his realization that his two lives have reached a breaking point and approaches Hammad with his hands stuffed in this pockets and a face as white as a ghost. Unable to contain his frustration, he pretends his unease is a result of being left in the dark and not knowing any of the details regarding Nazir’s plan for an attack on the United States. In a final act of sabotage, he throws his hands up and in apparent act of surrender declares to Roya Hammad that “he’s through.”
Meanwhile, a confused and alienated Dana Brody wanders over to wunderkind Mike’s bachelor pad for a little solace. Looking for a place to escape to so she can clear her head and figure out the next move in the hit–and-run saga, Mike seems to be the only legitimate option. She then asks him to take her to see the daughter of the woman that she and Finn ran over.
When she sees that the young girl has already been paid off to keep quiet about the incident, a shell-shocked Dana seems to stumble out of the house. To her, it seems all hope is lost and a sense of closure is impossible. It’ s been nice to see Homeland venture into a plotline that doesn’t necessarily revolve around Brody, but a resolution to his daughter’s problem doesn’t seem to be in the future. Whether this was a move to fill up some space post-Brody ousting is unclear, but it’s definitely a sign that the show has had to make some adjustments to compliment its unprecedented change in storyline.
After the meeting with Roya went downhill, a worried Carrie swoops in and sweeps Brody away to a small motel in the middle of nowhere in order to defuse the situation, defying Quinn’s orders to bring him back to their CIA bunker. For all they know, Roya could have given the word to Abu Nazir that his American sympathizer has gone rogue and his cronies would be on their way to take him out at any second.
In their hotel room, a pensive Brody ponders that he may have just burned every bridge, leaving him lonelier than when he was stuffed in a hole in Iraq. The man has lied to his family, deceived Abu Nazir and now nearly blown his cover with the CIA. The only person left with him is the one and only Carrie Mathison. As Saul would attest, the move to bring Brody to an isolated location was a smart move by Carrie in attempt to defuse the situation and get him back on track. I’m not so sure that Carrie would make the same assessment herself.
Love is tricky and can motivate someone to do things they normally wouldn’t. The look in Carrie’s eyes would certainly indicate that her infatuation with Brody exceeds the level of commitment they have for each other as partners in the CIA, but she may just be the only way to set their double agent on course again. As their rendezvous to the motel turns intimate, a weary Quinn has to be convinced by Saul that it’s all part of Carrie’s plan, just another move in her twisted chess game. But is it really? How long can she suppress her real feelings for Brody before a true compromise has to be made?
The next morning, Brody gives Roya a call in an attempt to smooth things over. A skeptical Roya accepts his “apology” and agrees to meet up with him and bring him back into the loop. They eventually get together and she instructs him to drive out to an undisclosed location. Of course, Carrie and crew are never far behind.
When Roya rips out Brody’s SIM card, obviously knowing something is up, the CIA begin to follow the two closely until they pull over to the side of the road. When a third party joins their get-together, an intuitive Carrie wants to get a closer look, even after Quinn insists that she stay back and keep her attachment to Brody out of the equation. An ever-inquisitive Carrie Mathison leaves the van and slowly attempts to get a better view of the conversation.
As the pieces begin to fall together, we soon find out that not only has the mystery man who attacked the CIA at the tailor’s shop come to take Brody away, but a helicopter has been deployed to make the situation damn near impossible to defuse. The last two shots tell the whole story. A defeated Carrie Mathison watches as her alleged prized possession is whisked away, not knowing of his fate. The simultaneous look of fear and wretchedness that Claire Danes exhibits cements her character as one of the most memorable on television.
The final shot reveals a bewildered Brody landing in a far-off warehouse, being greeted by an old friend, at one point a savior and at another a mortal enemy. The arrival of Abu Nazir signifies the beginning of the end. The mastermind terrorist has landed in the States and the beginning of an attack is surely in his sights, all he needs now his to reclaim his prized possession, Sergeant Nicolas Brody.
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