Brody has an eventful road trip to Gettysburg and Carrie has another near-breakdown.
Carrie Matheson is wired. She’s arrived back home from Beirut and is obviously still riding the high of being in the thick of things. She sits on her bed, furiously typing out a report on her action, seemingly caught up in the idea that everything is back to normal.
In Carrie’s perfect world, this report and subsequent debriefing on the events in Beirut would be her ticket back into the CIA. Unfortunately for her, that’s just not the case. As smart and sharp as Carrie is, her unfortunate mental instability seems to blind her from reality, a trait used to crushing effect in this episode.
On the other side of town, we see Brody preparing for his appearance at a Wounded Warriors event later that day. Brody’s wife Jessica seems to be elegantly stepping into her role as politician’s wife, a transition made all the more difficult by her husband’s increasingly erratic behavior. As much as Jessica attempts to keep her husband in line, it seems as if Brody’s suspicious behavior is slowly ripping away at the seams in their relationship.
While Jessica reads Brody’s speech for the night, the Congressman gets a call from new Nazir associate Roya, who informs him that the “tailor” who made the bomb vest for the botched terrorist attack on the vice president is under investigation by the CIA. The constant conflict between Brody’s tidy political life and his stained role as a part-time terrorist seems to be setting up a domino effect from episode to episode. What would have been a nice day leading up to that night’s fundraiser is now focused around a mission to move a bomb-making terrorist in Gettysburg to a Nazir safehouse.
Meanwhile, Carrie’s day is filled with a different sort of anticipation. The mission in Beirut may not have gone exactly as planned, but with Carrie’s help the CIA was able to take down two of Nazir’s top lieutenants and gain much needed information regarding his whereabouts. Had Carrie never been released from her old position, she would have certainly been hailed as a true hero, the darling of the CIA. While she doesn’t seem to find reward in the recognition from her peers (both Galvez and Estes give her work high praise), it’s the warm sense of tangible accomplishment that pushes her to work at such a high level.
However, all feelings of gratitude at this opportunity to hop back into the field are swiftly crushed with a single utterance from the stern Estes. While never explicitly mentioned by Carrie, it’s clearly evident that reinstatement into her old job was on her wish list — a wish denied by her former boss. Carrie’s bipolar disorder may be the most damning antagonist on Homeland. From her lack of credibility after the Brody-as-a-terroist fiasco to her inability to reclaim her old job, Carrie can’t seem to escape the shadow of her mental state.
As Carrie comes to grips with her massive sense of disappointment, Brody steps into superhero mode (or is it super-terrorist mode?) as he attempts to transport the tailor to the safehouse and make it back in time to deliver his speech at the fundraiser later that night. From the moments he arrives to retrieve the tailor, it’s obvious that this isn’t going to go exactly as planned.
What follows is a series of unfortunate events that take Brody to the edge. After the tailor reluctantly leaves his shop with Brody, they begin on semi-suspenseful car chase with a mysterious green truck that may or may not be the CIA. Either way, the two are taken off course as they attempt to evade any trouble, resulting in every terrorist’s worst nightmare: A flat tire in the middle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Without a jack to make changing the tire a slightly easier task, Brody and the tailor are forced to spend an unnecessary amount of time attempting to get the car up and ready again. This ample waiting period allows the tailor the time to plot an escape attempt, as he believes the safehouse is just one more step towards imminent death.
A few botched assassination attempts later (running over Brody with his car, throwing a rock at his head, etc.) and the tire is back up and running. However, as Brody stops at a gas station to fill up, the tailor escapes and runs for his life. Brody just can’t seem to catch a break. This latest episode continues the trend of having the audience led towards a conflicted sense of sympathy for the man. Damian Lewis continues to be brilliant as Brody, never letting his character become truly unlikable but always having enough of an edge to keep others at a distance.
Brody eventually catches up with the tailor, chasing him down in the forest and injuring him in the process. As Brody’s wife is becoming increasingly irritated by his inability to show up for the fundraiser on time, we see him struggle to balance his two roles. In act of desperation, he breaks the tailor’s neck, silencing him for good and maybe (just maybe) putting this whole episode behind him.
Homeland’s sweet spot is its ability to construct awe-inspiring visual contrasts. The final few scenes of “State of Independence” may solidify this episode as the best of this new season. As Brody’s wife fills in for her husband and gives her own speech, we cut to a scene of Brody furiously washing off blood in a gas statin. Here’s a man who is supposed to be a potential vice presidential candidate attempting to cleanse himself of murder with a hose in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, Brody’s wife is the one embracing the stately role presented to her, leading the audience at the fundraiser to a standing ovation. Brody and his wife seem to be operating on opposite ends of the spectrum.
The complement to Brody’s episode is the total vindication Carrie receives at the end of day. As returns home after a rather disappointing visit to Langley, she begins to contemplate taking her life. What ensues is a botched suicide attempt, as she realizes that there has to be more in store for her. And just in time, Saul comes to her door with news that may just save her life. As Saul shows Carrie the video footage of Brody’s post-bombing video, her whole life instantly becomes vindicated. The elation she feels is truly outstanding, and what follows next may lead her back to sanity.
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