The threat of terror is no longer just a threat in the Homeland universe, and many characters are under siege.
First off, I’d like to give a shoutout to Homeland’s writers and producers for the eerily accurate Alex Jones style talk radio host that began the episode. Yikes.
Carrie learns from Reda that Sekou was driving the van that contained the bomb. She’s understandably shocked and in disbelief. Meanwhile, Quinn acts like a normal, compassionate human being while taking care of Franny. Reporters hound the house after Carrie leaves, and Quinn drags one of them into the house after awhile, tells her Carrie isn’t home or responsible, and proceeds to throw her down the stairs. So much for him being a “normal, compassionate human being.”
Over at Sekou’s apartment complex, his mother is inconsolable, his sister is insistent he didn’t blow himself up, and Conlin is irate and questioning Carrie about the source of the recording. Carrie meets with Roger about the recording, who denies giving her the recording. So…who in the hell gave it to her, then?
President elect Keane is choppered to a secure location. She does not appear to be pleased at being kept out of the loop for her own protection. Keane gets met at the secure location by… Dar Adal, who gives her a secure line to the White House and a briefing about the bombing, including Carrie’s defense of Sekou.
The situation at Carrie’s house gets tenuous when a crowd continues to develop. One of them breaks a window with a rock, and Quinn fires a shot that scatters the crowd and causes mass panic and chaos. Again, so much for that “normal, compassionate human being” stuff. Quinn proceeds to hide Franny and her nanny in a basement bathroom, which leads to… well, even more of a mess.
Carrie calls Conlin about the recording, and Conlin reveals the news is calling it a hostage situation at Carrie’s. Carrie attempts to explain what’s going on to the police, who ignore her. Naturally, the first member of the SWAT team to repel into the home is captured at gunpoint by Quinn, and dragged into a bedroom. The rest of the SWAT team pulls out. That went as well as expected.
Dar picks Saul up at the airport. Saul reveals that he believes Nafisi was lying during their interrogation, and that the whole thing was a pre-arranged charade. He also tells Dar that the visit to his sister was arranged solely so he could meet with Javadi to confirm his theory about Nafisi.
Quinn’s captive SWAT agent attempts to talk sense with him. It doesn’t progress. Carrie heads into the home to talk to Quinn, attempting to appeal to his emotional side. Carrie finds the tied up with duct tape over his nose and mouth in the closer. She removes the duct tape, and Quinn starts dragging him around. SWAT decides to make a move, breaching the home and arresting Quinn after Carrie tackles him to prevent him getting killed.
Keane still can’t get in touch with Rob, her chief of staff. The signal on her phone drops, and she goes upstairs to see the lady of the house watching bizarro Alex Jones on the TV Keane demanded but never received. He has a former general on, and the pair criticizes Keane’s forced evacuation.
Meanwhile back at Carrie’s place, she sends Franny and Leticia the nanny off to the nanny’s place. In the wreckage of her basement, she finds Quinn’s phone with the pictures of the surveillance across the street…and she watches for evidence of what Quinn saw.
Alright, so that was a heavy episode, centered around the two characters this show needs to be centered around – Quinn and Carrie. The bomb actually took a backseat to the hostage situation, even though all of the events in this episode really stemmed from that attack.
A monkey wrench got thrown into the situation when it was revealed Roger wasn’t the one who gave Carrie the recording. That, combined with Saul’s revelations about his time in the Middle East and the mystery man across the street, really is throwing a level of intrigue into this season that wasn’t there just a couple of episodes ago. It’s pretty clear that Sekou was being used as a patsy, and I’d expect him (or rather, his memory) to become a secondary figure in the second half of this season.
It appears all of these external forces are linked, but we still have no idea how they’re linked and who the puppet master is. The theory that seems like the obvious one to me is that it’s a US-backed conspiracy with the aim of forcing the country into taking action against Iran.
Think about it: the Muslim extremist (that wasn’t really much of an extremist) getting released thanks to a legal technicality made possible by a recording delivered to Carrie by someone higher up the food chain than her source. Cameras immediately being present for President elect Keane’s emergency evacuation, leaving her open to public ridicule in the face of her stance of backing away from conflict in the Middle East. The bomb apparently being planted on Sekou’s truck by the surveillance team from across the street.
All of these things are tied together, but just who exactly is the person (or agency, or country) behind the camera? Dar Adal almost seems like too obvious of a choice at this point, so it’s really our best guess right now. Maybe the Chief of Staff, who was mysteriously absent after the evacuation? That’s just a little too convenient…isn’t it?
After originally being skeptical about this season, I’m starting to buy in. We’re not even halfway through, and we’re beginning to see that these strands that seemed so boring and disconnected are all part of the same rope.
Homeland, you’ve got my attention. Let’s not make this too ridiculous now, shall we?
