Showtime
Where we left off: Saul sent Javadi back to Iran, Javadi revealed that the “real” Langley bomber is still in the U.S., and the entire Brody family took a break from the show.
“The Red Wheelbarrow”
In this episode, the team sets up a plan to draw the Langley bomber out of hiding, Quinn shoots Carrie to stop her from blowing their cover, and Saul takes a trip down south to say hello to Brody. Yup, things just got real.
After a lack of anything remotely interesting happening during the first half of this season, This episode makes up for the lack of everything interesting happening through the first half of the season by treating us to pure, unadulterated espionage. Before Javadi left for Iran, he told Carrie that the Langley bomber was not Brody and that the actual man who set off the bomb was still in the United States. It turns out that Paul Franklin and Leland Bennett, the two men from the super-secret law firm that has been in contact with Carrie, know who the bomber is. This news sets Saul’s team off into full spy mode as they carry out a plan to draw the suspect out into the open.
While the plan is in motion and the team is parked outside of a motel waiting for Franklin to make contact with the bomber, Carrie realizes that Franklin has a gun with a silencer on it and that he’s going to kill the bomber. The problem for Carrie is that she cares more about Brody than the mission, and if the real bomber is dead, then Brody won’t be able to clear his name. Because poor, little innocent Brody is her kryptonite, Carrie disobeys orders and gets out of her car to try and stop the murder from happening. And in a move that had me cheering and grabbing at my seat in suspense at the same time, Quinn followed orders and shot Carrie in the arm to prevent her from blowing their whole mission. Finally someone had the guts to take Carrie down and show her that she can’t just do whatever she wants to do. It’s nice to see that when we can’t count on Carrie to use her head over her heart, we can look to Quinn and know that he’ll make the right call.
The surprises don’t stop there. As Carrie is profusely bleeding on her way to the hospital, She realizes that Saul, their leader, is missing in action. Cut to Venezuela where Saul casually shows up to the exact building that Brody has been hung out to dry in. Once again, it’s revealed that Saul knows much, much more than he’s letting on. This whole time he’s known where Brody is, and because Brody’s not dead yet at the hands of El Nino, it looks like Saul has had a deal with El Nino for quite some time. It’s unclear what Saul’s next move will be, but he better make it quick before everyone’s least favorite senator replaces Saul in the CIA. (Also, let’s just talk about how Brody is going to have some serious drug addiction problems when he leaves Venezuela. Anyone else notice that he seemed to be surrounded by needles?)
And since it wouldn’t be Homeland without a little bit of soap opera drama, we should probably discuss the fact that Carrie is still pregnant. If we’re being completely realistic, there is no way that Carrie could handle raising a child. Currently, she is not mentally stable enough to care for another human being, considering she can’t even take proper care of herself. While the best move for Carrie might be for her to get an abortion, it looks like she doesn’t want to do that (after discussing it with her doctor). However, it’s highly unlikely that the writers will actually have Carrie have her baby. Chances are they’ll come up with some grandiose way to make the baby storyline disappear. When Quinn shot Carrie, I was 99 percent sure that she would have a miscarriage right then and there, and while it might have not happened upon impact, there’s still a chance that complications with arise in the hospital.
But for now, Carrie’s baby is yesterday’s news, considering her (possible) baby daddy is back in the picture. Hello, Brody.
Highlight of the episode: No Dana or Jessica. Thank God.
