I’m not going to tell you here. It’s not necessary for this review that you know the identity of the person but, suffice to say, it’s not Saul. It’s important I tell you that because it sets up what happens at the end of the episode rather well, but we’ll get to that later.
In the middle of all this, as I mentioned before, Dana and Leo are still driving around. They’re slowly running out of money, but they still love each other. Right? Well, after Carrie’s word to her agent friend, it gets out to the news networks that Nick Brody’s daughter is on the run. Not only that, but she’s with a psychiatric patient who (as we discovered last episode) may or may not have murdered his brother in a suicide pact. She hears the news coverage in a gas station and, not having previously known about Leo’s potentially murderous past, she is pissed off.
It struck me when Leo lost focus on driving and almost collided with an oncoming car that if the writers had balls, that’s what should happen – Dana and Leo should have died on this trip. If they were both killed, it’d solve a number of problems – they’d be linked in the eyes of the news media; Jess Brody would get a bit of sympathy over the death of her daughter; and it would give Brody an impetus to return to the country. They don’t die though – unfortunately, they live.
Does this mean that the Dana/Leo road trip is over? Yes. Dana is safe and sound, crying in her bedroom at the end of the episode. Does this mean that a potential psychopath has a topless selfie that Dana sent a couple of episodes ago, to be released to the public at will? Yes it does. Will this occupy the next phase of Homeland‘s third season? Yes it will. Most certainly. The landscape of the next few episodes will be based around the end of Saul’s acting directorship of the CIA, and how he acclimatizes to the new, very different atmosphere; how Dana and Leo will contact each other further; and the fun that Carrie will have at the hands of Iranian terrorists.
Iranian terrorists? Well, you remember the meeting that Carrie agreed to make with Javadi, face to face? Well, that happened. I’d like to commend the team behind Homeland for doing the break-in so subtly, and amping up the home-invasion angle much more effectively in doing so. It was discombobulating how quickly Carrie went from lying in bed to being strip-searched by Iranian terrorists, to be taken to Javadi’s lair. And how charming is Javadi? Insisting on only speaking English, getting sauce from his huge sandwich on his shirt, and apparently having a daughter in the US? Another story point to be investigated in a few episodes, no doubt. He’s definitely not your typical, 24 villain. No way.
Finally, let’s extend a hand of support to Saul. Cuckolded at work and at home, the guy just can’t catch a break. He returned home after discovering he was to be rejected as Director of the CIA to find Samira. Oh, Samira. After seeming like such a good wife – more a carer, in recent episodes – she’s now possibly having an affair. How could she do that to Saul? I think the most shocking part was how little Saul seemed to care. No confrontation, no macho posturing, nothing. He just carried on advising Quinn in the operation to secure Carrie’s house. Agents watching terrorists watching agents – Homeland, everybody.
Random Robservations:
- Why, oh why, did Carrie throw away her meds? She clearly needs her meds. Either do the job you chose and take your meds, or quit your job and lose the meds. You can’t have both, Carrie! People die!
- Javadi might be the show’s Gus Fring. Cool, calm, psychotic?
- No Brody again this episode. With the show confirmed to continue through 2014, it looks like he won’t feel the sweet release of death anytime soon. That said, SOMEBODY NEEDS TO DIE. It’ll give the whole show a kick in the ass.
- Please don’t kill Virgil.