‘If she weren’t so bloodless, you’d really have to take your hat off to her’
Given that they captured the highest ranking traitor in American history, you can well understand Carrie and Saul’s frustration with Dar Adal. The black ops kingpin is an arch pragmatist though. If Allison’s crimes get out, it would be “a scandal from which the agency might never recover”. He favours sending her back to Langley, transferring the case over to counter-intelligence and hoping the matter can be contained. In a fit of fury, Saul roughs up Allison while berating her for her sundry killings and coverups, but it’s a futile gesture.
Once Bibi’s video is released, the whole game changes.
“This is my backyard, Dar,” Allison tells him, “I can help stop this thing.” And with that, she becomes a player once again, working with Dar and Saul to foil the attack. Just because you like handbags and daiquiris doesn’t mean you can’t love freedom. Krupin, who knows a thing or two about chemical reserves, confirms that Syria does indeed have enough chemical weapons to decimate a city the size of Berlin.
‘A terrible justice will be released on a European city’
Bibi releases the video demanding that the UN Security Council officially recognise the Islamic State in the next 24 hours. Qasim wonders why they make a demand that can never be met and Bibi gives him a primer in terror strategy. “So that their people can blame them for what’s about to happen. They might not listen to us this time, or the next, but the time after that, sooner than they think, they will realise that denying us will cost them more than they’re willing to pay.”
The attack will be on the Berlin underground, with sarin canisters let off at various points in the network, and entry and exit points cut off to maximise casualties. But once Bibi discovers that Quinn was administered atropine, he knows he can’t proceed without purging the traitor. A summary hazmat-pack search fingers Zaheer as the villain, and Bibi executes him in front of the men. Later he tells Qasim that he knows he is the real culprit and that only their blood ties saved his life. He assures him he won’t be as merciful next time.
‘Unfortunately, the artisan who created the mosaics was prolific’
The race against time is helped greatly when Dar passes on the intelligence that Quinn had infiltrated a Berlin cell headed by a nephew of Abu al-Qaduli. This leads the BND to Bibi Hamed and they finally have a focal point.
Having been sidelined by Dar, Carrie has no official role, but Astrid is happy to let her ride along with her. They watch Quinn’s video repeatedly together, scouring it for some clue or communication. The only potentially useful feature is the tile mosaic, traceable to one artist. This only narrows it down to 1,500 potential buildings, but after some rapid algorithm-running and data-crunching of Bibi’s credit card history, they are able to hone in on 39 addresses. The search teams are at the ready.
‘This has gone beyond lawyers and interests’
Some of the good work the Düring Foundation does involves representing the forgotten victims of the war on terror. Otto, Jonas and Laura persuade Faisal Marwan, an electronics shop owner wrongly imprisoned with the Plötzensee prison jihadis for three years, to bring a civil suit against the German government. During his deposition, Marwan reveals he once overheard talk of an attack on Berlin. It’s too big a revelation to keep quiet about but Otto gains assurances from Saul that Marwan will not be arrested and that his lawyer will be present during any questioning. Unfortunately for Marwan, the BND were not party to any such assurances and they snatch him up off the street right out of Otto’s hands. That civil suit may have to wait a while. If Marwan wasn’t radicalised before this, he may well be now.
‘They’ll posture and rant about how evil we are, then try to retaliate’
When Carrie and Astrid break into the jihadi lair, it’s as grim as expected when they find the lifeless body of Peter Quinn inside the chamber. The merest flickers of response let them know that he’s not done yet though. He’s extracted and taken to ICU, where he is set to make the most impressive comeback since Christ.
Quinn may have been spared but Berlin is still in peril. As we leave them, the jihadis are in their vans approaching the city’s historic Victory Column, looking to carve their own victory into the capital’s history.
Notes and queries
- With Quinn’s apparent death, The Claire Danes Cry Face Project got some new additions to its ever-expanding canon.
- It is jarring yet strangely comforting to see treasonous mass murderer Allison running the line for the good guys. Welcome to the new normal.
- Allison says that “nobody wants to see another Paris”, which is either a hasty overdubbed nod to the 13 November attacks or conceivably a reference to Charlie Hebdo.
- Could the government really keep quiet about a major chemical attack they knew was in the works? That’s Joe the State Department official’s position. I can see the case for keeping quiet (“We can’t give these assholes licence to send our cities into mass panic”), but Christmas shopping just got a bit more scary.
- It’s good that Saul and Etai are in the clear for the bomb on General Youssef’s plane, but would Krupin really give up that intel so readily? He has diplomatic immunity, so has no need for this kind of reckless candour.
- As Allison goes for a cigarette break, an old woman walking her red setter looks knowingly over at her. It could be just a woman and her dog, but they lingered just a heartbeat too long for it to be innocent. Didn’t they?
- “Stubborn as a mule. But beautiful, too.” I’m as attracted to Quinn as the next human, but there’s a time and place Astrid.
