M. A. T. H. I. S …
Yes, there are bombs, arrests and assassinations in tonight’s episode, but the scariest moment by far is the sight of Quinn spelling out Carrie’s surname on his spy decoder notepad. Can she really be his next target? And does that mean that Saul put out the hit on her in Beirut?
It was all going so well, too; Carrie back in her element in a Beirut jazz bar, soaking up the atmosphere with the knowledge that there’s someone “waiting for me back at home”. She keeps cool at the sound of gunfire (chill, Herr Düring, it’s probably a wedding), and even cooler when the mission inside the camp goes (predictably) off-script. She only drops her guard when she’s alone in an airport toilet, breaking down and praying out loud.
While ushering Düring around the camp, and getting his photo-op for the $10m cheque, Carrie does her best security meerkat impression, head bobbing up and down, scoping the crowd. Max Beesley (Beesley!) pulls the trigger on a wannabe suicide bomber; they jump into the SUV. Carrie pulls the brakes just before a bomb goes off. The driver scarpers, Carrie takes over, then goes into rogue agent mode at the airport. She’s determined to find out who is behind it; she’s not going home.
Quinn seems to be in his element on his covert ops trailing some potential suicide bombers. Rupert Friend does a lot with these no-dialogue scenes. keeping it together as he calmly assassinates a young woman and takes some pictures on his burner phone. If Carrie really is to be his next hit, does that suggest Homeland is preparing to make the most of their brief dalliance last time?
‘Did you see a cat?’
There’s always something a bit stagey about fake news shows on TV, and Laura’s interview isn’t that convincing. But it does give us some of Homeland’s quirky humour as the cops rifling through Laura’s belongings in her apartment listen to her talking about them on TV.
‘They want a skull’
Saul tries the old “my hands are tied” line while throwing Miranda Otto under the CIA bus. “If I was Carrie Mathison, what would you be doing right now?” she fires back at him, and it’s a fair point. (Although Allison probably hasn’t seen Carrie and Saul together recently). Allison’s next play? Going over Saul’s head to Dar Adal. “Who would you rather have on the ground here: him or me?” she asks, and you can practically see the cogs turning in Adal’s brain, moving the pieces around on his mental chess set. Which brings us to one of the big Homeland questions: is he to be trusted, and what actually is his endgame?
Notes and queries
In case you missed it, there was a fascinating report this week on the graffiti artists who were hired to add some authentic touches to the scenery of the refugee camp, and instead took the opportunity to write slogans such as “Homeland is racist” in Arabic on the walls.
“A conversation is not a deal.” Carrie plays what you might call the Corbyn line on the Düring Foundation’s meeting with Hezbollah.
“C’mon, Carrie it’s a play, right?” Her old contact Hank thinks the Düring job is a “classic trojan horse” – something she cooked up with Saul – which isn’t a bad theory, although if he’s really given the secret nod to Quinn, then that’s a pretty deep move.
“I was younger, alone, there wasn’t anyone waiting for me back at home … I’ve never had that before.” Er, what about her sister and dad looking after Baby Brody?
Nine months sober. It really is a new Carrie; wonder how the writers are going to play this side of her character in this season?
“Talk about a clusterfuck!” CIA Berlin chief Allison (Miranda Otto) doesn’t mince her words.
Saul leafing through photos of Carrie with Laura. The CIA must be one of the last organisations who actually print out hard copies of photos.
“I heard you, you have a loud voice.” Agent Astrid could be this year’s secret star.
