This season’s parallel plots begin to converge in episode four. Carrie’s houseguest, Peter Quinn, still recovering from his near-death experience, hasn’t been involved in the political machinations between the President-elect and the CIA or in the FBI terrorism case against young Sekou Bah. In this episode, he is subtly woven into the Sekou Bah storyline.
Quinn’s old instincts resurfaced in a previous episode, when he figures out an intruder in Carrie’s house is a man living across the street. Spying on the building from his basement window, Quinn observes the stranger leaving the building at 2am, carrying a sack, and hopping into a car. Quinn hastily jumps into Carrie’s car to follow and tracks his prey to Long Island City, where the stranger exits and enters a parking lot.
Viewers have to pay close attention here. Quinn abandons a closer inspection of the area when the driver of an unmarked police vehicle suddenly appears and advises him his car is in a no parking zone. As Quinn drives off, he quickly photographs the facility, and we catch a fleeting glimpse of vans marked “Medina Medley.”
The company van later reappears when it turns out Sekou works as a driver for Medina Medley. Sekou gets his old job back after he is released from prison, because Carrie threatened the FBI with exposure of their illegal tactics. Although Sekou is obliged by the deal to keep silent, the rebellious lad immediately reveals on his website that his friend Massoud is an FBI informant. Carrie begs him to remove the posting, which leads to a discussion between the two on a principal theme of this season: the toll the fight against terrorism has taken on American society.
The scene shifts to Sekou driving his Medina van into the city. As he drives down a busy avenue in Manhattan, the van suddenly explodes. What was Quinn’s mysterious stranger carrying in that sack? Undoubtedly the bomb that killed Sekou. Since Quinn has made the connection, stay tuned to see him in the thick of this mystery.
Meanwhile, the friction between the President-elect and CIA’s Dar Adal intensifies. President-elect Keane is outraged about a news article alleging that CIA professionals are concerned she is ignoring warnings about Iran violating the nuclear agreement and is accommodating a state sponsor of terrorism. The conflict is eerily similar to this year’s actual presidential transition. At least President-elect Keane doesn’t compare the CIA to Nazis—that would be too unrealistic!
To counter Dar, the President-elect asks Carrie to provide compromising material on him. Carrie balks since she would be violating secrecy agreements. Dar later confronts her while she is picking up her daughter at a playground. He admits that he knows she is advising the President-elect and is “vulnerable.” The choice of venue underscores Dar’s implied threat against Carrie and her family. Carrie, as we know, doesn’t succumb easily to threats, and we predict she will agree to the President-elect’s request. The looming conflict between Carrie and the deliciously sinister Dar should be among the more gripping scenes in upcoming episodes.
Blast from the Past: Saul’s reunion with his sister turns out to be a cover story for him to meet Majid Javadi, chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). For those who may have forgotten, Javadi was blackmailed by Saul and Carrie three seasons ago into cooperating with the CIA. Javadi hasn’t been in the show since, and his sudden appearance seems a bit contrived. Saul wants Javadi to tell him whether Iran really is cheating on the nuclear deal but doesn’t get a straight answer. Considering the controversy over Iran, one would think the CIA might have questioned their most highly placed source earlier.
Nailed it:
Carrie seems skeptical—and rightly so—when President-elect Keane promises her that, while she’s in office, Carrie will never go to prison for violating secrecy agreements by passing blackmail material on Dar. After 911, CIA officers were advised that their counterterrorism activities were lawful only to be reinvestigated by the next administration.
Failed it:
-Saul’s meeting with IRGC chief Javadi fails it on a number of fronts. It strains credulity that, of all the places on the planet, an experienced CIA hand like Saul would meet a highly placed Iranian source in an area heavily monitored by Israeli intelligence. Saul’s serious tradecraft lapse bears the predictable fruit when the Israelis suspect his covert shenanigans and detain him—also improbable. The Israelis would be understandably upset about a CIA-IRGC secret meeting in their area but wouldn’t arrest a senior officer of their closest ally.
-Saul is very dramatically tossed into a van by Javadi’s men, blindfolded, and then taken to the meeting. So now five Iranians know about Javadi’s meeting with Saul, a senior CIA officer. Presumably Javadi has informed his superiors he is meeting with Saul under some pretext—or else he risks one of his five men compromising his illicit relationship.
-A senior CIA officer meets with his source, the chief of the IRGC, but doesn’t advise the CIA—highly unlikely, but in Homeland, it seems all the top agency operatives are rogue.
All of this illustrates the difference between intelligence fiction and reality. CIA tradecraft is designed to avoid drama—TV series like Homeland thrive on it.
