Homeland Season 6: “The Covenant”

Posted: February 1st, 2017

By Michael Sulick

Michael Sulick is the former director of CIA’s National Clandestine Service and is currently a consultant on counterintelligence and global risk assessment. Sulick also served as Chief of Counterintelligence and Chief of the Central Eurasia Division where he was responsible for intelligence collection operations and foreign liaison relationships in Russia, Eastern Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union. He is the author of Spying in America: Espionage From the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War and American Spies: Espionage Against the United States from the Cold War to the Present.

The latest episode of Homeland introduces new plot twists into the two parallel story lines: the government case against jihadist Seiku Bah and CIA officer Dar Adal’s conspiracy against the incoming President Elizabeth Keane. These twists all revolve around various characters breaking the law. Heroine Carrie Mathison, addicted to rule breaking, can’t resist doing so again, but in this episode, her violations of the law are matched by an eager FBI agent and scheming CIA official.

Carrie is also essential to the third story line; the trauma of Peter Quinn after his biowarfare poisoning by terrorists. As we predicted, Quinn is too action-oriented to remain in his despair for long. While still plagued by flashbacks, Quinn is well on the road to recovery by the end of the episode. After hearing an intruder rattling around Carrie’s apartment, Quinn senses imminent danger and visits the petty drug dealer who robbed him to buy a gun. After humbly agreeing to the inflated price, Quinn suddenly overturns a table to knock the thief to the floor and then whomps him with a rock-filled sock. The menacing look on Quinn’s face portends that our hero will soon be fully back in action.

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