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.
Meanwhile, Carrie is caught violating the law. A plot twist surfaced in the previous episode when Sekou’s jihadist companion, Saad, was revealed to be an FBI informant. On national security grounds, the court bars Sekou’s defense team from contact with the informant, but Carrie confronts Saad only to learn he told the FBI Sekou was innocent. Saad informs the FBI about Carrie, and the Justice Department, angry over her violation of the court order, withdraws its plea deal and will prosecute Sekou.
Carrie’s violation, however, is matched by FBI agent Conlin. A somewhat contrived deus ex machina emerges when Carrie receives flowers from an anonymous source. Along with the flowers is a thumbdrive with an audio recording of Conlin urging his informant to entrap Sekou. Carrie confronts Conlin, and their sparring does reflect a topical debate, the sometimes very blurry line between free speech and supporting terrorism. Conlin claims Sekou was “on the brink” of terrorism while Carrie accuses him of fabricating evidence.
Conlin isn’t the only federal official bending the rules. CIA black ops chief Dar Adal plots against the incoming President by insisting Iran is violating the nuclear agreement. Saul is dispatched to Abu Dhabi to work with Mossad in interrogating Farad Nafisi, the purported Iranian middleman arranging covert nuclear cooperation with North Korea. Using the age-old honey trap, the Mossad lures Nafisi to an apartment for a tryst and instead is led to a room where Saul confronts him. Threatened with blackmail over compromising photos of his sex exploits, Nafisi denies he has been involved with the North Koreans and claims he is buying Russian anti-aircraft weapons.
Saul lets Nafisi go but tells the head Mossad agent he believes the Iranian is lying and is working a North Korea deal. He passes his conclusion by phone to Dar, who exaggerates to the President-elect, advising her that Iran is definitely violating the nuclear agreement and advocating a hard line against the regime.
President-elect Keane dislikes Dar and distrusts him even more. She relates Dar’s latest claim to Carrie, her unofficial advisor on the CIA. Carrie is suspicious and advises her to read Saul’s actual report. The advice may not work. Throughout the meeting, Dar Adal is sitting in a car nearby listening to the entire conversation. That rogue CIA is at it again—or at least one of its senior officers is.
Nailed it:
-When Carrie questions Dar’s information, she accurately notes that CIA analysts never (well, almost never) are that categorical, and in this case, Saul’s conclusion is hardly rock-solid evidence of Iranian collusion with North Korea.
-Carrie not only violates a court order but also implores a colleague from her Baghdad days to pass her transcripts of phone conversations so she can save Sekou. The agent wisely refuses—his career would indeed be over for passing classified information to an unauthorized person.
Failed it:
-In Abu Dhabi, Saul eludes surveillance by jumping out of a car and fleeing through a busy marketplace—hardly an optimal site. An obvious foreigner running through a crowd just might attract some attention. Then again, maybe Abu Dhabi surveillance just isn’t that effective.
-The CIA doesn’t use blackmail but Saul does by showing the Iranian compromising photos of his sex exploits. Of course, the Iran issue is time sensitive and the drama must move forward. While lengthy discussions to persuade a target may be more realistic, they would only produce yawns from viewers.
-Dar is violating the law by planting an audio device against a U.S. citizen (we presume he has no warrant), an especially egregious crime since his target is the incoming President. This CIA official is well over the line and bound for serious jail time—if he is caught. Stay tuned: Saul doesn’t take betrayal well and will surely clash with Dar when he learns of his colleague’s machinations.
