State of Play Review: Homeland, “R is for Romeo”

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

Viewers can’t step out for popcorn while watching Homeland, or they might miss a fleeting glimpse of a person or object in a scene that foreshadows a later plot twist. Last week, while Dar toured the domestic propaganda operation, he noticed a photo on the computer of his co-conspirator, right wing TV host O’Keefe, and asked him about it. The photo, which only flashes for a brief second, is of Quinn.  O’Keefe brushes Dar off and continues the tour.

Dar decides to probe further. He arranges to free Max, Carrie’s friend locked up by O’Keefe’s security after he is caught with a smartphone with a clandestine video of Dar and O’Keefe. Dar whisks Max away and asks him to hack O’Keefe’s computer. Max discovers a website purportedly sponsored by Quinn and dubbed “Toxic Soldier,” laden with conspiracy theories and threats against President-elect Keane.

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