In Homeland’s latest episode, the CIA’s Dar Adal tightens the screws further on those struggling to foil his plot. He directly threatens President-elect Keane, conspires with right-wing TV host Bret O’Keefe to release a video on her dead son’s supposed cowardice in battle, and neutralizes Carrie’s efforts to subvert his campaign.
The sudden cancellation of Carrie’s appointment with child services to see her daughter convinces her that her motherhood is in Dar’s hands. Fearing she will never see her daughter again, Carrie refuses to provide the deposition against Dar for lying to Congress, a tactic devised by the President-elect’s team to neutralize the CIA villain. As we noted last week, the tactic makes no sense. The President-elect doesn’t have to rely on an old offense by Dar; his tangled conspiracy has left a trail of juicy leads for investigators to follow, and more evidence surfaces in this episode.
Dar has left himself even more vulnerable by his latest scheme, supporting Bret O’Keefe’s front company, a network of trolls spouting right wing propaganda against the President-elect. The company has hundreds of employees who have seen O’Keefe leading Dar Adal on a tour of the operation, and all of them would be interviewed by FBI agents (remember that Carrie has revealed that FBI Agent Conlin was murdered immediately after visiting the company). The agents would undoubtedly learn that Dar is financing the operation with CIA funds, which is a violation of the law—U.S. national security agencies are prohibited from influencing U.S. public opinion.
Dar appears unstoppable. Once Carrie refuses the deposition, she is advised by child services that her visit to her daughter was mistakenly cancelled and is back on. Saul, meanwhile, has also withdrawn from the battle with Dar. He isn’t aware that Carrie changed her mind about the deposition, and convinced that his career and reputation will be ruined by it, he decides to flee the country. After obtaining alias passports and money, he arranges to meet his ex-wife to advise her he is fleeing and to prepare her for the inevitable interrogation by security investigators.
Saul’s meeting with his ex-wife fits a pattern this season, the reappearance of characters from past seasons whose involvement in the plots seemed finished. Quinn’s ex-girlfriend, German intel officer Astrid, reappears only to be killed by Dar’s accomplice, and Iranian Revolutionary Guard chief and CIA asset Javadi reappears to play a central role in convincing the President-elect of supposed Iranian duplicity in the nuclear agreement.
Just as Dar seems to have removed all the obstacles to his plot, the tide reverses once again. Saul’s ex convinces him not to flee, and instead, he goes to Carrie’s house to join forces with her again. While awaiting her, Saul opens an email on her computer from Max, her loyal former colleague who has infiltrated the propaganda company. The email includes a photo of Dar and O’Keefe at the front company, and now Saul has even more evidence of Dar’s machinations.
In the most dramatic scene of the episode, Dar’s oily efforts to manipulate President-elect Keane backfire. He provides her his suggestions for cabinet posts, all of whom are virulently opposed to her foreign policy positions. The meeting turns into a heated confrontation with Dar threatening Keane with war by the national security apparatus. Keane in turn promises to “put his ass in jail.”
And then there is Quinn, who acquires more information about Dar’s plot. He goes to a safe house once used by his special operations team only to discover a Medina company sign there. Now Quinn knows the military is complicit in Dar’s plot. In the closing scene of the episode, Quinn is reunited with Carrie in an abandoned building and tells her to look through the scope of a sniper rifle—in the crosshairs she sees Dar’s accomplice, the mysterious stranger. While many viewers would like him to pull the trigger, we’ll have to wait until next week to see if the Quinn has returned to form.
Nailed it: After Carrie refuses to give the deposition, the Attorney General (AG) nominee suggests offering immunity to Saul for his testimony against Dar. The AG advises that they go through proper channels for the deal, the Justice Department’s National Security Division and then an approach by FBI counterintelligence. This is the only accurate tidbit in the episode, which moves the season further and further from reality.
Failed it: Dar has crossed many a redline this season, including murder, but his threatening of the President-elect is almost as egregious. The current President and CIA Director are barely mentioned this season, but President-elect Keane could easily approach both of them, reveal what she knows about the plot, and vow that, once she’s in office, she will launch an investigation that will tarnish both their legacies. That would end Dar’s scheming abruptly—but, of course, it wouldn’t be very dramatic.
