State of Play Review: Homeland,“Sock Puppets”

Another Homeland episode means Dar Adal commits yet another heinous deed. In this episode, Dar allows the Mossad to kidnap top CIA asset Majid Javadi, Chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Dar has to tie up loose ends. He convinced Javadi to lie to the President-elect and claim Iran was violating the nuclear deal. While Dar is meeting Javadi, he admits two Israeli thugs into the hotel room who throw a hood over the Iranian’s head and spirit him away in a hotel laundry basket to a probable brutal interrogation and execution.

Thanks to Javadi, Dar has convinced the incoming President to seek his advice on shaping a hardline policy towards Iran. As an aside, one of the more unrealistic aspects of this season is Dar’s frequent interaction with the President-elect. CIA directors are normally the principal contact for newly elected presidents and don’t delegate this to their subordinates. The CIA Director in Homeland this season simply doesn’t seem to exist.