Why do so many dramas hinge on showdowns in forlorn abandoned factories?
Aside from the barren atmosphere and all manner of possible hazards, it’s probably also really cheap to shoot at one. More than one finale of 24 occurred in abandoned factory, and the same producers took that to heart in their current thriller “Homeland” Sunday. [Here’s a recap: Spoilers abound]
When last week’s shocking episode wound up, Carrie ended up returning to the abandoned factory where Abu Nazir had been holding her hostage. She had been set free only after Brody gave Nazir the code number he needed to short circuit the Vice President’s pacemaker.
The new episode began with Carrie running through the building by herself, bloody and wild-eyed (as usual), carrying just a length of steel as a weapon. She caught a glimpse her prey before she tripped and fell, her steel bar clanging to the ground. By then, all manner of FBI backup had arrived, ready to scour the building for the top terror target.
Quinn was leading the way, and congratulated her work, but wondered: How did she get away anyway? Carrie had to think quick, but told him she escaped. No use bring up the whole scheme of Brody trading the lethal numbers for her release. That would get messy.
Where was Saul? Carrie wondered. Probably dealing with the vice presidential situation, Quinn replied. “What situation?” she asked. She hadn’t heard how the Vice President thing had played out.
Saul was not dealing with that situation, though, and in fact was being held at Langley for questioning meant to incriminate him and force him to either quit or tie him up in hearings for the rest of his career. This is all to cover up the fact that he knew that the head of the CIA David Estes is plotting to have a U.S. Congressman assassinated, he says. The polygraph showed he wasn’t lying about that.
Back at the factory, Carrie couldn’t believe the response teams had missed Abu Nazir. He was just there, so he must have escaped with the help of somebody in the inside, she declared. Who could it have been? Well Danny Galvez just took off, and he’s a Muslim, so it must be him. This is another “24” trope, making you feel bad about religious targeting, but going ahead with it anyway.
But when they track that guy down, throw him to the ground (he still has injuries from Gettysburg), they don’t find Nazir in his car. It was another strike against Carrie.
A third came when she wandered in to interview Roya Hammad, the Nazir go-between to Brody, in custody at headquarters. Carrie tried the sympathy move with her, which backfired badly when Roya turned against her.
Carrie started to feel she had been of no use whatever, until she was driving home and figured that something Roya told her, that Nazir would never run, which she realized meant he was still back at that old factory. So she went back on her own, enlisted the last remaining FBI crew to look one more time for Nazir. (All this time I’m thinking just: Whose car is she driving? Didn’t she have her car totaled when Nazir nabbed her?).
As a second sweep of the factory tunnels was conducted, naturally Carrie saw something everyone else had missed, and behind a false wall sure enough there was a bunker where Nazir had been. But where was he now?
Like the phantom boogeyman he was, he pounced out of the dark to slice the throat of the FBI field agent and then went after Carrie. Therefore: More factory pursuit, with heightened tension. And ultimately, the No. 1 terrorist target in the world was found and surrounded. When he reached for something in his pocket, though, he was shot to death.
Two big leaders killed in two consecutive weeks: You can’t say things aren’t happening on “Homeland.”
Once Nazir was dead, though, David Estes was quite direct in ordering the hit on Brody. Saul was against it, as they had a deal with Brody. But Estes ordered Quinn to do the deed the sooner the better.
The action might put Brody out of his misery. Back with his family at the safe house, daughter Dana screamed it would be better if he got out of their lives altogether; Mike was better. Jess is not much better, she said it was no time to make a decision.
When word came that Nazir was dead, Brody had an odd reaction in crying briefly. He didn’t even try to explain that it was out of relief or something. Then he straightened up and drove home. The kids were happy to be there, but he couldn’t get out of the car.
Then he and Jess had another one of those extraordinary exchanges on Homeland, a realistic, adult conversation about the sad end of their marriage, which he said was ruined when he went to Iraq. He began to tell her the actual truth about that first attempt on the vice president, but she doesn’t want to hear it. She asked if Carrie knew the whole truth and realizes that he loved her instead. The whole scene raises Morena Baccarin’s acting to a level of that of Damian Lewis’ Brody.
The strength of Brody’s feelings for Carrie still comes as kind of a surprise. When it comes to choosing between the life of her and the vice president, it was no question, he told her when he ends up over at her house.
His showing up at Carrie’s house puts Quinn’s assignment off for a bit; it looks like that will consume most of next week’s finale, according to the preview.
“Nothing will prepare you for the finale,” the tagline promised. At least it won’t be in an abandoned factory.