One of the most frustrating episodes of “Homeland” on Sunday also became the one of most grave personal danger to Carrie Mathison.
The business of the quite short episode — 46 minutes — was to clean up the fallout from last week’s mindbending twist and its annoying Dana side story, while setting up the crucial meeting between Carrie and the deputy chief of Iranian intelligence, lured from Canada to recruit this former high level spy, disgraced by the CIA and the Senate.
It began with the Iranian chief of staff sailing through the border in rural Vermont en route to the meeting.
Saul gave Peter Quinn the lowdown on the subterfuge they’ve been operating all season supposedly: slandering Carrie in front of a Senate intelligence committee and committing her to a mental institution — all to make her seem vulnerable and wounded enough to consider flipping for Iran, or at least draw them in.
Quinn’s reaction was the same one viewers had last week, involving an obscenity.
But still, the plan goes forward. Quinn was assigned to keep an eye on Carrie but to also stay out of the field of vision of the Iranians who are also watching her.
The main complication had to do with that Dana Brody secondary story, about the brooding teenager running away with her boyfriend from the clinic, Leo, who may have landed there on a sentencing deal after he shot his brother.
Putting her in such danger was tantamount to Kim Bauer being threatened by a mountain lion when “24” jumped the shark.
And presently it just leads to just more preposterous situations: Jessica Brody coming over to Carrie’s house to ask in help in finding Dana? “I literally have no one else to turn to” she said. But even Carrie knew it’s weird for her to be there asking, after all that’s happened.
Nonetheless (and equally as unbelievable) Carrie threw herself into this Dana situation, even if it meant jeopardizing her big Iranian operation, for which she had suffered for weeks to help put in place.
Carrie called a FBI guy we’re supposed to remember (but don’t), then snuck out of a big yoga class — a move that involved her hiring a lookalike with similar clothes to sub for her while she she slipped out the back out of view of all those tailing her, eventually getting a promise from this agent to look for Dana. Some people will do anything to avoid doing downward dog.
While on the lam, Dana heard that she’s a fugitive (through one of those fakey radio alerts) and that her companion Leo might be a killer, on an unusually detailed radio report at a gas station. From there she demanded truth from Leo, who eventually spilled it, but by then it was too late for Dana. She jumped out of the car and ditched him and was home again soon enough, telling her mom she was OK, though there’s tears when she’s alone. The whole escapade — and love affair — are apparently over.
Saul was sure Carrie has blown her cover with all of this subterfuge for Dana, but soon enough the former agent is kidnapped by Iranian intermediaries, who first stripped her down to see if she was hiding anything.
Then her head was covered in a sack and she was transported for her meeting with the Iranian bigwig, who complimented Carrie on her figure. “It must be all that yoga,” he said.
In between there was some pretty nifty Saul stuff, mostly at a Cheney-style goose-hunting event with the powerful senator he faced in the security hearing, who informs him that it is he who will be named new CIA director, not Saul. And they have radically different views on how to proceed (the senator prefers drone attack).
A bad day for Saul was capped when he went home early only to find his wife entertaining an old work pal from overseas. Saul didn’t want to talk about it; he was working the phone to make sure the Carrie thing was working out.
That won’t be easy either; Carrie was seen in coming attractions wired to a lie detector machine at the Iranian’s (and failing).