Showtime
Where we left off: Dana finally realized what a mega creep Leo is and headed back home, Carrie was kidnapped by Javadi’s men, and Saul was told he’s not going to be become director of the CIA.
“Still Positive”
In this episode, Dana proves that she is a complete nightmare of a daughter, Saul reveals that he knows Javadi better than he initially let on, and Carrie is so pregnant.
Let’s just get the big reveal of the episode out of the way: Carrie is definitely pregnant. With whose baby? We don’t know yet, but we can only hope that it’s Brody’s and not the random guy she met in the liquor store because… come on. Although, either way you look at it, Homeland just became much more like Grey’s Anatomy than it has ever been before. We all know Carrie, and this is just not something she’s going to be handle well, especially since she’s presently in the middle of this “catching terrorists” thing. Adding this twist just means we’re going to be seeing a lot more of sad and overwhelmed Carrie, and that’s the worst.
While Carrie’s little surprise was the classic last-minute-of-Homeland shocker that the writers love to include at the end, the meat of the episode is a cat and mouse chase featuring Saul and Javadi. Apparently Saul has known the Iranian intelligence mastermind since the late ’70s when he betrayed Saul in Iran and killed four of his informants. As revenge, Saul helped Javadi’s wife and son escape the terrorist’s grasp. Now we know just how invested Saul really is in this plot to catch Javadi, which is a solid layer for him. Sometimes we forget that Saul has been doing this whole spy thing much longer than we give him credit for, and that the show isn’t just about Carrie.
Where things get really interesting, though, is when Carrie waits approximately five whole seconds before she drops a massive truth bomb and let’s Javadi know that they’ve trapped him. It’s a little strange that Saul and Carrie spent over three months planning and executing a ploy to capture Javadi, and then after less than an hour of it actually working out, Carrie shows him all of her cards. I guess there are positives and negatives to the rash move. No, we don’t get to see Carrie be an excellent double agent anymore, but we do get to see the plot move forward faster than it usually does. Also — and this might be the most important positive to Carrie’s move — Carrie is finally in control again. We’ve grown so used to seeing Carrie play second to Saul, but this time she’s calling the shots. It’s no fun to watch Carrie be insecure and unsure of herself (especially since we’re going to have enough of that with a baby plot to deal with); we love strong, confident Carrie way more.
So with Javadi finally playing by their rules, Carrie sets a meeting point where she’ll take him to Saul. But uh-oh, Javadi is seriously one evil man, and he has some things to finish up before he can meet with Saul. In one of the bloodiest and most terrifying scenes this season, Javadi shows up at the home of his now ex-wife, and ruthlessly stabs her to death with a broken bottle. And as Quinn notes as he takes Javadi away from the crime scene, “This is just the f**king beginning.” Yes, Quinn, yes it is.
Meanwhile in Dana’s fantasy world where she’s the only one that matters, she changes her last name (Brody) to her mom’s maiden name (Lazaro). This move is actually a nice touch and it gives us a feeling that she’s attempting to start fresh and finally move on from her father’s path of destruction. Too bad she takes it step too far and casually lets her mother know that she’s moving in with some girl named Angela that we’ve never met before. Here is what went through my mind while I watched the ridiculous Dana scene:
“What is wrong with Dana? What goes on in her head? She is a mother’s worst nightmare. Look at Chris chillin’ in the background — I think he might have forgotten how to speak. How is everyone okay with this? Where is she going? Who is Angela? What is happening? This isn’t normal. This episode was going places until Dana happened.”
Okay, Dana. That sounds like a great idea. We’ll see you back in your mother’s home when you realize that you don’t know everything about life yet. But hey, on the upside, maybe this means that Chris will finally get some attention from his mom, and you know, actually have a line to say.
Highlight of the episode: The fact that Carrie’s pregnancy test takes less than a second to give her the results.
Upset of the episode: Still no Brody. At this point, it’s not that I’m upset that he’s not in the episode, it’s that I don’t know when he’s coming back and I’m tired of waiting for him. Either bring him back or kill him for good.
