Homeland - Recap: Keep Calm and Carrie On

Credit: Kent Smith/SHOWTIME

The main story focuses on the tail end of Carrie's stay in the psych ward, as she's going completely stir crazy. She allows herself a little optimism, however, as her doctors have all agreed she is well enough to be granted release. Her release is merely a formality at this point, necessitating a sign-off from a judge. Carrie appears at her hearing and makes a great case for her own wellness, but as she and her lawyer are waiting outside during the panel's deliberations, she witnesses Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham) leaving from the general direction of the conferencing room. All of a sudden, Carrie's sure thing is no longer certain. The judge reveals that he cannot release Carrie because she has been classified a national security risk by the Department of Justice, who collectively fear she will reveal state secrets if she is released. So Carrie is placed back on an indefinite hold, and it's enough to finally break her. She calls her father to tell him to let Saul know she gives up, that she'll do anything he asks if he'll simply allow her to leave this miserable place. No sooner does she make the call than the order comes through from the Maryland circuit court, granting her release on appeal.

Credit: Kent Smith/SHOWTIME

But Carrie doesn't exactly have her freedom. As she attempts to get her life back in order, she discovers that the CIA has frozen her bank account, cancelled her credit cards, placed her on a no-fly list, and voided her passport. In essence, she's as vulnerable and alone as she's ever been, making her the perfect candidate for turning, a la Brody. Carrie is once again approached by the shady organization from last week, as the lawyer takes her to meet another member of their organization, a Mr. Leland Bennett (Martin Donovan), who tries to sell her on helping them out with state secrets. Carrie swears she isn't a traitor to her country, yet Bennett sees things differently. He tells her that the CIA has been gradually "controversializing" her, drawing attention away from their own failings by making every CIA-related story in the press about her. It's not a bad theory that he floats, and it has even further credence when he theorizes that it won't be long before the CIA has her killed, and calls it a suicide. As she weighs the words in her mind, Carrie slowly succumbs to Bennett's arguments. He reveals that he represents the Iranians, and though this initially turns Carrie off to the idea of helping him, she inevitably gives in...but there are conditions: she'll only meet Bennett's client face-to-face, and she'll never name names, as she doesn't want to jeopardize any agents currently in the field. Bennett agrees to the arrangement, and we suddenly have Carrie Mathison: American Traitor.

Credit: Kent Smith/SHOWTIME

Except, that isn't the case at all. Saul (Mandy Patinkin) has been working with Fara (Nazanin Boniadi) to track down The Magician, the Iranian militant responsible for the Langley bombing. The investigation leads to the revelation that the Magician is currently hiding in Venezuela, and this discovery is made due to the Magician's inability to contain his love for soccer. The terrorist has been using the soccer club he owns in order to launder the $45 million he stole from the Iranian government, and though Fara wants to move on this intelligence right away, Saul thinks it more prudent to sit on it for the moment...and we soon see why. In the last five minutes of the episode, Carrie meets with Saul, and it's here that we learn we've all essentially been duped. Carrie and Saul concocted everything -- the public shaming during Saul's testimony, the leak about her relationship with Brody, her commitment to the psych ward, the freezing of all her funds -- in order to get the Magician's people to approach Carrie about turning. By securing a one-on-one meeting with the Magician, the CIA will be able to catch the perpetrator in person and, potentially, alive.

Credit: Kent Smith/SHOWTIME

It's a hell of a bombshell, and it elevates an otherwise meandering episode by sheer virtue of getting the show back to one of its strongest elements: the relationship between Carrie and Saul. In that perfectly fatherly way he does, Saul cups Carrie's face in his hands and commends her for being as brave as she's been all this time, and her inevitable breakdown in Saul's arms is the most honest moment in the episode. Just beautiful, and played so expertly by Danes and Patinkin that I never got to actually thinking about the implausibility of everything about Carrie's psych stay being a plan (such as her acting crazy when no one was around to see it, whether it was watching Saul's testimony or banging her head against the glass in the psych ward bathroom). It could always be a strong story, but I kind of love the story we have now, if only for how wonderfully it ties into everything else we've been shown so far this season.

Well, except for the Dana Brody storyline. I once again feel the need to reiterate that I absolutely love Morgan Saylor in this role, but it's not all that uncommon to like an actress better than you might like her storylines. And this is totally the case with me. I can appreciate that the show might be doing a meta critique of itself, showing how ridiculous it was to focus on a lovey-dovey romance (Carrie/Brody) in the middle of a more serious, high-minded CIA drama. But even if that's what they're going for, I just can't see how that justifies a weightless storyline in which Dana runs off with her boyfriend, Leo (Sam Underwood), only for Jessica (Morena Baccarin) and Mike (Diego Klattenhoff) to discover that Leo is basically responsible for the death of his brother, as the result of some botched suicide pact between the two. Apparently, he was only sent to the rehab in order to avoid going to prison on a homicide charge. It's such a startlingly random change in tone that it just brings the episode to a crashing halt any time this story is onscreen.

Credit: Kent Smith/SHOWTIME

The only salient moments are when Jessica has to endure the lingering specter of Brody, as Leo's parents blame Dana's influence on Leo running off, implying that she takes after her infamous father. Jessica telling Mike that she "could just kill Brody" is one of the more raw moments Morena Baccarin has delivered in recent weeks, and it's remarkably effective here. Even Dana's brief monologue, in which she recollects to Leo her memories from the day Brody first departed for Afghanistan when she was eight, proves affecting. But everything else just feels like a waste of screentime. I'd love to know where this is all going, but after last season's Dana romance, I'm not entirely convinced it's actually going anywhere at all. I'd be ecstatic to be proven wrong though.

"Game On" is a middle-of-the-road episode saved by a magnificent last-minute twist that elevates everything around it. Now that the show has its overarching narrative for the season, coupled with Carrie's return into the midst of all this espionage, the series can get back to feeling as purposeful as it did in earlier season. The performances remain uniformly strong, and it's good to see the writing catch up this week.

Thanks for reading my recap and review of Homeland - Season 3 Episode 4, "Game On"!