Homeland - S3E4 - Game On
Previously on Homeland: ‘Tower of David’
Well holy shit, Homeland, you magnificent sons of bitches! Start dusting off your awards season smiles again, because you crazy kids pulled the rug out from under all of us. Still not my favorite episode…but let’s break it down!
A little psych ward camaraderie, anyone? Carrie wakes up in this episode and her little eyes spy a woman, who is very Carrie like, getting subdued by not so welcome meds. This means something, right? Who knows, who cares? Where is Brody?
Back in the land of the CIA, Fara is still working on the dirty money trail for Saul. She has identified that 5% of the money in question is skimmed off in Caracas every month and washed clean. The money is being stripped down into small bills and under the guise of local soccer stadium receipts. The scheme has worked so far to the tune of at least $45 million of Fara’s estimates, but that’s not what troubles Saul’s beard. The major candidate behind these shenanigans that they have come up with is a man named Nasser Hejazi, who happens to be a real life Iranian Football goal keeper, and also happens to be dead. This is why I watch American Football… so much less confusing!
Dar Adal walks into the meeting between Saul and Fara, but Saul quickly shushes him away. Dick. Saul makes a connection between his new “Monster of the Season”, Javadi and this new info, prompting a smile from Fara, but she’s still wearing a head scarf so he could insult her in any minute. Can’t get too comfortable.
So, Carrie is trying once again to get out of the psych ward. She seems far more prepared for this hearing, but it must be acknowledged that when she asks for some blush from her lawyer she starts to frantically dig into her cheeks hoping to bring some blood to the surface instead. Jesus! Whores wear rouge. Ladies pinch. Crazies claw at their face.
Despite the rave reviews from nurse Abby, her doctors and monitors, all saying she should be discharged as an out patient loon to her family, there is a recess to discuss.
In the waiting room, Carrie notices Dar Adal leaving the wing right before they are called back in. When back in session, the magistrate basically tells Carrie that she has been declared a security risk in a new line of government protocol he has never fucking heard of, but that he has to go with it because that’s the way the CIA cookie crumbles. On her way back to her room she sees the woman from earlier who was subdued now a pile of goo in a wheel chair. She also takes her meds like a good girl from a bitchy nurse I will be calling Nurse Ratchet if she pulls any more ‘tude with Carrie.
Goddammit, Dana!
Dana’s back and her boyfriend Leo is on his chow line in the junior psych ward when he sneaks off and breaks out of the building. He sets off the building alarm as he races down the property into a getaway car with Dana waiting for him. How the fuck did these kids coordinate this?
Anywho, they’re speeding down the back roads of I Don’t Give A Fuck with Leo smoking some weed and Dana screening her mother’s calls to the point of Leo tossing the phone out the window. Jess is forced to meet Leo’s parents at the facility along with some state cops trying to find these star-crossed lovers, and they throw maximum shade at Clan Brody. Dana and Leo trade out Jess’s Subaru at some back ass chop shop and hit the road to make more decisions I don’t give a shit about.
Get Out of Jail Not-So-Free Card
While Carrie laments on her cot, nurse Abby busts in with a judicial order to have Carrie released… like, seriously. She takes a cab back home to find lawyer and middle man Paul Franklin hanging in her living room. It’s made clear his law firm and the aforementioned partner are responsible for her release, and Carrie is asked to meet with him the next morning at 8am.
So, you know…fuck that noise. Carrie frantically packs what might be a “Going Away Forever Bag”, complete with her meds and passport (which we later find out is no longer valid) only to find out that her car has been missing from the parking lot for days. Also missing? Money. When trying to take out cash we find they have frozen her accounts, and by “they” I mean The Department of Justice. Carrie makes a frantic call to Virgil hoping to at least borrow his van to get the hell out of dodge, but Virgil’s wire is being recorded. He ends the phone call a la Mark Wahlberg with a ‘Say hi to yawr motha fawr me!’ as a clear hint to Carrie that he can’t do shit to help her, but to let her know the D.O.J. is on her A.S.S.
The Game Begins
After Carrie crashes with her one-time bar hook up for the night, she is swiftly picked up by Franklin and off to meet law partner, and get thee out of the nut house extraordinaire, Leeland Bennett. Carrie continues her tough girl stance about not being able to be bought and sold, while Bennett explains that his firm has long standing affiliations with clients in the Middle East - namely Iran - who was behind the 12/12 Langley bombing. They’d like to pick Carrie’s brain about the retaliation murders, amongst other things held up in her dome.
Carrie is just about to say goodbye to Bennett with a mighty, “Fuck You!” but he’s able to reel her back in with the fact that if she doesn’t cooperate the D.O.J will have her back in lockdown by the end of the day. He explains how she is being “Controversialized”. Play that shit in Words With Friends! To sum it up, he reminds her that she’s been completely thrown under the bus because of her bipolar sexy terrorist time. It’s only a matter of time before her risk to the government runs too deep and they off her.
With that, Carrie folds. Bennett offers her freedom and money and everything but a tissue to mop up her crocodile tears. Carrie agrees, but will only meet with his client directly (likely Javadi), and refuses to negotiate on naming any names in the field at risk.
Then comes the Fuck You, who could resist?
Don’t Hate The Player… Hate The Game?
Personally…I was getting pretty fucking fed up with Carrie. Not just the whole I don’t need my meds thing, but she was being way too Carrie for me and without Brody in the same room I just want to smack some sense into her. That was until she shows up at in the episode’s final moments at Saul’s home.
After reassuring him that she took 5 hours worth of steps to not be followed she says, “It worked, Saul.”…and then my brain exploded a little. A master plan of Carrie getting picked up by the law firm and getting a meeting with none other than Javadi had been in the works maybe this entire time. Saul offers her a nice cup of tea, and I have to admit, I really wanted them to cut away to Quinn watching the entire exchange from the bushes.
Quinn is going to fuck some shit up.
