by Robbie Jones
Somewhat of a slow burner this week on Homeland, especially compared to last week’s stunning episode, but it all resulted in a tense climax with a shocking twist that’s left us reeling in anticipation for next week’s finale.
Somewhat of a slow burner this week on Homeland, especially compared to last week’s stunning episode, but it all resulted in a tense climax with a shocking twist that’s left us reeling in anticipation for next week’s finale.
But first, Homeland has finally acknowledged the death of cast member James Rebhorn. Rebhorn played Carrie’s also bipolar suffering father Frank, and passed away back in March from Melanoma. It’s been hard to tell whether or not the way they were hiding him in the series was intentional or due to his death; in the beginning of the season, when Carrie visits Maggie back home, Frank is mentioned several times, but almost in a way that’s as if they’re trying to keep him out of it without revealing he’s dead. Of course, this may or may not have been filmed before his death, and could be an intentional exclusion. Either way, his death had to crop up soon. Frank had been made too important a character in Carrie’s life for his death to be completely ignored. It certainly hits Carrie hard, at a time when she needs it the least. Rebhorn did a fantastic job of playing Carrie’s father, and will be sorely missed.
This episode did have some disappointing factors to it, but luckily none that qualify it for a bad episode. The main issue was the lack of a torture scene; at the end of last week’s episode, we saw Quinn prepare Farhad Gazi for torture. However, this isn’t mentioned again in this week’s episode. We don’t know for sure if it happened or not, all we see is that he took his phone. This is extremely disappointing, as 13 Hours in Islamabad gave us a darker Quinn, and we were hugely anticipating something gritty, but that something never came. The other problem this episode had was Maury Sterling trying too hard as surveillance expert Max. It makes no sense why he was kept as a recurring character whilst brother Virgil seems to have been completely forgotten about, even though he was a main freaking cast member in Season Two. Sterling isn’t a bad actor, Max just isn’t an interesting character, and he’s trying too hard to make him anything otherwise.
This episode did have some disappointing factors to it, but luckily none that qualify it for a bad episode. The main issue was the lack of a torture scene; at the end of last week’s episode, we saw Quinn prepare Farhad Gazi for torture. However, this isn’t mentioned again in this week’s episode. We don’t know for sure if it happened or not, all we see is that he took his phone. This is extremely disappointing, as 13 Hours in Islamabad gave us a darker Quinn, and we were hugely anticipating something gritty, but that something never came. The other problem this episode had was Maury Sterling trying too hard as surveillance expert Max. It makes no sense why he was kept as a recurring character whilst brother Virgil seems to have been completely forgotten about, even though he was a main freaking cast member in Season Two. Sterling isn’t a bad actor, Max just isn’t an interesting character, and he’s trying too hard to make him anything otherwise.
Still, despite no torture, the Quinn output of this episode was fantastic. With help from an old flame, Quinn has located Haissam Freakin’ Haqqani and is ready to blow him to pieces with a bomb he’s built himself, throwing back to his inventive ways at the start of Season Three. He places the bomb under a grate over which Haqqani is to drive over in the midst of a protest (Following Quinn’s leak of Aayan’s murder), but Carrie gets in the way, forcing Quinn to abort the mission. It was an extremely tense moment, but in the end, we all knew Quinn couldn’t kill Carrie, and Carrie couldn’t let Quinn die. But as Haqqani sits through the sunroof and gloats, Carrie thinks of Aayan’s death and prepares to shoot him, until Khan stops her, pointing out to her who’s sat in the car with him....
It seems they were seriously counting on people not reading the opening credits of the episode this week. At this point, it’s safe to assume that no one pays attention to them at this point in the season, but I noticed that F. Murray Abraham was credited in the episode after not appearing for quite some time, so it was confusing to not see him for the entire episode. But then you do see him, at the very end.
It seems they were seriously counting on people not reading the opening credits of the episode this week. At this point, it’s safe to assume that no one pays attention to them at this point in the season, but I noticed that F. Murray Abraham was credited in the episode after not appearing for quite some time, so it was confusing to not see him for the entire episode. But then you do see him, at the very end.
Next week looks amazing, but before we discuss that: Is it too late now to find out who the mole is? For the show’s first two seasons, it was paraded around a lot that there was a mole inside the CIA, yet we never actually find out who it is. The popular fan theory was Saul, as it would be a heart crushing twist, but is there any point now? Does it really matter? And for all we know, the mole died at the end of Season Two when the CIA was attacked.
But the Saul theories are likely to crop up again as he looks guilty as hell in the promo for the finale, and oh my Lord it looks fantastic. The promo not only treats us to worrying clips of Saul, but we also see Carrie back at home (Though things look far from peaceful), and Quinn jacking up with fellow soldiers as though they are about to embark on some kind of mission. Here’s our theory: At the end of the promo, we see Dar Adal and Carrie facing off, and earlier on in the trailer, a mysterious car is outside Carrie’s house. Now the background of the Adal/Carrie face off looks very similar to the Mathison house.....Could Dar Adal be holding her hostage, and Quinn and the gang are on a mission to save her? It’s plausible, though Quinn is actually at an air base, with a plane outside. Perhaps he’s taking on Haqqani whilst Carrie sorts out Adal? Oh it’s all very exciting! One more week and the shit does down....Will Haqqani meet his demise?
But the Saul theories are likely to crop up again as he looks guilty as hell in the promo for the finale, and oh my Lord it looks fantastic. The promo not only treats us to worrying clips of Saul, but we also see Carrie back at home (Though things look far from peaceful), and Quinn jacking up with fellow soldiers as though they are about to embark on some kind of mission. Here’s our theory: At the end of the promo, we see Dar Adal and Carrie facing off, and earlier on in the trailer, a mysterious car is outside Carrie’s house. Now the background of the Adal/Carrie face off looks very similar to the Mathison house.....Could Dar Adal be holding her hostage, and Quinn and the gang are on a mission to save her? It’s plausible, though Quinn is actually at an air base, with a plane outside. Perhaps he’s taking on Haqqani whilst Carrie sorts out Adal? Oh it’s all very exciting! One more week and the shit does down....Will Haqqani meet his demise?
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