Cut to Casa de Brody. Now for the social-climbing backlash to the Quaker uproar. Good wife Jessica is furious about the wordplay between her kid and the uppercrust of the prepubescent Washington elite. Most egregious is the remark that Brody is a Muslim of course. Dana says it was a mistake, but Jessica is understandably perplexed and troubled at such a strange lie, until Brody is pressured to admit it is true in order to be a good dad.
“I’ve got to stop telling my deepest darkest secrets to teenaged girls”
Jessica freaks and runs out to the garage, because that’s where he prays and presumably she likes visual confirmation. Brody hangs back to tell Dana it’s OK and I am convinced his daughter is again going to be the only thing that might save him.
Tennis balls and oil cans flying, Jess is ripping through the garage looking for Muslim secrets. Brody comes in just as she finds his well-loved Qur’an. She starts telling him that it all makes sense now, how much time he was spending out there. She says it hurts her to be lied to every day and then voices her real issue- how could he be Muslim when he was tortured by Muslims for 8 years?
“You know I can’t read!”
She points out that their daughter would be stoned to death by a fanatic Muslim community for having sex with her boyfriend. I’m hoping that’s not the first time Dad is learning this! She throws his Qur’an to the floor and he instinctively grabs them and says “that’s not supposed to touch the floor!” Well, now we have a real showdown. Jessica goes from angry yelling to cold shaming and says she married a US Marine who is now a Congressman. She tells him that this can’t happen and the track he’s on now does not allow for him to continue these crazy antics.
Brody stands in dejected acceptance at the truth in her logic and as she’s leaving she turns to ask “Does she know?” Ooooh, now we’re bringing up the specter of his affair with Carrie, which Jessica found out about last season. Turns out all the crazy things Carrie said on their lawn when she was trying to stop the boom-boom-vest attack are coming back to Jessica and suddenly not sounding as crazy. Brody dismisses this by saying Carrie was found to be imbalanced and locked away into a mental facility. Ah, the old “that bitch is crazy” defense!
In Syria! The poor man’s Minnie Driver that has been coaching Carrie wakes her up and tells her it’s time to move out. Carrie is disoriented and foggy, and frankly it’s 7:30am EST so I’m not sure why she’s acting like the time difference here is like being awoken at the equivalent of 3am. Maybe the issue is a lack of her meds?
Washington DC -Action time! Brody comes into the CIA building looking spooked already, while Estes is on the phone with Sal discussing whether Carrie is capable of this task. He is having this conversation all while overlooking Brody’s screening process.
“It’s weird boss, my Terrorist Wand keeps beeping!”
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8 Comments
I LOVE this show. Carries big ass smile at the end was great. I had a big smile and was laughing . One thing I remembered when I saw the previous season re-runs they had on. When Sol took the lie detector test the needle spiked when they asked about slipping the terrorist a razor blade. He ran out of the room and never finished the test. I hope he is a good guy but it’s something to think about. So great to have this show back. Good job on the recap…I am sure it’s tough to recap with everything going on. Carrie and her dad are bipolar.
@JKW – I loved that moment of her being back on her game too! I had forgotten about Saul (spelling correction alert!) having a possibly shady backstory, but as her only supporter it makes sense that he has an unorthodox story somewhere too.
Also thanks for the correction! I don’t know why I was thinking schizophrenic, I even read recently that Claire Danes did an extensive amount of research on the behavior and affectations of bipolar people to study her role. She’s getting major kudos from the medical and mental health community for her portrayal.
Now I am interested. What does the US Embassy in Beirut look like? I am always interested in how television shows or movies portray other countries especially when they get it wrong. Was the portrayal of Beirut at all factual? Okay back to recap.
I am very biased because Lebanon and Beirut specifically is one my favorite places. Beirut is moder, metropolitan, diverse and developed. The cafes, clubs and shops are some of the best in the world. Beirut used to be called the Paris of the Middle East and has worked very hard to rebuild that since the war. The most “rustic” thing about the city is the bullet holes that still riddle many of the buildings.
My guess is the filming took place in a smaller village outskirt in Israel or Jordan. It looks like Egypt but there’s no way they could have filmed there recently. Also Lebanon is very liberal. The offices we worked with had women in headscarves and also women who looked like they shopped at Bebe for work clothes. It was more conservative in more rural regions, but I travelled from Tripoli to Tyre and was never looked at askance in short sleeves, long shorts and an uncovered head.
As for security, the US building there are extremely guarded. In general all embassies are compounds with perimeter walls that are mandated to be a certain height and thickness. There is also a regulation on how far from the first building the wall must be (space for people outside with rocket launchers etc), and how thick the outside walls of the buildings must be. In regions with strife the roads and entrances would be cordoned off and heavily patrolled and guarded. I was there in a relatively peaceful period 3 years ago and we still never left the hotel without a convoy of armored, tinted cars. Much less driving out of an Embassy in a single sedan through the front entrance. Its laughable.
The regional unrest and deepseated strife is a shame because Lebanon is lovely and very lush. Their national symbol is a tree because of their dense forests. Beirut is located on the sea and has a lovely coastline and mountainous topography. The city is very hilly and views of the harbor are breathtaking. The food and hospitality of the Lebanese is fantastic and traditional dinners are a hours-long 50+ plate affair. The cost of war is dear in both lives and culture for us all.
Glad you caught the Schizophreniz vs Bipolar disorder diagnosis. Many people with Bipolar are very high functioning in high stress careers and remain stable with meds & stable schedules, big difference with schizophrenia! Love the recap, looking forward to the next episode!
Nice recap, Mrs. Mia. As a fellow “prestige premium cable” recapper, I know how hard it is to focus on being funny about a show you love. And you don’t even have Paul Sparks and Bobby Cannavale making a meal out of every piece of scenery they can find to make it a little easier.
And while my own experience isn’t nearly as exotic as Beirut, whenever I watch Dexter I rupture tiny clusters in my brain spotting all the Long Beach landmarks that they use to sub for Miami, most egregiously the Long Beach convention center’s mural of blue whales. In Biscayne Bay. Really? Maybe it’s Showtime that doesn’t bother with continuity.
Correction noted Mrs Mia. I was assuming Sauls name was short for Solomon. Hope her sister sent a load of her meds with her or she will be bouncing off walls. Claire Danes does a great job and so does Damian Lewis. It sounds so weird when he speaks in a Brit accent. He was great in Band of Brothers. I have watched that over and over for yrs.
It will be interesting to see if Carrie goes off the map. After Saul turned her in at that VP affair, she may not trust him.
I don’t know if anyone else saw this but….this was an original series from Israel.
Wow, references to MSCL and The Game in one recap? I am impressed! Love this show, love Claire Danes. I am looking forward to the next episode like I used to look forward to seeing Jordan Catalano every Thursday!