Recap: Homeland – A Compelling Case for Pret-a-Porter

The sun-glassed man emerged from the subway finally, sans sunglasses, and facial recognition scans are bringing up bupkes. Carrie advises they bring in Brody to ID the possible terrorist but Quinn isn’t so sure Brody is to be trusted.

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Brody is getting dressed in his Capital Hill finest and brushes off Jess’s concerns about Dana as he gets summoned to Langley for the aforementioned ID session. He shows Jess the text to allay her suspicions but it turns out her true concern is if Carrie is involved in this assignment. He assures her that Carrie was kicked out out the CIA after she went nuts and isn’t involved.

 “Would a face that constantly looks like it’s about to whistle lie to you?”

Even murderers have their responsibilities, and Dana gets up and ready afterall and hitches a ride into school with Brody. He asks her what’s wrong but between her jam on toast breakfast and the conspicuous tail car Brody’s watching; not a lot of communication happens. Dana sulks off to walk in with her new homicidal boyfriend.

“Hey, study for that history test or too busy wiping the blood off your car?”

~~~

Brody shows up at the secret lair (which seems like a great place for him to know the location of!) and tells Carrie everything he’s told Jess so far. He also asks if the guy who stabbed him is around.

“I’ll just be over here, watching, judging”

Brody has no idea who is in the photo of course and uses his lack of leverage as a great time to chastise the pair on tailing him while he’s driving his daughter to school. I suppose awkward silences are the best form of interrogation because Brody sits quietly at a table while Carrie pins up the unidentified suspect and Quinn glares at him. I’m thinking the relevant information they need is the coordinates of the drone strikes Brody lifted from Estes’ office and Brody is about to give it to them, but he “cracks” and lets them know he killed the tailor.

 “He couldn’t measure an inseam for shit”

Quinn predictably goes off and he and Carrie have a private moment where he reveals his suspicions of her objectivity and she brags that she hasn’t stabbed anyone in 48 hours. They decide even though Brody is about as composed as a cat in a chair full of rocking chairs, they have no choice but to rendezvous him with Roya to try to get intel on this new contact, who may just be the tailor’s replacement for munitions. That or a black market sunglasses racketeer.

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The Hardy Boys have sniffed out another clue! Mike and Lauter meet with the city forensics expert to analyze the scene of Tom Walker’s murder. Lauter notes the caliber of the bullet is standard issue and takes a look at the blood spatter. Lauter also points out that a wet culvert in a bad part of town is not somewhere you go casually, and opines that Walker entered with or to meet someone he knew and trusted.

Introducing hte new, low-budget Dexter spin-off

The city guy says he doesn’t evne have an official report because the CIA swept in and took over the investigation. This is a great thing to tell two conspiracy theorists with a lot of time on their hands! Lauter prods Mike to use the connections he has within the intel community to find out the truth.

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Even though Finn told her to drop it and his dad will be so mad, Dana has cut class and is now gracing a hospital ward with her patented brooding-one-eyebrow-cocked presence. She slinks around until she somehow finds where the hit-and-run victim is being cared for.

She looked a lot better bouncing off the hood of the car

A young girl is also watching the lady through the window and Dana learns that this is the daughter, and that the woman is now in critical condition and the family was advised to “call the priest”. Probably not for the welcome home party. Dana awkwardly lies about being there to see her father, who is a cardiologist, before a team of healthcare professionals rush in. From the sounds of the beeps, I don’t think this is a rally. Dana rushes out to complete her history of running from this woman when she is in distress.

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We have a quick vignette between Saul and Carrie. Carrie is annoyed by Quinn (but secretly turned on!), and feels like everyone is treating her like she can’t be trusted. Saul reassures her, but lets her know that his concern is about her working so closely with Brody again. Carrie tells him that her “eyes are opened” after seeing his farewell DVD. She may be confusing him with Michael Jackson though, she is insane. Saul accepts this, but no one really pushes the question of why she hooked up with him in the first place, when she fully believed he was a terrorist? Also is she getting paid at this point?

 ~~~

Quinn and his crack team descend on Gettysburg, PA, to go over the now-deceased tailor’s shop for clues.

“Hey Boss, I think I got BINGO here!”

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Meanwhile Carrie meets Brody in a nondescript parking garage to instruct him on teasing the truth out of Roya. Brody is clearly unhappy. Just as he was unhappy doing anything hands-on for the terrorists. At least he’s consistant! Carrie tries to reassure him with a little light petting and he calls her on it immediately. He’s onto her mind games, but he still has no choice.

 “Just relax, this blowjob is for Justice”

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We find out that Mike’s “inside man” is none other than Saul! Did we know that? I didn’t. Well, maybe Mike didn’t either, because Saul ushers him straight into a meeting with none other than Estes. Not one to beat around the bush, Mike reminds Estes that the last time they spoke, Estes was pressuring Mike to pressure Brody to reenlist for national morale. If Estes regrets that, he has a long histoy of concealing his feelings to hide it. Now Estes is commanding Mike to back off the Tom Walker gum shoeing. Even Saul gets in on the action, insinuating Mike doesn’t deserve to be considered a fellow intel officer.

You are never too old for the principal’s office

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Brody sidles up to Roya under the watchful eye of Carrie and the Command Center (best band name ever), and tells her he has a hot news item, which is why he’s breaking protocol and contacting Roya first. Brody tells her he was with Carrie late last night, because I guess the terrorists aren’t keeping as close an eye on him as the CIA is, and heard her on the phone talking about a Hezbollah contact just landing in the country. Roya is suspicious of why they suddenly are onto him, since he’s been in town awhile. She acts cagey and says something cryptic that I don’t quite catch, but Brody is concerned as usual.

“So if you’re, like, going to the dance, and I’m , like, going too, maybe we could, like, go together?”

~~~

In another junior high story, Dana is losing her shit and also worried that Finn is avoiding her. Nothing like teen angst to complicate vehicular manslaughter! She lets Finn know that the lady died in the middle of the night and he doesn’t want to hear any of it. She appeals to his inner horndog by letting him know the lady had a hot daughter she met at the hospital. This does not go over well.

 “Watch your ass, I dumped my last girlfriend for not covering up my murders. And then my dad dumped her in a lake”

~~~

Carrie gives Quinn a call in Gettysburg to let him know that the Roya meeting unearthed a little gem about a hidden mysterious clue at the Tailor Shop. She’s concerned he needs additional security. Quinn is unconcerned, but promises to keep looking through all the Werther’s Originals and moth balls.

“Do I hear ticking?”

It looks like for all the shit he gives her, Quinn respects Carrie’s opinions and hunches; he calls for back-up.

~~~

The forgotten son, Chris, shows up to find Mike rooting around in the infamous garage. Chris is a dope so he offers to go get a flashlight to help Mike incriminate his father in the murder of a fellow officer. It must be confusing when your almost-dad hates your MIA dad. If Mike’s looking for a prayer rug, that is some old news.

Nicholas Brody doesn’t shoot a lot of bullets, but when he does, it’s Tom Walker

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Quinn is told reinforcements are coming: SWAT team, state troopers, the works. When this guy believes in Carrie, he BELIEVES in Carrie. Quinn is knocking on walls for false fronts and hidden cubbies when the jangling of the front door bell interrupts them. All hell breaks loose as armed, suited men, looking much like SWAT team themselves, rush the store, blasting every agent in their wake.

These people are serious about fitted trousers

We see basically everyone take it in the chest or back as they ruthlessly move through the store. The CIA flunkie Danny, manages to get a few shots off before being mowed down and once the perimeter seems to be secured, a wounded terrorist removes his mask to reveal the mystery meet-up Roya had earlier.

 “This new batch of tailors are much tougher”

The gang drills into the very wall Quinn had been tapping and remove a giant locked safe, as well as the body of a fallen comrade. We see Quinn laying on the floor with his eyes open and blood trickling from his mouth as the terrorists step over him, but I have a feeling he is just a-playin possum.

“I play for keeps”

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Mike comes into the main house to talk to Jessica. He warns her that Brody is not himself and that he killed Tom Walker. Newly Brody-trusting Jess is not moved and tells Mike that Brody works for the CIA (glad that confidential piece of info is making the rounds!) and to butt out.

“It was a lot more fun when we screwed on this table”

~~~

Carrie bursts into Brody’s office, furious. She accuses him of knowing what was going to happen in Gettysburg, of tipping off Roya somehow.

Brody denies it and weathers her outburst calmly. Carrie starts out mad and swinging, but suddenly breaks into tears over the 7 casualties she’s racked up that day, and Brody turns the psychological tables on her by comforting her in her grief. Uh oh!

A face only a terrorist could love 

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So what do we think Gasmii!?? Is Brody really turned? Or turned back? Did he tip off Roya? Did Roya become suspicious in the first place and is now watching Brody? Will Dana tell on her boyfriend? What will happen to Mike as he pursues this unauthorized investigation?

Xoxo,

MrsMiaWallace