Episode Title: “One Last Time”
Writers: Alexander Cary & Charlotte Stoudt
Director: Keith Gordon
Previously on “Homeland”:
It’s amazing what a little focus can do for a TV series. The last few episodes of “Homeland” have been greatly improved because it’s no longer the schizophrenic love child of “24” and The CW.
While Dana (Morgan Saylor) is offscreen working as a hotel cleaner and not trying to get herself killed in ridiculous subplots, “Good Night” tells only two stories: the attempt to sneak Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) into Iran and the machinations back home as Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) and the rest of the CIA team nervously watch things play out.
There are still a few soapy elements, including Peter Quinn’s (Rupert Friend) unrequited feelings for Carrie and her denial that she’s carrying Brody’s baby. Sure, she says that… but Carrie is the same person who has a bathroom drawer filled with positive pregnancy tests because she couldn’t face the reality of her condition. She’s not exactly reliable when it comes to that part of her life.
It was also oddly hilarious to hear Quinn say that he only took the shot because he was afraid somebody else would. Hey, that’s about as close to a romantic gesture as we’ve ever seen from Quinn. “I only shot you because anybody else would have killed you.” I wonder if that comes on a greeting card.
Of course, the operation doesn’t go as planned and Brody’s final mission is almost over before it starts. But that’s TV for you. There have to be complications or else the audience gets bored. The one thing that “Homeland” has barely touched upon is that Saul’s grand plan to remake the Middle East and place an asset high in Iran’s government is that it all falls on an unstable Brody and Majid Javadi (Shaun Toub).
Now, I ask you: would you trust a man who brutally murdered his ex-wife and his daughter-in-law just to say “fu** you!” to Saul? Saul’s hail mary plan is pretty audacious, but by the end of the hour, Javadi served notice that the only agenda he’s interested in is his own.
There are full spoilers ahead for “Good Night,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “Homeland” then you should probably skip this review or else Saul won’t share any of his lucky gum.
Although they weren’t around for long, I really enjoyed Brody’s spec ops teammates, mostly because they wouldn’t take any BS from him. When Brody has a freakout, it’s Azizi (Donnie Keshawarz) who has to run him down and get Brody back on mission. Brody has previously said that he wanted to feel like a Marine again and his teammates actually treat him like one of their own.
The IED explosion that took out Brody and Azizi’s vehicle was a great “WTF?!” moment that actually caught me off guard. It also gave Brody a chance to be a hero when he pulled Azizi from the vehicle and kept him from bleeding out.
“Homeland” also used that moment to take the episode in a dark direction. I thought that the White House official was going to order a drone strike on the Iraqi patrol that was nearby. But what he suggested was even darker. He wanted to bomb Brody and Azizi and declare victory by preventing “a known terrorist” from getting asylum in Iran.
Think back to the first season of “Homeland” and you may remember that this was that same philosophy that drove Brody into the arms of Abu Nazir. When your life and the lives of innocent people don’t matter to either side then there are no “good guys.” There’s simply your side and their side.
Despite being surrounded by Iraqi forces, Brody rejects a call to abort the mission. He’s not a fool. Brody knows that they will never get another opportunity for this and it’s his best shot at redemption even if he doesn’t make it out alive. Amazingly, Brody manages to pull it off with support from Turani (Jared Ward), another one of his teammates. Together, they are arrested by Iranian forces and taken into Iran.
Brody and Turani had a great moment together in which Brody admitted that he only withstood torture for a week before he broke. Turani resolves to give Brody at least seven days before he breaks as well, but Javadi takes care of that potential problem by shooting Turani in the head before Brody can even react.
Again, that’s what trusting Javadi will lead to. As much as Saul wants to believe that he can change things in Iran if Javadi assumes power, the reality is that Javadi has not changed nor does he have any desire too. Assuming that Javadi wants to take the top spot in Iran’s government (a fairly safe assumption), there’s no guarantee that he’ll be content with being Saul’s puppet ruler. And Brody’s survival is by no means assured, if Javadi has anything to say about it.
Back on the homefront, there was some interesting interplay between Senator Lockhart (Tracy Letts) and Saul, as Lockhart seemed a lot less dickish and even sincere when he offered Saul some condolences when it appeared that the mission was a bust. For the first time this season, Lockhart actually behaved like a person instead of a cardboard cutout who only exists to give Saul grief.
Still, I did enjoy Carrie’s brief “fu** you” moment with Lockhart when she exposed his lack of knowledge about “recruitment” in the CIA. I also got a laugh out of Carrie challenging the White House liaison and earning a stern rebuke from Saul. Carrie really has no idea when she should speak up and when she should watch what she says. At some point, Brody will be gone and then she won’t have much value with the agency anymore.
However, we do see Carrie use her recruitment skills on Fara Sherazi (Nazanin Boniadi), as she tries to get the young analyst to volunteer her uncle’s home in Iran as a makeshift safe house. And now I see the point of using Fara’s father in the previous episode. That’s where the creative team laid the groundwork for Fara’s family in Iran. Not that this will end well for them if Fara caves to Carrie’s pressure. Brody may be stuck in Iran, but he’s got a much better shot at surviving the season than Fara’s uncle will have if Carrie has her way.
“Good Night” was an exciting and even riveting episode of “Homeland.” It reminds me of the first season, back when nearly every episode was this good.
