Homeland - 3.04 - Game On - Review

I just finished watching Game On, the fourth episode to Homeland’s third season. After a slow third episode, and a glimpse of our guy Brody, the fourth episode was a mash-up of Carrie and Dana storylines.

As I’ve said before, I don’t seem to care much for the Brody bunch (pun intended), they get, in my opinion, way too much screen time, especially now that Brody isn't even in the picture. I used to like Dana, but she is becoming more and more of a bitch. Last time we saw her, she was running away from home to go have sex with her psychotic boyfriend over dirty sheets. You can defend her, young, crazy love and lots of hormones, it’s kind of cute. This week though, she launched an extraction mission to get her boyfriend out of the hospital. There are so many reasons this can’t end well. They stole Jessica’s car and then had the common sense to exchange the car, trained criminals are they not. They then went on a sentimental tour of places that make them sad I guess. Who wouldn’t be a part of that road trip?

Jessica and Mike(I think) don’t look all that worried that suicidal Dana is out with murderous Leo. Do you think Dana knows that her boyfriend was actually the one that killed his brother? Is it just some big misunderstanding and he is a real nice guy? (You can read this last part with a sarcastic tone.) Also, is it just me, or is the police taking quite some time launching a missing persons investigation? It's not your average teenage runaway couple, it’s a girl who recently tried to commit suicide and a guy that killed his brother. If this isn’t priority, I don’t know what is.

When we last saw Carrie, she had finally agreed to take her medication after a run-in with a lawyer who’s motives were less than clear. This episode started off with Carrie passing in front of a judge to get released, finally. Everyone seems to be more than okay with Carrie leaving, but when her father and sister don’t show up, you know this means trouble. The CIA is still pulling strings for her to stay in the hospital. All I could think was, really Saul, don’t you think the crazy Carrie storyline is starting to be oversold?

A couple of moments later, Carrie does get her discharge papers. The lawyer firm guys (can’t remember any names) want her help, for that, they need her out. The thing is, she is not a traitor, she still has enough sense not to mess with the CIA. She wants nothing to do with them and thinks she can flee the premises. After realising the CIA froze all her accounts, canceled all her credit cards and took away her car, we start to see her loosening up. When she calls her old pal Virgil, is it just me or did the “Say hi to your mother” sound like a code. In fact, knowing what we know now, it probably was.

Carrie meets in a fancy house the man behind her hospital release. The terrorist he is working for, the one actually responsile for the bombing of Langley, wants to "pick her brain". How desperate do they think she is? Then, the lawyer caught my attention, his arguments were worth listening to. When he started talking about how the CIA was going to kill her little by little, I was thinking, wow he is very good. I wanted Carrie to accept. You’ve been through so much, girl, make them pay.

The first four episodes resulted in the last scene of this episode. Ever since Saul betrayed her in court, there has been a bigger picture.(I still would have punched him in the face, he's made her go through so much.) Crazy Carrie was only a trick, to catch the terrorist's attention. Without exchanging a word with to each other, Saul and Carrie understood each other. How long has this been planned? I sometimes tend to forget they are spies!

Carrie is now in the inside. This is going to be so badass.



How shocked were you to see Carrie and Saul at the end of the episode?

How happy are you that the whole Crazy Carrie storyline is over?

What is the extent of Carrie's pact with Saul?

Does Saul also think Brody is innocent?