Homeland - Episode 3.09 - Horse and Wagon Review

Homeland’s Horse and Wagon episode felt like the show’s road to redemption as well as Brody’s. I have to confessed the last couple of epsiode had made me lower my expectations. The positive side is, this episode truely blew my mind. When the episode ended, I could not believe I had been sitting for an hour. It's been a while since I've been this excited about an episode.

As I could not, for unforeseeable reasons, post a review for last week’s episode, I will start out with an extremely short review of A Red Wheelbarrow. I was happy to see Carrie, Saul and Quinn out of the interrogation and actually out in the field. Who doesn’t love snipers and stake-out vans, right? Carrie gets herself shot, by Quinn for not wanting to back down and trying to prove Brody’s innocence. What she didn’t know, and what actually surprised me, was that Saul had already found Brody.Thumbs up, for not dragging the search for Brody until the finale!

Carrie wakes up in the hospital and apparently, she’s fine and the baby’s fine. The facial expression she makes when the doctor tells her makes me wonder. Is anyone else thinking she doesn’t really want it? Lithium, Vodka, stress and a gun injury to top it off, if this baby miraculously gets carried to term, it’s going to have trauma… She needs to get it together. She doesn’t smoke unless she’s pregnant, really? Come on Carrie, you’re better than this. Have an abortion or don’t, just stop screwing around.

The state in which Saul found Brody was an indicator of the hardships to come. When the air surrounding you is so putrid people wouldn’t even breathe, you know it's pretty bad. This episode was harsh, it was hardcore. I have to applause Damian Lewis’ performance in this episode; he really came back on top. There was so much going on for Nicolas Brody and he pulled it off. From the junkie going crazy, to the concerned father, going through a suicidal wanting to drown were great. There was the parallel to when he was held captive in Iran was awesome. Most scenes were truly disturbing, but, they were amazing. Lewis is, without doubt, Horse and wagon’s MVP.

I was surprised when Saul told Brody not to act like he was innocent in all this because we, well me, tend to forget Brody is essentially a terrorist. He isn’t a victim, we know what he did, what he was. Yet, the way Carrie feels and acts when she’s around him is enough to make us forget, to make us care. He may be falsely accused of killing over than 200 CIA Agents, but still he’s no angel.

Javadi wasn't only a pawn in the quest to prove Brody’s innocence, he’s actually part of a much bigger picture. I have the feeling we’ll be exploring more of this next season. Of Course Carrie is the one that is going to convince Brody to participate in the play. Is there anything Saul asks her she will not do? How can she always just see him as one of the "good" guys? Everyone saw it coming 1000 miles away that Carrie would be able to make Brody change his mind. It just didn't come as I expected it too.
PS. When he called her a Fucking Bitch, it got to me.

In sixteen days, Brody when from freakin’ train wreck to US special OPS Marine. This was a little much for me. He was literally shitting his pants two weeks ago, and now they are sending on an important and delicate mission. What did you do to the weeks you just exhorted out of Lockhart?

"Have a little faith Saul. Two weeks ago there was no operation, now there is, beause of me. I really need you to get that, because if we're the first to pull this off, we're going to have to find a way to trust each other again, or at least come up with a really good plan to fake it.". Saul and Carrie’s relationship seems broken. The problem is the trust issues seem to be Saul towards Carrie, and after everything she's done for him, I just don't understand it. Carrie has many reasons why she shouldn't trust her mentor. She's always the last one in the loop and is just starting to realise how little he trusts her. She still always does, exactly what he wants of her. It’s damn she stood up to him.

You’ve heard me complaining about the whole Dana drama for a better part of the third season. This week, I thought there was just enough Dana. I now feel this character can actually bring something to the show when she isn’t shoved in our faces for half of an episode. Good job writers.


Anyone else was yelling at Carrie throughout the episode: Just tell him!

Was Saul’s way to harsh handling Brody’s detox? It felt a lot like torture to me.

Can Carrie really be a mother? I really doubt that right about now.

What did you think of Dana’s comeback?