Homeland - About A Boy - Review:"Crossing a Line"

“About a Boy” turned out, once again, to be a great hour of television, with a character and plot driven episode. It split its time between storylines beautifully, and every character had something interesting, meaningful to do, their own mission and even though it wasn’t action packed, it still moved the story along gracefully.

This week’s episode of Homeland was about a boy, Aayan. That’s what he is, a boy, and if anyone had any doubts about that, they surely were quickly brushed off in the opening scene. I was laughing so hard at him peeking under the covers, at his big cheeky smile as he was checking her out. Homeland doesn’t usually make me laugh, but this scene was great, not only because it was lighter, but because it brought to light that…

"To me, it looks like you’re f*cking a child."-Quinn

Carrie’s got only three days, three days for them to build a relationship, for her to earn his trust. In those three days she needs him to turn on the man he considers a hero, on the only family he has left; she needs him to confide in her. He’ll be risking his life in telling her, that’s a tall order, but that’s not stopping her. She’s not letting the fact that she’s seducing a kid slow her down either. Even if there ever was line, Carrie’s long ago crossed it, and she doesn’t really care. Her methods yield results, and that’s all she really cares for. The morality of it all, that’s never going to be in her priorities. But sex class, with Carrie Macpherson, isn’t that a bit much? Even for her?

She soon enough realises that sex alone isn’t going to be enough, that maybe she went just a little too far. She actually seemed to push him away, in place of pulling him closer. He can’t even think straight anymore. She’s made him change his mind, he doesn’t want to leave Pakistan, not with Carrie’s help at least. That’s when she tries fear, but it isn’t a very powerful motivator either. He doesn’t really care that the ISI will be looking for him, that he’s on the CIA’s kill list, that he’s pretty much doomed. And he really is doomed, he’s caught in the middle of a war and there’s no way he’s getting out unharmed. Being the boy from the good family, the religious family, he feels bad about the sex, doesn’t want to sin, but somehow, for the rest of the episode he stops praying. Did she f*ck the religion right out of him?

Time seems to be of the essence, and maybe she tests him too soon, but she needs to know where they stand, if Aayan’ll open up to her. She casually mentions the rumour that his uncle could possibly be alive, and he jumps, literally jumps off his seat, not really one for being subtle. Turns out he’s not too good a liar, is he? Because even if she hadn’t known his uncle was still alive, his reaction was a bit much, somewhat of a tell, if you ask me. Maybe, I was wrong for assuming he was in on more than he was letting on, I don’t think he could keep a straight face and lie and act innocent like he is.

What really seems to do the trick with him is opening up to him. The things she’s telling him are close enough to the truth that her emotions actually are genuine. It’s her own internal troubles, her personal baggage, and Aayan’s the only one who gets to see that vulnerable side of her. It’s a dangerous game she’s playing, because she too is going to get attached. The fact that she still blames herself for Brody, for leaving her daughter fatherless, it’s that emotion that brings Aayan closer. One of the many things I love about this show, is that they can do a scene, with no music, nothing, except two characters dialoging, and it still manages to get to me.

Turns out Carrie’s methods, as unethical as they might seem, do work, in the end, and Aayan confides in her after one day (New personal record, here?). His uncle is alive and he’s sick. And with that revelation, I got the answer I was pinning fo in the last episodes, that’s what the medicine’s for.

While Carrie is with Aayan, not answering her phone, Fara and Quinn are on a stakeout, in the apartment right across from where Fara saw Akhani in last week’s episode. (I’m so sorry if I butcher the names for this show!) Quinn’s grunt as he pulled out the sniper says it all, he still wants out, out of the CIA, out of the business where shooting someone’s fine, because things can always go wrong when fire arms are in play, just ask the kid he killed. This is mostly the reason I think Quinn and Fara are going to hitting it off. (Other than the fact that he really needs to get over Carrie.) She’s not into that part of the job either. She’s naïve, annoyingly naïve at times, but she’s genuinely a good person. She’s in it now, in the game, whether she wants to lie, deceive and manipulate or not she’s going to need to get with the program and it promises to be a struggle. She started the show being quite annoying (and pretty boring), but I’m enjoying where they’re taking her character.

“Manipulationg people, exploiting their weakness, it can get ugly sometimes.”-Quinn

The target’s on the move, and they trail him to the mountains, to Taliban country, waiting for Carrie to answer her phone, trying not to lose him, but they can’t get a hold of Carrie, can’t secure the drone, can’t get close enough to place the tracker under the car and there’s nothing more they can do there, for now.

“I’m trying to be ballsy, but I’m not into suicide.” – Fara

The ISI is closing in on them, on Carrie, on Saul. They’re following Carrie around, documenting what she’s doing, who she’s talking to. They know all about Saul, her mentor, about his flight back to Washington, and at first glimpse, they don’t seem to want anything to do with him. He doesn’t look like a threat, doesn’t seem worth their time. But when spies spy on spies, they need to watch their backs, question everything and everyone, because you can’t know who’s really playing who.

The only storyline that didn’t tweak my interest in this week’s episode was the Martha\Dennis marriage drama. I’m not sure if it’s there to understand his motivation, why he would turn on his country, but surely, the fact that he has a dead-end job, and that he’s jealous of his wife’s success isn't enough. This couldn't be about male pride only. Am I missing something here? It's maybe to show he's not as innocent as he seems in all this, that he knows how to play the people around him. Anyhow, this storyline did yield this quote, though which I loved, so I’ll let it go.

“I’m a spy, I know shit.” – John

It’s in this week’s episode that Saul seems to finally be going home, or not. He had his own mission, and the initial one was to fly out to Washington to explain the situation to Lockhart, to prevent him from revealing the situation with the ISI prematurely and screwing up their operation. This mission got sidetracked along the way.

As he’s headed to his boarding area, he spots Farhad Ghasi, the man responsible for Sandy’s death, the man who can explain what really happened. He follows him around the airport, thinking he’s tailing him, when really, it’s the other way around, and when he follows him into the bathroom, (Why o why?) he gets ambushed, captured, kidnapped. Was his capture not an ISI operation, but Tasleem going freelance?

Seems like Saul really is not going to make it back to New York soon, but surely they can’t kill him, or can they? He’s going to the mountains, to Taliban country, is his faith similar to Brody’s? Spending three years in a hole before finally they manage to break him?

Did you guys like the episode as much as I did?



How confident are you Saul's going to get through this?

Do you feel Carrie really crossed the line?