Homeland - Iron in the Fire - Review: "The good, old days"

“Iron in the Fire” was reminiscent of the first season of Homeland, when the plot wasn’t burdened by endless family drama, that no one really cared for, and it was a great hour of television, really great. Everyone’s back together again, Quinn flew in, Saul’s kidding himself if he thinks he’s ever going back and even Max and Farrah were of help. Aayan, the iron in the fire, I still have the feeling is the new Brody, he’s hiding more than he’s letting on behind that innocent face.

They have their own station, independent of the embassy, and that means more freedom, less rules and less people to answer to. Am I the only one that sees this arrangement as a ticking time bomb, especially since Carrie’s the one in charge, calling the shots? She’s back to her non sleeping ways, searching for the guy with earpiece, the proof that Sandy’s ordeal was orchestrated by a higher power. She’s looking for the proof that’ll let her off the hook, that would explain her screw-up. Because Carrie doesn’t like screwing up is her job, her personal life, her family life, that’s a different story, but her job, it’s what she’s good at, what she doesn’t screw up, and that screw up was not her fault.

They’re away from the station, away from the officers stationed there, but the officers there, they’re still not fond of Carrie, they don’t trust her, and it’s hard to trust someone who’s keeping tones of secrets like she is. They can actually be of some use, of some help, when you ask, but only if you do, and they’re acting like jerks, incredibly creepy, one word answers jerks. I’m still on the fence about whether they don’t like her, because she’s her, or if they’re something else that makes them want to follow her around other than to mess with her, because protecting her, that’s a lame excuse. What do you guys think?

“Something’s always going on.” -Saul

The mark in “Iron in the Fire” was Farhad Ghazi, aka the guy with the earpiece. He’s not proper Pakistani Intelligence, he’s a local hood and they need to know who he's answering to. The plan seems quite simple, Saul uses his connections to rattle some cages and Carrie, Quinn and another guy clone his cellphone to trace where the call will originate from when they finally contact the enforcer. This scene had just the right level of tension.

Quinn acts like he doesn’t want to be there, but there’s just so much mopping around a person can do before they turn completely insane. But I like that he’s bringing out the humanity in Carrie. He’s concerned about her, and who wouldn’t, but he should know better than to try and make her change her mind. He's still in his existential crisis, and he doesn’t want to be the bad guy anymore, but like it was pointed out in the previous episode, the CIA is all he has, all he knows. Can he really give up something like that? I’m not sure he’ll ever manage to, and not just because of his personal connections.

Carrie’s not in the same state of mind. She doesn’t have a kid’s death on the conscience, even though she almost did kill hers. Still she’s doesn’t get where Quinn is coming from, what his internal struggle really is, why he thinks he was a bad guy, why he doesn’t still think what they’re doing is right. She's still a believer in the greater good.

“Mostly, I just didn’t want to live in a bunker and kill people by remote control.” - Quinn

Carrie’s stunt in the bathroom last episode, really did make a number on Aayan, because he’s back and he wants her help, he wants out of Pakistan. After his stash of medicine, or drugs, or whatever, was trashed by his girlfriend’s father, he finds himself in a little bit of a pickle. He needs those viols, yet I still have no idea what they are or what they’re for, we do know who they’re for though. Carrie gives him the money he’s asking, and Farrah and Max go on after him. A night of sleeping on the van floor waiting for him to do something later, they find themselves on the move. When they’re stuck in traffic, Farrah turns out to be useful for once. She follows him through the crowded streets and uncovers a critical piece of information, a game changer. The terrorist, they thought they had killed in the wedding air strike is alive and well, and I, for one, did not see that coming.

“Because that’s when we stop searching terrorists, when we think they’re dead.”-Carrie

Another part of the puzzle that is this conspiracy hovering over Sandy’s death is uncovered. The ambassador is married, and it’s her husband that’s been feeding Sandy classified documents from her desk. What does he have to gain from this still is a mystery to me. Money? Revenge? Power? He thinks the arrangement ends with Sandy’s death but he couldn’t be more wrong, when you get in bed with people like that, there’s no going back.

Speaking of beds, sex, it’s the oldest strategy in the book, and it’s the one Carrie opted on taking. I’m unsure if that was always the plan, or if she made her mind halfway through it, but Farrah’s look at her when she opened the door and let the boy in wearing nothing but the little tank top was golden. If they were going with awkward when Carrie was flirting with him, they nailed it. I was uncomfortable just watching. When she see's him open up to her, telling her he got kicked out of medical school, something flashes in her bi-polar mind, and she takes it to the next level, decides it's a good time to make her move. I’m not saying, I’m all for it, but it’s how to get an asset to trust you, or at least in Carrie’s book it is. Remember Brody?


What do you think about Carrie's move on Aayan?
How will Carrie react to it?
Is Saul ever going back to New York?