“Long Time Coming” was Homeland’s season four finale, and somehow, given the awesome episodes we’ve been getting, this one seems to fall a bit short. It definitely wasn’t anywhere near my favorite episode of the season, but it isn’t in the worst either. Some things they did well, other’s not so much, which leaves me on the fence on how I really feel about this episode. I kind of wish they kept some of the action sequences for the finale, because these last few episodes were pure TV gold.
The episode started right off the bat in the States, with Carrie and her sister, in the midst of going through their father’s belongings. I actually wondered if I had missed an episode, because last I’d seen Carrie, she had her gun pulled out in Haqqani’s direction, Khan stopping her from pulling the trigger, pointing out Dar Adal in the car with him.
Dar shows up on Carrie’s doorstep, looking for the Quinn. At this point it’s still unclear what he thinks Carrie knows, but it’s clear both of them aren’t saying what’ really on their minds, and it’s more than clear they aren’t on the same page on how to deal with Haqqani. I couldn’t really recall their relationship before last episode, I don’t remember them really having any kind of relationship, at least not this season, but clearly, there’s nothing at the moment other than distrust and maybe hate and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Next season seems destined to have Carrie vs Dar written all over it, now that Lockhart seems to have become lovable. (Never thought I’d be writing that Lockhart is loveable!)
“Long Time Coming” didn’t really focus on the happenings in Pakistan, only showing us briefly Tasleem, on the News. Is this the end of this storyline, now that the diplomatic relationships between Pakistan and the USA are terminated and that Haqqani got away? He’s now deep in the tribal area, basically untouchable, from where Carrie’s standing. Are they going to be focusing on another part of the globe next season? Or are they going to split the story in two, like in the third season, with Carrie somewhere and Quinn somewhere else?
Quinn is no longer in Pakistan, gave up on the idea of catching Haqqani on his own, joining the rest of the team, in the States, at Carrie’s father’s funeral. The writers have been hinting about the Quinn and Carrie romance for a while now, and while I was never one to “ship” them, it’s just not what this show’s about, I have to say they were kind of cute. (In the first half of the episode!) It was written in the sky something would be happening between them, when they showed us Frannie and Quinn hitting it off. I’m getting really tired of the uncertain, open-ended Carrie, but I have to agree with her, Quinn should be running the other way, she’s trouble.
Quinn tells Carrie he wants out, out of the game, out of the CIA. We’ve come full circle, because in the beginning of the season he tried to get out, almost succeeded, but was brought back in because of her, of Carrie. He can’t do it on his own, can’t do it if Carrie’s still in. He's an addict, addicted to the adrenaline. He needs a reason to stay, because the CIA, it’s all he knows and without that, he’s no one, really. But Carrie’s unsure, and really it’s getting old, and even Quinn, he seems to think it too.
The major faux-pas in this episode was the time-consuming mama-drama. We’ve barely ever heard about her, and I guess, same goes for Maggie and Carrie. Dedicating so much time, almost half the episode, to this plot was a huge mistake, especially in the finale. It’s instrumental in Carrie’s breakthrough, in her finally seeing the light, but there was too much emphasis on it for me to actually care.
Another huge portion of the finale was dedicated to Carrie’s father’s funeral, which, in my opinion, is not what was wrong with the episode. It was a nice way to actually honor the actor, who died earlier this year. Carrie did the eulogy and finally, she seemed to take responsibility for her daughter, in an incredibly touching scene. You always see, hate the stuff in others that reflects what you hate about yourself the most. All she sees in her mother is that she left, and it’s exactly what Carrie did to her own daughter, maybe not for the same reasons, but those reasons will never be enough for a child who misses her mother. I was waiting for Carrie to realise how she was sounding, but it’s her sister that calls her out on it. She left Frannie to go halfway around the world, after almost drowning her in the bathtub. They both had their reasons to leave.
After kicking her mother out of the house, Carrie drives all day and all night back to her mother, the woman that left 15 years ago, never to be heard of again. For all these years, Carrie thought that her dad’s bipolar condition, the condition she has herself, was what drove her away. This untrue assumption forged young Carrie, certain it wasn’t possible for people like her, people like her father to love, to be loved, at least not in the long run. But that’s not why her mother left. It makes her realise she can and she loves Quinn. Or does she? I don’t think she does, at least not yet, but she thinks at least she can have the possibility. Is this simply a plot device, so there are higher stakes next season, trying to find Quinn? Maybe.
Quinn’s asked to go on another mission. (Is this why Dar was looking for him at the beginning of the episode? Probably) It’s a really dangerous mission, one where they need him, no one else, or else their chances decrease exponentially. Quinn’s still got it in his head that he’s quitting and that Carrie and him are going to have their happily ever after. But Carrie’s still unsure, and her hesitance, pushes him to accept, to go on the mission to Syria, where he’ll be unreachable, where they’ll be responsible for their own extraction. This sets up next season nicely. Will Carrie need to read the letter he wrote for her in next year’s finale?
This season had Saul on the outs with the CIA, and it was about d*mn time all of them realised they need him, and that he needs them. He wants back in the CIA, anywhere, he just wants to be back, but the video of Haqqani and him make him expendable. It’s a ticking time bomb their waiting to explode, it’s the only thing between him and the job he loves, the job he’s destined to do.
Dar and Saul are back at the Diner. It’s a different Diner, but same setup. Dar was in Pakistan, with Haqqani last episode for the a deal. He was making a deal with him, the terrorist that had just massacred an embassy full of Americans. Haqqani’s off the kill list if he gives up Afghanistan. Is that all he was doing? Do you guys believe that’s all he was doing? Saul’s been thrown all over the place this season, but still, he’s broken. He’s not the man he was in the beginning of the series, because this man, the man who begged Carrie to kill him, he wouldn’t be okay with taking Haqqani off the Kill List in exchange for the compromising video. Carrie is taken aback by the fact that Saul has apparently accepted the fact that they have given up on Haqqani. Is Saul really okay with it? Is it the better of two evils? Or is he selling his integrity for a place back in the CIA’s ranks?
Blackmail usually works for her, it’s usually how she gets what she wants, it’s how she got promoted to station chief in Islamabad. What she wanted when she announced Dar she saw him in Pakistan was to speak with Quinn, but she soon realises she’s not really in control of the conversation. People are already behind him, Saul, who she was sure would be with her, he’s also behind him. It looks like Carrie’s going on to the next season alone. And that’s exactly what this episode was about, setting up for next season.
My favorite scene of the episode is without any doubt, the four of them sitting together, talking and smiling. It was a scene so light, full of smiles and dare I say it, friendships, so different from Carrie’s solo exit to the season. Lockhart has certainly come a long way, as has his relationships with the rest of the team, he now seems to be part of the Elite gang now. His awkward introduction to his lasagna was cute, unlike the character I despised last year and in the beginning of the season. I hope we’ll continue to see of him next year, though I doubt it.
I raise my glass to a great, albeit inconsistent, but still great, season of Homeland. I’ll see you next year dear friend!
Thank you for reading, and I always love to read what you guys thought! Quoting another one of my favorite shows, “May we meet again!”
