“Somebody’s lost their mind over there.” -Allison
This week’s episode was all about the chase, about trying to find out where the terrorists were planning their attack, and Homeland’s penultimate episode was once again quite emotional and tense, and plainly superb.
Allison seemed to find, in this week’s episode, her happily ever after. The CIA really needs to hire better agents to follow their flight risks. It happened first with Saul and his laundry, then with Allison and her parking ticket. Come on guys… Allison found her happy ending even if it meant sacrificing innocent people, even if it meant playing into their game. The red-head has one more mission, one last assignment before the curtain falls, and it’s a big one, an immoral one. It’s a mission that somehow manages to make everything she’s done up to this point petty and small.
Her initial reaction is one of a normal person. It’s a categorical no, because asking anyone with a conscious of letting a terrorist attack happen is crazy. The threat of losing the money, of losing her life, her freedom, the scare of ending up locked up, makes her sway to the dark side, and she accepts the mission. Up until the final moments of “Our Man in Damascus,” I had the feeling she would have a change of heart, but she didn’t. I truly believed she was a better person than that. It takes a big person to sacrifice oneself for the well-being of many, and Allison just doesn’t have that, when backed in a corner she simply doesn’t rise up to the top.
“Okay, okay. Stop whimpering. I believe you.” –Allison
Allison takes a trip to the professor’s flat, gets the answer as to where the attack will take place, and then stages a struggle. The way she almost made the professor wet himself was badass, if only it had been for the right reasons. She’s good at what she does, good at interrogations, and that scene only made it that much more evident. She’s good at her job, and good at being the villain, as it turns out. I thought her plan was never going to work, she would be unmasked as soon as they tested her and the others for gunshot residue, since it would only be found on her hands, but as it turns out all she needed was to give herself a little time to bolt and never look back.
While Allison is doing her thing, Carrie is also investigating, retracing Quinn’s steps, after waking him up from his coma proves unhelpful. The ending moments of last week’s episode had Carrie and Saul silently sitting by Quinn’s bedside, together, just like old times, only not really. Quinn’s not doing too well, a sentiment that could define him throughout this whole season whether it be emotionally or physically, and things aren’t really looking up for him. I really have to wonder what they have in store for him next, amputation?
“For a man that wanted to end his life, I’ve rarely seen somebody fight so hard to stay alive”
Suffering from respiratory failure due to acute hypoxia, Quinn isn’t waking up on his own anytime soon, but Carrie and Saul have him woken up from his coma, in an attempt to get the location of the attack out of him, despite the huge risks it brings. The scene was heart breaking. He’s their friend, their dear friend, but they still need him awake, even if it pains him, even it pains them. Being his friends, knowing the person he is, they know that helping out in any way he can to prevent an attack on Berlin would be what he would want. He’d risk his life, for the greater good, and they might have well done that. He may have given up his life, or at least life how he knew it.
“It’s not looking good. The damage is extensive.” –Saul
Despite the spikes in brain activity when Carrie speaks to him, despite waking up, somewhat, Quinn’s not doing too well. He’s not even capable of blinking to confirm he understands, and he’s definitely not able to convey a message to his friends, before things take a turn for the worst. And I had to look away from my screen, again. I’m simply not made to see him suffer that way.
Marwan, Laura’s protégé, got pulled off the streets by the BND in last week’s “New Normal,” and he’s not being particularly helpful and cooperative. When I saw him, dressed down, shaking and scared, in the interrogation room, I shared Saul’s reaction. Was it really necessary? He’s a person, and he’s not actually guilty of anything.
At that moment, I thought I started to understand where the reporter was coming from, but she’s just going about it all wrong, and she most definitely continues to be annoying. Her demands are simply meaningless. She wants to speak with Marwan. Why? To prove a point, that’s why. When she’s told by her boss to stand down, to keep a low profile, she does the exact opposite. She just doesn’t get it. On national television she states the documents will be released if she doesn’t get what she wants, and I would have loved to be able to slap some sense into her if I could have.
“Can we take a minute here, please?” - Saul
Saul changing the approach, and attempting to be good cop, gets Marwan dressed up and served some sweetened tea, but that doesn’t work, because he has nothing to say. He simply knows nothing, and I believed him. Am I a horrible judge in character? Maybe. But I believed he was telling the truth, and Saul’s threat, the idea that he’d be handed over to the German authorities if he couldn’t be of more help pushed him over the edge, and he jumped. It was a hard blow for Saul as he realised it too, and he can’t deal with that. He has enough to deal with already. His emotions are raw, unfiltered, he simply doesn’t have the energy. It was a nice change in character, because let’s face it, Carrie’s usually the emotional one, and seeing Saul’s human side is always much appreciated. He seemed so lost, so filled with despair, even Astrid was taken aback by the sight of him. He’s had enough for one day, and he simply couldn’t deal with it, so he walked away.
After Allison shot herself, called for help and got rescued, the red-headed villain tells the German Official the attack is happening at the airport. It’s so horrible to even consider that she is lying that they believe her. At one point she was their friend, and when you start to think that maybe, she is part of the plot that will get hundreds of people killed, it’s all downhill from there. So they believe her, and they evacuate the airport. But Carrie still isn’t convinced, and she follows her hunch, in a truly Carrie fashion, by herself, but manages to plant a seed of doubt in Saul’s head.
“Are you sure it’s the airport, Saul?” -Carrie
Retracing Quinn’s steps, Carrie came across the big-hearted doctor that helped him recover from his bullet wound, and then in the apartment of Bibi Ahmmed’s cousin, just downstairs, where she finds clues that the attack would be at the train station. Following her gut, that’s where she goes, to a crowded train station. What is wrong with these people? You’ve all seen the televised threat and yet, you still go to highly populated public areas at the deadline. Take a day off, stay home. I know that’s what I would have done…
Carrie spots Qasim, at the station and attempts to follow him, and when she can’t get reception to send her mayday to Saul, she sends her phone up with a good Samaritan who promises to send it on higher grounds, and follows him out to the tunnels. Will Qasim turn out the hero, here?
The ending ended right at the climax of tension, but I just don’t know how they’ll build off the last episode of the season on it. I mean Carrie is almost there, and Qasim seems to have had a change in heart! At this point it's simply make it or break it.
Guys, how excited are you for the finale?
