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A Fallen Diplomat, a Forgiving Brody and an Explosion. Review: Homeland – “Representative Brody”

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  • December 5, 2011

  • 7 mins to read

Review: Homeland, S1, E10 – “Representative Brody”

Air Date: Sunday, December 4, 10:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

While the title “Representative Brody” may lead you to believe this episode is all about Nick Brody (Damian Lewis), nothing could be further from the truth. It’s about both Carrie (Claire Danes) and Brody, but Danes carries the episode beautifully.

Carrie (Claire Danes) waits for Walker to show

Saul (Mandy Patinkin) briefs the CIA about the Saudi diplomat Al Sahrani’s (Ramsey Faragallah) lavish and salacious lifestyle and how to use it to interrogate him. I’m a bit surprised when Estes (David Harewood) assigns Carrie to the task instead of Saul. He thinks Sahrani might be “thrown if it’s a woman and give us some leverage.”  In my constant quest to uncover who the government mole might be, I find myself questioning everything everyone does and this is no different. I don’t buy Estes’ reasoning, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out why he would have an ulterior motive.

Danes is at her level best during two major scenes. First, despite learning the sordid details of Sahrani’s life the night before, Carrie acts as though she knows exactly what she’s doing which Dane pulls off beautifully. But after Sahrani tells Carrie he doesn’t care if she tells everyone about his homosexuality, she’s a bit panicked, and it’s almost as if you can see the light bulb go off over Carrie’s head mere seconds later. Danes’ persuasive and steely calm demeanor is spot on when Carrie pulls a rabbit out of her hat, so to speak, by threatening Sahrani with deporting his daughter.

Saudi diplomat Al Sahrani (Ramsey Faragallah) approaches the meeting place

I’d also like to commend Faragallah for his portrayal of Sahrani. I particularly love his delivery of the line, “I suck cock…and I love it. Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy,” as if to taunt Carrie. Faragallah does a fantastic job of taking his character from being cock sure to totally beaten in the space of less than an hour. The look on his face says it perfectly when Saul says, “You work for us now. Welcome to the CIA.” Sahrani is totally dejected and disgusted by what is happening and what he’s now expected to do.

The other scene where Danes shines is Brody’s visit to her home. She readies herself as if this is a real date with a long time lover. With her sexy black outfit, red lipstick, glasses of white wine poured, and Miles Davis’ “My Funny Valentine” playing in the background, you know this woman is ready to hit the sheets. What a punch to the gut to be rejected by Brody after such a build-up. I couldn’t help but empathize with her. What I find truly interesting about this is Carrie lies to Brody about no one else knowing about their weekend. Doesn’t Brody realize Carrie can use this to her advantage should the need arise? Why does he leave this incriminating piece of information dangling?

In no uncertain terms, Brody (Damian Lewis) tells Carrie (Claire Danes) goodbye

Although Brody appears to be adjusting to life back home, that’s not the case. When the Secret Service comes rolling up to the house to clear the way for Vice President Walden (Jamey Sheridan), Brody does the stretching exercise we’ve seen him do on other occasions to ready himself for battle. He does a fine job thereafter of coming across as calm, cool and collected while talking with Walden although we know there must be a huge amount of inner turmoil going on. And when he responds, “Yeah, I’m interested,” to Walden’s request he run for office, I begin to wonder whether he’s interested so he can carry out Nazir’s orders or whether he has his own personal agenda (yet to be revealed). Brody’s facial expressions after Walden leaves would lead us to believe it’s the former.

Lewis does a superb job of keeping Brody’s game face on, but where he really shines is during Brody’s conversation with Mike Faber (Diego Klattenhorf). Because Jess (Morena Baccarin) forbids Brody to accept Walden’s offer—for good reason—Brody asks Mike to talk Jess into letting him run for office. Thanks to the sharp writing and Lewis’ excellent acting skills, not for one minute do I believe Brody has forgiven Mike. Yes, he’s repentant, apologetic, and understanding, but it’s obvious he’s merely using Mike to do his bidding. As a trained CIA operative, I’m surprised Mike doesn’t see it for what it is.

Homeland has been nothing short of thrilling this entire season and the ending to “Representative Brody” is no exception. The anticipation heightens as Sahrani gets closer and closer to the public fountain where he is supposed to meet with Walker. I love the use of the guy drumming to build on that anticipation, and Carrie’s frantic demeanor as she waits for confirmation from the various CIA operatives present that the guy with the suitcase headed for Sahrani is indeed Walker. With so many people around, you just know something is going to go wrong. And that it does – it goes horribly wrong when the suitcase the man—who, by the way, isn’t Walker—is carrying explodes and Carrie is thrown due to the force of the bomb. I want to take a minute to compliment the special effects people. From the way Carrie is blown off her feet and the smoke rises from the ground to the burning bodies and the white noise playing in the background, it’s a beautifully nuanced scene.

From the looks on the faces of Saul, Estes and Walden, who are all watching this horrific scene unfold from afar, it’s impossible to tell which one of them is the mole. Walden, however, is the only one who doesn’t seem surprised at the sequence of events. How does Walker know Sahrani was turned? Someone had to alert him of this set-up and only those three men knew about it, to our knowledge. My question is does Nazir have an even bigger plan in store than killing the Vice President? Has this all been a ruse to cover up something far more heinous? With only two episodes remaining, somehow I don’t think we’ll know for certain until the very last moment.

Tune in to Homeland, Sundays at 10:00 pm ET/PT only on Showtime.

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Check into the show’s official site: http://www.sho.com/site/homeland/home.sho.

All photos courtesy of Kent Smith / © 2011 Showtime. All Rights Reserved.

 

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!