Homeland – “About a Boy” Review. There’s More Than One Way to Skin a Cat.

Season 4, Episode 5

Air Date: Sunday, October 26, 2014, 9:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

Aayan listens intently to Carrie.

“About a Boy” really is about a boy; almost the entire hour is spent with Carrie (Claire Dane) doing her best to get Aayan (Suraj Sharma) to admit his uncle, Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar), the terrorist leader who was killed by a CIA air strike in Homeland’s season premiere, is actually alive and well. It was a real shocker to see him hugging Aayan last week in “Iron in the Fire.” First off, may I say how disgusted I am with Carrie’s seduction of Aayan? Come on, Homeland writers…is it that impossible to come up with a fresh and different way for Carrie to turn assets? I know there are plenty of “cougars” in the world but Aayan is just too damn young for Carrie to be sleeping with him. In what I consider to be an Emmy® award-worthy scene, complete with a few tears, Carrie convinces Aayan to let her interview him. Given the topic of conversation, I couldn’t help wondering whether the water works came naturally or whether she forced them out.

I am dying to know more about the marriage of Ambassador Martha Boyd (Laila Robin) and Professor Dennis Boyd (Mark Moses). There certainly is no love lost there, and I think it involves more than his committing plagiarism back in the day. Now that he’s decided to stay, courtesy of Nasneem’s (Nimrat Kaur) goons, we learn more about the key Nasneem gave him last week. And, if you didn’t figure it out by now, Nasneem is another ISI agent. My question is, why is the ISI so interested in what’s inside Carrie’s apartment? How deep does this conspiracy go?

Dennis nearly spills the beans to Redmond.

With Quinn unavailable, Ambassador Boyd sends John Redmond (Michael O’Keefe) to the hotel bar to pick up her husband. Can’t have Dennis embarrassing her in public now, can we? If only she knew what Dennis is hiding, she’d be more concerned about that than him getting drunk. Just when Dennis is about to spill the beans to Redmond about his treasonous activities, Nasneem walks in. Great timing, or something else? It’s a good thing, though, because I’m still not certain whether Redmond can be trusted. I’m not sure whether it’s the way he looks or just his general demeanor, but it always seems like he has some ulterior motive.

Ghazi checks in for a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Since he can’t reach Carrie, Saul (Mandy Patinkin) alerts Quinn that Farhad Ghazi (Tamer Burjaq) is at the airport. Seems no one can reach Carrie, a fact that has dire consequences later on. In a very intense scene, Saul follows Ghazi into the men’s room. I’m certain he doesn’t expect what happens next. I sure didn’t! I wish he had waited to hear back from either Carrie or Quinn. They’re going to be extremely upset, to say the least, when they find out what happens. I just hope it’s not permanent.

Quinn and CIA analyst Fara (Nazanin Boniadi) set themselves up in a storefront across the street from where Fara saw Haqqani with the cleric (Jamal Mukkadam) in last week’s episode. When they see the cleric leave, they follow but once he gets to the “no go” area, they have to stop. Too bad because the contents of the cleric’s trunk are quite a shocker. I don’t blame Fara for being somewhat scared; after all, Carrie only hired her “to sit in an office [and] play a journalist” and here she is, out in the field doing things she was never trained to do. Fara’s activities have gone way beyond what she ever anticipated. I am truly enjoying Boniadi’s portrayal of Fara. She does an excellent job showing fear when warranted, and handling Friend’s moody Quinn. Both Quinn and Boniadi play well off each other. You may remember Boniadi as Nora, Neil Patrick Harris’ love interest on How I Met Your Mother, although her 2008 Image Award nomination was for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series, General Hospital.

Quinn calls Carrie out for being unreachable.

I’m not the only one who objects to how Carrie is handling Aayan. The question is whether Quinn’s feelings for Carrie are the impetus for his displeasure, or whether he’s truly upset that being unable to reach her causes him and Fara to lose track of the cleric.

Quinn: “Why don’t you tell me? Why don’t you tell me just what is it that you’re doing in there?”

Carrie: “I’m recruiting someone.”

Quinn: “Really, ‘cause to me, it looks like you’re fucking a child.”

I know the Homeland writers have been pushing this romantic connection between Quinn and Carrie but I don’t buy it. There is nothing in the way Quinn acts or what he says that remotely hints of amorous feelings for Carrie. Or maybe it’s just because I don’t see these two together.

Overall

“About a Boy” furthers the interesting premise that the Pakistani ISI is behind Sandy Bachman’s (Corey Stoll) death. But why would Pakistan want to do that? What do they hope to gain? Better yet, what’s going to happen with Saul? Do you think Carrie will succeed in her attempts to turn Aayan into a CIA asset? After all, he truly loves his Uncle Haissam and she only has two days left.

What did you think of “About a Boy?” I’d love to discuss it with you so leave me a comment below or hit me up on Twitter @SeasideTV.

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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!