Homeland – “Redux” Retrospective. Full Circle.

Season 4, Episode 7

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

Rating: ★★★★★

“Our agency, yours and mine, is under attack back in Washington. I won’t add fuel to that fire. We’re scouring the earth for Haissam Haqqani—that’s all anyone needs to know.” – CIA Director Lockhart

This week’s aptly titled episode, “Redux,” deals with two story lines – rescuing Saul (Mandy Patinkin) from terrorist leader Haissam Haqqani’s (Numan Acar) clutches, and Carrie’s (Claire Danes) rapid descent into madness. Homeland has spent the majority of this season trying to recreate itself following two seasons of not-so-great ratings, specifically by giving us a Carrie Mathison who seems to have her head on straight. I said “the majority” because we can’t forget “Trylon and Perisphere,” the second episode where she nearly came undone at the thought of caring for her new baby. Now, in “Redux,” due to a sneaky switch in medications, Carrie becomes paranoid, giving us bipolar Carrie 1.0 once again—something I thought we wouldn’t see since it failed to work in any other season than the first.

Rescuing Saul

At the President’s behest, CIA Director Lockhart (Tracy Letts) travels to Islamabad to help with Saul’s rescue, and wastes no time trying to place blame for the botched mission in last week’s episode, “From A to B and Back Again.” Color me surprised when Lockhart sides with Quinn (Rupert Friend) over Redmond (Michael O’Keefe), saying “Thank Christ [that Quinn stopped Carrie from killing Saul in her zest to get Haqqani].” Lockhart has never been a fan of Carrie’s and I thought, for sure, he was going to ream her a new one. Instead, he becomes a team player—albeit the coach—in the rescue effort.

CIA Director Lockhart is clearly perturbed by the bullshit the minister is spewing.

In a meeting with the Pakistani delegation, which includes ISI agents Nasneem (Nimrat Kaur) and Aasar Khan (Raza Jaffrey), Lockhart pulls no punches in demanding Saul’s release, angering the Pakistani Minister (Art Malik) and shocking U.S. Ambassador Martha Boyd (Laila Robins). I say, ‘Way to go, Mr. CIA Director; it’s about time someone took such a hard line in dealing with terrorists.’ Funny thing is, we all know Khan and Nasneem played a role in Saul’s capture, yet here they sit, acting all innocent like. Do you think the minister knows how deep their involvement goes? Letts delivers some excellent lines in this episode, not the least of which is, “Alright, Mathison, let’s go. Time to go look these fuckers in the eye.” Yay, Lockhart!

Terrorist leader Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar) has plans for Saul. Not only will he use Saul as a “human bodyguard” so he can visit his family after years of being in hiding, he also plans to use Saul as part of a prisoner exchange. Somehow, he knows how important Saul is, even if Saul doesn’t know it himself. With all the pomp and circumstance surrounding Haqqani’s arrival home, you’d think Allah himself had entered the small village. I will never understand the mind of a terrorist, so it is strange to me that Haqqani thinks nothing of taking the lives of American sons and daughters when he professes to love his own sons as much as he does. He even makes his son Marwand (Roberto Meyer) apologize to Saul for throwing a shoe at him, telling Marwan no harm must come to Saul as long as he is Haqqani’s prisoner. Perhaps the best part of Saul being Haqqani’s hostage is the powerful conversation they have during dinner.

Haqqani: “Only Islam offers a forum for creating a just and godly…”

Saul: “Your version of Islam is regressive and backward.”

Haqqani: “Whatever the prophet did, we must follow.”

Saul: “Subjugate women, slaughter the non-believers, strap on suicide bombs? I hardly remember reading that in the Hadith.”

Haqqani: “Be careful my friend.”

Saul: “You have taught an entire generation to live with one foot in the afterlife.”

Haqqani: “We do what is necessary to win back our homeland.”

Saul: “You just executed your nephew. And before that, you sacrificed his family in an airstrike. How is that necessary?”

Haqqani: “You point your finger at Islam but if Christianity is to be judged by the misery it has caused mankind, who would ever be a Christian?”

Saul: “I’m a Jew.”

Touché, Saul; good thing this isn’t your ‘last supper.’

Carrie’s Downward Spiral

Is Ambassador Boyd is so smart, why doesn't she see right through her husband?

If Ambassador Boyd is so smart, why doesn’t she see right through her husband?

Professor Dennis/ISI asset Boyd (Mark Moses) does as Nasneem instructed him in last week’s episode, and the switch in medications causes Carrie to hallucinate. Someone please tell me what the ISI has on the good professor that he would betray his country to this magnitude! Before this happens, Carrie is a woman with a mission – trying to find Saul—and she’ll stop at nothing to succeed. Carrie blames herself for Aayan’s (Suraj Sharma) death, as well as Brody’s (the incomparable Damian Lewis), to say nothing of the brutal death of former station chief Sandy Bachman (Corey Stoll), so she is desperate to set things right. Kudos to all the people responsible for bringing to the screen what being bipolar must feel like – choppy editing and weird sound mixing that lead to sounds that are highly accentuated, overhead lights buzzing like bees, and every nerve ending in Carrie’s body seemingly screaming at her. All of this comes into play in a very realistic, and scary (for Carrie), scene that has her questioning Kiran (Shavani Seth) in the hospital, fighting off the security guard (Vaughn Lucas) who she thinks is Quinn, stumbling through the marketplace, reliving Bachman’s death, shooting people (with a finger gun, thank heavens), and being kidnapped. Too bad she blows all the work Max (Maury Sterling) and Fara (Nazanin Boniadi) do to track down Kiran for information on the medicine Aayan gave his uncle. Let me just say, no one does crazy as well as Danes.

That gun sure looks real to me!

The most riveting part of Carrie’s hallucinations is when she sees Brody. I must say, for one millisecond, I almost believed he was alive somehow. Homeland is known to do crazy things like that, you know. What a treat to witness Lewis in action again. But when Khan asks, “Who’s Brody,” when Carrie, thinking Khan is Brody, crawls into his lap in a fetal position, sobbing “Brody, Brody, Brody,” I was extremely disappointed. Why doesn’t Khan know who Brody is, or how important he was to Carrie? I guess he missed this huge part of Carrie’s life when he and the ISI were doing their homework about Carrie.

Additional Thoughts

Who didn’t know Khan would make sure the video surveillance tapes at the airport show only what he wants Carrie and Quinn to see? “So, there’s nothing from the actual gate where Mr. Berenson actually disappeared?” Right, and I’ve got a bridge in New York to sell you.

Why does Haqqani chain Saul up in his bedroom so Saul can watch him and his wife have sex?

Overall

Saul’s situation certainly looks dire, as does Carrie’s. I’m not sure why the ISI wants Carrie but I’m fairly certain Saul will be rescued before the prisoner exchange. I’m also not wild about Homeland using Carrie’s medical condition to further the story lines. It’s been done to death. How about some creativity here, writers?

What did you think of “Redux?” 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!