Romance, Infidelity and A Dead Guy Who's Not Dead. Review: Homeland - "The Weekend"

Review: Homeland, S1, E7 – “The Weekend”

Air Date: Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 10:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★★

Wow! Wow! Wow! Did anyone expect that ending? “The Weekend” answers a lot of questions, provokes even more unanswered questions, and gives us wonderful character studies of our three main protagonists. Never did I expect Walker to be the bad guy! Did you? He’s dead, right? At least Brody thinks he is. Let’s talk about how it all goes down first.

As the episode opens, Faisel’s (Omid Abtahi) girlfriend, Aileen Margaret Morgan (Marin Ireland), is in Beaumont, TX buying a ticket for the first bus to Mexico. I have to compliment Ireland for the manner in which she plays her character. The way she keeps her head down, her shoulders shrugged while maintaining shifty eyes convey in less than a minute she’s a woman on the run. Aileen’s not the only one who wants to get out of town though. Brody (Damian Lewis) confides Jessica’s (Morena Baccarin) infidelity to Carrie (Claire Danes)—“She’s fucking someone”—and the two of them head out of town for the weekend.

Romance, Infidelity and A Dead Guy Who's Not Dead. Review: Homeland - "The Weekend" 1

Carrie peers out the window at Brody after loading the gun her family keeps in the cabin

While I don’t condone the things Dana (Morgan Saylor) says or the foul language she uses during the argument with her mother, I totally understand where she’s coming from. What child likes knowing her father has learned about her mother’s infidelity? And now, her dad is gone – just when she got him back. She’s hurting more than I thought when she throws a beer and weed party at home for her friends. Her true feelings come to light when she approaches Mike (Diego Klattenhoff), who babysits her brother Chris (Jackson Pace) while her mom takes her to the hospital after injuring herself at the party.

Mike: “We all need to give peace a chance around here.”

Dana: “You know what would help with that—if you stayed away from us. There’s no place for my dad when you’re here, Mike.”

Out of the mouths of babes…

The scenes between Carrie and Brody are my favorite parts of “The Weekend” and the most powerful as we watch both Carrie and Brody confess all to each other. First though, I have to wonder whether Carrie is really drunk or whether she uses that façade to get close to Brody—like with the fight with the Aryan Nation guy at the dive bar they go to. Carrie and Brody totally bond over that; it’s pretty funny and something I could picture happening to me during my younger drinking days. Danes does a fantastic job at playing drunk, especially when she uses it to talk to her sister Maggie (Amy Hargreaves) about where the key to the family cabin is. Does Carrie place the loaded gun where Brody will find it? It’s obvious Carrie still doesn’t trust Brody despite the heavy duty make-out sessions. It’s also apparent Brody is developing real feelings for Carrie, as demonstrated by the long looks he gives her when she’s not looking at him. The deep feelings are palpable in his eyes.

It’s kind of cute watching Brody and Carrie in the kitchen trying to get dinner together, especially listening to their conversation about going to prom. But when the scene quickly changes to them in the bedroom, as Carrie quickly peels off Brody’s shirt, I’m wondering what the hell is going on! With the fire crackling in the background and Carrie kissing Brody’s scarred chest, this turns into one of the most tender lovemaking scenes I’ve seen in a while. Here I am expecting a hot and steamy full throttle sex scene, and I get exactly the opposite. It looks like these two are actually falling in love with each other as the scene turns into something more sensual than primal. Until Carrie’s favorite tea slip-up, that is.

Romance, Infidelity and A Dead Guy Who's Not Dead. Review: Homeland - "The Weekend" 2

Brody sits across from Carrie (unseen) prepared to answer her questions

Brody is nobody’s fool and confronts Carrie about her obvious lie. As they sit facing each other across a table, we are presented with some of the best dialogue and acting from these two characters this season. My heart goes out to Brody when he confesses his love for Abu Nazir. And when Carrie finally learns she’s been wrong all along, she’s crushed as she stands there watching Brody leave. I feel sorry for her. While it appears she is finally close to being in the type of relationship she’s been searching for, now it’s gone.

Saul (Mandy Patinkin) convinces Estes (David Harewood) to let him go to Mexico to meet Aileen’s bus and bring her back. Why? Does he truly want to help because he thinks he can connect with her during the 30-hour ride home? Or is it because he needs to know what Aileen will say if she ends up cooperating? Bad guys always have to stay one step ahead, right?

Memorable Lines:

Saul tells Aileen he’s been in contact with her father.

Saul: “He’s worried about you.”

Aileen: “He’s worried about what their friends will think that their good little Princeton girl was shacked up with a poor brown Saudi and planning to give their beloved U.S. the fuck-you it deserves.”

***

Carrie: “So what exactly are we doing?”

Brody: “Well, I’d like a drink…or three.”

Carrie: “Alright, swanky or hole-in-the-wall.”

Brody: “I don’t like the word ‘hole’ anymore.”

***

Brody on whether he slipped the razor blade to Hamid: “No, but I wish I had. And I hope he bled slowly and died in a lot of pain.”

***

Brody, explaining what he does in the garage and what his strange hand movements are: “It’s a habit when I don’t have my prayer beads.”

Carrie: “You’re a Muslim?”

Brody: “Yeah. You live in despair for eight years, you might turn to religion too. And the King James Bible was not available.”

Saul does a good job of finding similar qualities between him and Aileen, especially when they stop at a ramshackle building which is supposedly where he used to live. We get a very interesting look at Saul’s back story when he relates specific portions of his childhood to her. However, I have to wonder if what he says is the truth or just a means to an end—to get her to talk. Which eventually she does and then sits down with a sketch artist to draw the face of the man who is the turned POW. How can it possibly be Walker? Brody thinks he killed him, but apparently the key word here is “thinks.”

We’ve spent the first six episodes watching a great game of cat and mouse, and to have the identity of the turned POW revealed so quickly, I’m left wondering where Homeland is going next. Are we still supposed to believe Saul, or possibly, Estes, is the mole? While Brody appears to be innocent, could he still be involved? Could he and Walker be working together? Or will the writers have him be Carrie’s partner going forward as they try to figure out how Walker was sneaked into the country and who he’s supposed to kill? (The President??) The intrigue continues.

Tune in to Homeland, Sundays at 10:00 pm ET/PT only on Showtime. Follow Homeland on Twitter @sho_homeland and Like the show on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HomelandOnShowtime.

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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!