There's more than one way to skin a cat. Review: Homeland - "Semper I"

Homeland – Season 1, Episode 4 – “Semper I”

Air Date: Sunday, October 23, 2011, 10 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Review: Homeland - "Semper I" 1

Jessica, as she appears in one of Brody's hallucinations

Is it possible CIA Agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is wrong about Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis)? Maybe he wasn’t turned by Al Qaeda as she suspects. After all, it’s been a month since Carrie began watching Brody’s every move, and she still hasn’t found anything to connect him to terrorist Abu Nazir (Navid Negahban). He does appear to be having hallucinations though—he sees the college professor, Raqim Faisel (Omid Abtahi), who bought the home directly in the path of the airport in last week’s “Clean Skin” in his bathroom mirror.

As “Semper I” opens, Carrie is again watching the computer monitors she has become so addicted to. She even knows exactly what Brody’s going to say, right down to asking his wife Jessica (Morena Baccarin), “Hey Jess? Have you seen my tie?” Her addiction, however, goes deeper than I originally thought. She has been living and breathing this mission and now that Saul (Mandy Patinkin) demands she remove the surveillance equipment, she is left with no choice but to sit outside Brody’s home and watch from afar if she wants to prove he’s an Al Qaeda operative. How frustrated she must be not being able to see every little thing that goes on.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Review: Homeland - "Semper I" 2

Carrie tries to get Saul to agree to a minimal amount of survellance on Brody, to no avail

Brody plays the perfect war hero when he addresses a class of Marines who are getting ready to leave for the war. While I love the sense of humor he displays, I wonder where it comes from. “Friendly fire, isn’t. In an ambush, shoot for the knees. Never lie; never leave a man behind, and if you pick it, it will not heal.” It’s the first time we’ve seen Brody in this light. Is it just a front? I don’t believe Vice Presidential Chief Political Operative Elizabeth Gains (Marin Ireland) thinks so, as she seeks David Estes’ (David Harewood) help in pursuing Brody about running for office. “Then again, if his psychological profile checks out and his politics are correct, why not? I sure know a lot of folks who would open their checkbooks to him, right now.” I wonder whether Estes’ assistance in this will gain him the coveted CIA Director spot he wants.

Speaking of Estes, he assigns Carrie a new partner, Danny Galvez (Hrach Titizian), and charges him with spying on her. Estes wants to know whether Carrie is running some sort of side game. I know he doesn’t like her—or at least appears not to—but I wonder why he thinks she’s got something going on the side. Does he know her better than we think? While Galvez appears uncomfortable spying on his new partner, the promotion Estes waves in front of him is very enticing. Carrie is very smart so I wonder how long it will take for her to figure this out. At least Galvez gets the deets on Carrie’s relationship with Estes, something I’ve been wondering about.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Review: Homeland - "Semper I" 3

Saul sits in front of the wall of 51 suspects

Remember the college professor I mentioned at the beginning of this review? Well, it appears Professor Faisel has taken several trips to the Middle East. But is it really he who’s a member of a sleeper cell, or is it his wife? It appears to me she’s the one calling the shots and it is an English-speaking person on the other end of the phone when she is warned someone is following Faisel.

Up until now, we’ve seen only one side of Brody—a man who acts normally during the day and only reveals his personal demons to his wife Jessica (Morena Baccarin) at night. This week, however, it appears Brody has figured out his best friend, Mike (Diego Klattenhoff), has been having an affair with Jessica when he realizes Mike hasn’t been coming around lately. At one point Brody appears to be ready to accuse Mike, but changes his mind. Why? If he suspects what’s going on, why not call him out on it? Then to top it all off, after Brody kills a deer in their backyard during a party, Jessica demands he seek help or she’s done. I have to wonder why he agrees to go to a veterans’ support group. Is he really interested in working things out with her? Or is it just for show? And when Carrie goes into the meeting as a way of insinuating herself into Brody’s life, what’s up with the obvious connection they make outside the building? Is it just me, or does it look to you like he is about to kiss Carrie, and vice versa, when the storm hits?

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Review: Homeland - "Semper I" 4

Brody stares over at Mike during church

It’s nice to see a more personal side of Carrie because so far, we’ve only seen a very single-minded agent devoted to proving her theory. She’s spent every waking minute watching those computer monitors. She eats in front of them, spends days watching them and even sleeps on the sofa with one eye open and focused on them. But in “Semper I,” she’s sweet, nice, personable, flirtatious and intelligent, both with Estes and Brody. I wonder why she chooses this moment in time to reveal her other side. I guess there’s more than one way to skin a cat, isn’t there, Carrie?

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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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!