Why on earth would Akbari go to all that trouble to assemble his team and draw Brody into the middle of Tehran to speak to Abu Nazir’s widow when he would just meet alone in a room with him at the end of the episode? After Brody’s meeting, and he broke the syringe with which he was to kill Akbari against the side of the car, I really thought Brody was going to decide to live in Iran. He looked so happy amongst the people there, as they cheered at him and filmed him with their camera phones. If this episode acheived nothing else, it succeeded in recreating that feeling of Brody being genuinely unpredictable from season one.
Brody’s viewpoint and motivations twisted and turned upon themselves three of four times in the space of this one episode, and it was fun to try and predict the various outcomes that would come from each action. It was impossible not to dwell on what life for Brody would be like in Iran had he decided to stay there, and not kill Akbari after ratting out Javadi and himself as CIA stooges. That would have set up season four nicely, I think. A new psychopath at the top of the Iranian political food chain, a monster of the CIA’s own creation? That’s what Saul was convinced was happening, and may still be. He doesn’t know Akbari’s dead, and he doesn’t know that Brody has contacted Carrie to help him get out.
A word on Saul in this episode – I really liked seeing him brought back to earth with a bump, with everything spinning out of control for him. He’s been too powerful for too long, and it seemed like the power had gone to his head – how else do you explain his scheme for regime change? This episode was a timely reminder of just how dangerous the plan was in the first place, a point that I don’t think had really been made clear to us in the beginning. Obviously there was always a lot of peril implicit in any operations in Iran, but the full consequences of what might happen have only really just become apparent, I think. It was fun to see a little bit of that, even if it soon dissipated with Brody’s actions in Akbari’s office, and that phonecall to Carrie, which begs the question – where do they go from here? Will they settle in a more politically friendly climate? China, maybe? Or back to Venezuela? Remember, we still don’t know how El Nino knows Carrie or Saul. Perhaps he’ll become a bigger factor in season four, as his story has petered out in quite a disappointing way.
Carrie spent most of this episode playing catch up with Brody and reporting back to Saul. She got a few good scenes by herself, but nothing much came from them. Fara’s uncle, whose home Saul intended to use as a safehouse for Carrie, appeared in one scene to give her a phone and that was it. Nothing more. I suppose not involving him gives him a whole bunch of plausible deniability if, as Fara’s father seems to think, the Iranian secret police get to him, but it was a shame not to give him something more. Could he not have come out on the chase through the streets that Carrie had, following Brody? Maybe he had other things to do, maybe he just didn’t like Carrie. Whatever your opinion of her, however, nobody could deny that she was the recipient of what was the clunkiest moment this season – Carrie was talking to Saul on the phone, and noticed in her reflection that she was starting to show. She hadn’t noticed when she was in the shower that morning, getting dressed, or while walking around – she just realised that oh, she’s pregnant. A nice little reminder for us as well, a little nudge – “She’s pregnant! Remember that!” – but it’s not like we have a major episode coming up involving lots of intense action or anything. I assume her pregnancy will not be a factor. Just read the beginning of this review for my credentials.
Random Robservations:
- When Brody declared to the Tehrani crowd that he was seeking asylum, did it remind anyone else of this scene from The Office?
- That scene between Brody and Nazir’s widow was good, and great to get a sustained insight into Brody’s view on the situation with his daughter through the prism of his fictional terrorism, but what purpose did it serve?
- Akbari’s death was a let down. Just a bonk on the head with a vase? Really?
- Really?
Join me next week, same time, same place, for what I thought on the Homeland finale. Can’t wait!