A more eventful episode than last week, as the pieces seem to be falling into place for Brody to come back and the second half of the season to really kick off. Plus, Saul again reveals another major secret that he's been hiding and his role as the Svengali of the season continues in a big way.
In fact, we start off with Saul tonight, making Mira breakfast in bed as they've officially decided to rekindle their marriage. Mira seems pretty happy about it, despite the fact that she just restarted her own affair with the Mumbai guy, and even asks him to stay home, but Saul has a meeting with the White House chief of staff and says he can't do it, so they settle for an early morning quickie instead.
Meanwhile, Carrie and Quinn are researching the Langley bomber with the new info Javadi gave her last week. Quinn is still frustrated with them pursuing this angle, but Carrie's insistent and wonders why Fara is late to join them. Turns out Fara is sitting in the parking lot in her car, presumably still upset about Javadi's release and decides to skip work and go home. Saul's now at the White House, meeting with the Chief of Staff (whose name is Mike, apparently) and Senator Lockhart's there too, waiting to gang up on him. Saul once again explains his plan to have a now turned Javadi as their mole inside the Iranian government, but Mike and Lockhart are both extremely doubtful about this and angry at Saul for letting him go. Saul basically says it's too late now, because he already made the call, and then Lockhart's kicked out of the room so Saul can brief Mike on the mission at hand, since he's got nine days left in his tenure, and the plan's already in motion.
Mira's at a coffee shop to meet up with the Mumbai boyfriend and dump him, telling him she's going to give her marriage another chance. He reacts badly and says he thought they were in love, which upsets Mira and she takes off. I have to admit, the minute I saw that we were getting a scene of Mira and this guy on their own I immediately suspected him of being some kind of undercover agent and I'm delighted when it turns out later, that yes, I'm right!
Saul and Adal meet up with Carrie and Quinn now, where Carrie's mad that Saul didn't tell her what Javadi said to him about Brody and questions his motivation in capturing the real Langley bomber, which frankly, Saul doesn't seem that concerned about. He kinda brushes her off, yet tells her to go ahead with a plan if she has one. Quinn's idea is to have Adal, who's acquainted with Bennett, get in touch with him to plant the idea that the CIA is on to the firm about the bomber's identity, and Adal agrees. Now we get back to Fara, who goes home where we see that she lives with her disabled father, who's under the impression that she works at a bank and wonders why she stayed home from work.
Bennett meets Adal at a restaurant, who tells him that the financial firm is going to be the target of an inquiry very soon, and it's in his best interest to get ahead of the investigation. Bennett acts cocky about it, but we soon see that he's bluffing, because Carrie gets the cryptic text of the episode title and now she's meeting with Bennett's guy, Franklin, in a church. Franklin tells her to look into the inquiry, which she pretends not to know about but feigns obedience, and then she calls Saul to let him know they're panicking. She also asks him for some personal time, which he agrees to and they kind of make up, as Saul tells her he should have told her about the Brody thing earlier. Saul and Mira are making dinner together when he tells her he's going to have to go away for a week, which disappoints Mira, but the trip is apparently a whole mysterious thing that the rest of the team doesn't know about either. When Mira offers to come with him, he turns her down gently.
Carrie's now at the doctor getting a sonogram, and we find out that she's thirteen weeks pregnant (it's definitely Brody's, in case there was any doubt), and doesn't want to know the sex. When she's asked why she came in so late, Carrie admits to being swamped and wanting to know if the baby's all right, considering the fact that she was on lithium for a month and was drinking heavily at the start of her pregnancy, even after she already knew. The doctor says the baby's ok so far, but Carrie will have to modify her behavior from now on if she wants to keep it, which it kinda looks like she does, at least for the moment. I have a question about the lithium thing. Why would the mental hospital not have done a pregnancy test on her right away? That seems incredibly unlikely.
Fara is confronted at her house by an agent who tells her she can't just not go in to work and that Saul has shown an unusual amount of trust in her so far, but that her stop off at the house of Javadi's murders the day before has threatened to reopen the case again. Fara apologizes and the guy leaves, but then her dad realizes she works for the CIA and is upset that she signed up in spite of the fact that this action threatens their family members back in Iran if the CIA finds out who she works for. Fara insists that she's an American and seems defiant, but obviously now we know she has secrets of her own.
The operation to get the bomber is set in motion at Langley, with taps on Franklin and Bennett to follow them and be led to the guy directly. Carrie meets Franklin in the church again and tells him the CIA knows the bomber is still in the country, although they don't know his name or where he is yet. Franklin seems assured they don't have anything, but Carrie warns him to cover himself. Her attitude almost betrays her though, as Franklin looks kinda suspicious about her questioning where the bomber is. When she leaves we listen in on Franklin and Bennett's phone call, where Franklin is ordered to get the guy, who's an American citizen loyal to the regime, out of the country immediately.
Adal's overseeing the operation at Langley and Carrie is assured by Quinn that they're sticking with Franklin to get her the bomber. Now we cut back to Saul's house, and aha! I was right, as the Mumbai boyfriend has broken into the place and tapped Saul's computer (shouldn't the director of the CIA's house be under surveillance?) and sneaks out quietly when Mira comes in. This is the last we see of him tonight though, so his agenda remains unknown.
Now, we're back with the operation as Carrie stakes out the hotel where Franklin drives up to meet the bomber guy. Quinn's positioned on the roof and Adal and his guys are back at headquarters, watching on the monitors. Franklin calls the bomber on the phone and he answers (he's not somebody we've seen before), worried about his life now that's he been made. Franklin reassures him and hangs up, but then Carrie sees him pull out a silencer and she freaks, realizing Franklin's going to take the guy out. Adal doubts it, since they heard him directly ordered to exfiltrate, but says that they can't stop him if he does, since it would blow Carrie and Saul's covers, and thus the whole wider mission. Carrie refuses to let him go, since the bomber is her only chance to prove Brody's innocence and jumps out of the car to intercept him. As she makes her way there Adal orders Quinn to shoot her and he does at the last minute, hitting her in the arm as she goes down. Franklin pauses for a second, but ultimately knocks on the door of the bomber and kills him anyway, getting rid of the body in the hotel bathtub while the agency van picks up Carrie.
Quinn jumps in the van with her and yells at her for what she did, while Carrie cries and realizes something was wrong with the whole mission, asking Quinn where the fuck Saul is anyway. Turns out Saul, once again, has duped everyone, and set the whole thing up to distract Carrie while he makes his way to...of course, Caracas, where Saul is driven to the Tower of Babel and meets up with El Nino. It was him who promised him $10 million for Brody all along, as El Nino and his guys show him to Brody's "room," which is now his little dungeon cell, where he's completely strung out on heroin and has virtually no reaction to Saul kneeling down in front of him. But hey, at least he's back! And here to stay, for the rest of the season at least, as it looks like Carrie and Brody may reunite as soon as the next episode.
Well, I'm certainly happy that he's back, as I do think his presence has been missed this season, and now it looks like things are really ramping up, with several characters, like Fara and Mira's boyfriend, not to mention Javadi, hiding yet to be revealed agendas that will undoubtedly come into play. See you next week!
