A really good one tonight, that packed more plot into this hour than many episodes have all season. When Brody's back in action, everything is a little more interesting, and not least because Claire Danes and Damien Lewis have lost none of their electric chemistry together. Their long-awaited reunion did not disappoint.
We start off with Carrie waking up in the hospital after having been treated for the gunshot wound from Quinn. Turns out it was a perfect shot that went clean through, and the doctor also informs Carrie that the baby is fine, which she reacts to in an ambiguous manner (later in this episode, she does something else that leads me to believe she's actively hoping to lose it somehow). Now we cut to Brody, who's being pushed onto a bed by a bunch of guys, in the middle of withdrawal from extensive heroin use. He's freaking out of course (and this is definitely Damien Lewis's emmy submission episode), but Saul and Dar Adal are watching from a monitor. It looks like they've removed him from Caracas and taken him back to Virginia, and Adal expresses skepticism that this guy could ever be ready for what Saul wants to use him for. A soldier comes in the room and tells them how long it takes to go through withdrawal and Saul says he has to go cold turkey or nothing, because he's only got seven days left as acting CIA director.
Back in Carrie's hospital room, Lockhart enters and tries to get her to give up what Saul's up to, but Carrie refuses. Lockhart ends up telling her Saul went to Caracas, which lets Carrie know that he obviously went after Brody, but she still won't turn on him. Adal tells Saul about Lockhart's visit to Carrie, which makes Saul suspicious about how he found out, so he orders sweeps of their houses for surveillance activity. Brody keeps getting worse as he finally figures out the guys taking care of him are actually soldiers, and Adal suggests an illegal drug to fast-track the withdrawal process, which induces violent hallucinations. Saul's all for it, and so now Brody's going to suffer from those as well. I don't know if there's a character on TV that's experienced more physical suffering than Nick Brody. Perhaps Jesse Pinkman, but they're in close competition.
Max and Virgil sweep Saul's house and find the bug on his computer, while Brody undergoes hallucinatory encounters with a dead Tom Walker. He screams and wails at the monitor while Saul watches passively, but then he has to rush into the room when Brody starts stabbing at himself with a piece of wood and flashing back to his time with Nazir. Max and Virgil stake out Mira's boyfriend's house and get pictures of him leaving, while Brody finally sleeps after the hallucinations are over. Saul sits by his bed and faces him as he wakes up, telling him he survived and now he's got to do something for him. Saul doesn't believe Brody bombed the CIA but also doesn't see him as a victim, and still rightly blames him for the attack from the first season and the terrorist video. He tells him he's giving him a chance at redemption and to become a marine again, like he was before his time in captivity, but Brody doesn't want to do it and would rather die instead.
So Saul has the marines take him out on the water in the middle of the night and toss him overboard to see if he tries to save himself (nice, Saul). Brody doesn't and the guys have to go in after him to pull him up. One of the marines tells Saul again that Brody can't be in shape so fast, but Saul insists and Adal tells him they have to get Carrie. Saul goes over to the hospital now to see Carrie, who's of course furious with him for not telling her about Brody and not letting her secure the real bomber. He doesn't care what she thinks though, because it turns out he always knew she was the one who sneaked Brody out of the country after the bombing (so I guess that's how he found him in Caracas, then?) He tells Carrie about the "second phase" of his plan, to have Brody get into Iran as the Langley bomber, secure a meeting with the head of the Revolutionary Guard and take him out, so that Javadi will take his place and ascend to the top three of the Iranian government. Carrie doesn't think Brody will do it and Saul agrees, telling her that's why she has to convince him.
Carrie reluctantly goes to Virginia, where she sits by Brody's bed and they are at long last, reunited. It's a pretty good scene, as it takes a good long while before Brody senses her presence and slowly turns around to face her, but when their eyes finally meet, he turns away again, not particularly thrilled to see her. She says she didn't know he was there until that day, but he won't talk and she leaves the room. Carrie asks Saul when he has to be ready and Saul gives her the time frame, as well as filling her in on his drug addiction and what happened in Caracas.
Carrie and the marines drive Brody to go see Dana (just who I wanted to see), who's now working as a maid in a motel. Brody freaks out when he sees her, screaming at Carrie and trying to get out of the car, but the marines once again hold him down. Meanwhile Saul is given the pictures of Mira's boyfriend (whose name I finally catch- it's Alain), and is told he's an Israeli intelligence officer who happens to be in cahoots with Senator Lockhart. This is very convenient for Saul, who threatens Lockhart with the information, but all he asks for is an extra few weeks before his confirmation hearings. Lockhart is confused as to why Saul won't just destroy him publicly with this but Saul says it's because it would humiliate Mira and make the agency look bad. But it works out because Saul does get the extra time to get Brody ready.
Back in his little cell room, Brody is angry and yelling at Carrie over the Dana thing, wanting to know why she's working as a maid in the middle of nowhere, so Carrie fills him in on what she's been up to since the bombing (leaving out the suicide attempt). Brody wants to see her again but Carrie tells him to stop yelling as she sends the marines out of the room. Now we get Carrie telling Brody to go to Iran and redeem himself for Dana's sake, and for the suicide vest, along with the deaths of the imam and his wife in Caracas (she leaves out the vice-president's murder though- i know he was a bad guy, but that's a big one isn't it?). Brody thinks he's not in shape to do it, but Carrie says they'll get him ready if he's willing.
Time now for Brody's training montage, where he becomes a full-fledged marine again in just 16 days! Seriously, that's a little bit of extra time, but that really seems pushing it to me. He shapes up quick though, with the help of his new marine friends, and just like that he's up to speed. While playing cards with one of his new pals, the guy asks him if there's something going on between him and Carrie. He denies it, but gets annoyed when the guy says he'll make a pass at her, so we know he still likes her. At a briefing of the mission, it's explained that Brody will surrender himself at the border and be flown to Tehran, where he'll be set up for a meeting with the Guard leader, who he will then proceed to take out. After that he'll be pulled out by an extraction team from a safe house in Iran.
Carrie is outside smoking (seriously, she's trying to kill that baby- and she's now four months pregnant, shouldn't she be showing at least a little?), when Brody comes up to her and after some mild flirting he tells her he wants to see Dana again and he won't leave until he does, since there's little chance he comes back from Iran. He also wonders why she's kept her distance and Carrie seems to be considering telling him about the pregnancy but doesn't. She does drive him to see Dana at the hotel, where she finally tells him about the suicide attempt before he goes in to talk to her. When Brody knocks on the door, Dana is shocked to see him and really doesn't want to talk to him, but he tries to apologize anyway, insisting on his innocence and saying he just wanted to see her before he leaves. Dana says she doesn't want to see him though and asks what she has to say so that she never has to see him or Carrie ever again. Well, that was a bust.
Brody and Carrie leave, and while they're in the car Brody promises he will come back from Tehran, and not just for Dana. The two of them exchange meaningful looks and Carrie blows her second chance to tell him about the baby. Back at the base Saul is mad at Carrie for driving Brody away right before he leaves, but Carrie shoots back that they have to start trusting each other again at some point, and the only reason this mission is even happening is because of her, so she deserves some credit for it. The final scene is Brody and the marines shipping out, and Carrie and Brody give each other one last "significant look" before Carrie calls out to him and when he stops, she changes her mind again and just says she'll see him on the other side. Third chance, Carrie. Blew it again. I don't know, I think telling him he's going to have another kid would be a pretty good motivator to come back alive, don't you?
Well, that's it. Next week it's the actual mission, which of course will go perfectly smoothly, right? No chance for missteps? Yeah, I don't think so either. See you on the other side everyone!
