So, this was basically the Zero Dark Thirty episode of Homeland, with the vast majority of the it focused on the botched mission to get Brody into Iran, while everyone else, including Carrie, Saul, Quinn and Lockhart watches from the control room. Was it compelling television? I'm guessing opinions on that will differ, but I'm thinking more along the lines of not so much.
We open pretty good, with Carrie on her way into headquarters, where she bumps into Quinn, who's waiting to apologize to her for shooting her a couple weeks ago (lol). Carrie blows him off, but when they're in the privacy of the elevator he tells her he checked out her medical records while she was in the hospital, so he knows she's pregnant (now four months, by the way). Carrie's furious and Quinn tells her he thinks she ought to sit this thing out, but she refuses, denying that's it's Brody's kid (doubt Quinn believes that, since he was the one spying on them at the cabin last year) and saying it's none of his business.
Brody's camped out in the Iraqi desert with the marines, getting ready for the mission, while Carrie and Quinn enter the control room where all personnel are monitoring the operation. One of them spells out the plan, which is to wait for nightfall and then sneak across the border for Brody to surrender. At the White House, Adal is waiting around with Chief of Staff Higgins (I guess they're going to be briefed on the operation as it happens?), who's concerned about how an international incident will affect the president, but Adal sips his tea (?) and brushes off his worries.
The operation continues to set itself up, with Brody turning his socks inside out for luck and Carrie continuing to be briefed about what's in store for Brody at the border. The marines have Brody go over his cover story again, which he's got down pat, identifying himself as the Langley bomber and teaming up with various terror groups to get himself over the border. A lot of this is waiting around footage, which frankly, is really not that interesting, and that's kind of a problem with this episode, in my opinion. We see Saul waiting in his office, chewing gum, and then a marine asking Brody if he wrote a goodbye letter to his family, which he didn't. Okay, then.
Finally, Saul shows up in the control room and the operation seems to be underway, but there's a technical problem with the drone they sent in, so that's another delay. Sigh. We see Brody praying at sunset, and then at long last, it looks like things are finally happening as the marines get in their car (albeit slowly) and drive off to their destination point. It's nightfall now, and that's another problem with this episode, as things are extremely dark (literally) from this point on. Turns out the border route is blocked off by traffic when the marines get there, so they have to wait on Plan B, which is for Langley to confirm an alternate route.
More waiting occurs, as the guys have to wait for the drone fix- it finally happens, and then Carrie asks Saul for some of his apparently "lucky" gum. Suddenly Iraqi police pull up to car and approach the vehicle, not buying the marines' cover story. They get too close and the guys have no choice but to kill all three of the cops, which causes Brody to freak out, jump out of the car and start running away until a marine chases him down and yells at him to be tough and pull himself together. Brody is shaking and cries out that he's scared, but the marine guy (I can't distinguish any of them by name, sorry) straightens him out and says he either shapes up or they all die. Brody calms down and they get back in the car, confirming to Langley that he's all right. Carrie doesn't buy it and is concerned for him (as always).
Higgins is panicked at the White House over the incident that he didn't want to happen, but Dar Adal tells him not to tell the president and not to panic about it. The car now goes down the alternate route to the border, as Higgins sends Lockhart and the J-SOC commander over to "advise and observe" the operation. Lockhart seems a little softer than usual though, telling Saul that now that the operation's underway he has no choice but to hope for its success since he's eventually going to own it anyway. Saul agrees and lets Lockhart in the room, where he asks Carrie about her shoulder and she gets snappy about it, especially when he mentions her sales prowess in convincing Brody to go through with this (did he look at her medical records too, I wonder?)
Back in the dark, dark desert, the guys have to split up because there's Iraqi patrol in the area, so it's now just Brody and the one marine (whose name I still don't know but it's the guy who yelled at him earlier- from now on he's Marine 1) and they take off in the hummer. They drive over a bumpy road with Marine 1 trying to make conversation, and Brody insisting he's fine now, but it goes south when they suddenly hit a landmine and the car appears to blow up in a puff of smoke. Carrie's terrified and the cryface starts to intrude, but everyone in the room spends what seems like an interminable amount of time staring at the monitor. The patrol car of course starts heading in their direction, but Higgins is more freaked out now and wants to call the president or the Iraqis at least.
Higgins then calls the control room and tells Saul to send the drone in to bomb the area and take them out so no one will discover them. Carrie's angry and screams at him but Saul quiets her and refuses to order a strike on his own men. As they go back to the monitor screen there's finally movement in the vehicle, as both Brody and Marine 1 are still alive. Brody's the one who's fully intact though, as he pulls Marine 1 to safety, and sees that he's lost his leg in the explosion. Carrie is relieved and happy, practically crying actually, as Brody calls in to confirm he's ok and the other marines are ordered in to get them. Brody treats Marine 1 for shock and tries to stem the blood (boy, he really did shape up in the last ten minutes) as the rest of the guys get there to help him out. But of course, the patrol gets there too and starts firing at the marines, making the whole mission an unqualified failure.
Saul's left with no other choice but to abort the mission to get Marine 1 and the rest of them out alive, so he gives the order and leaves the room in disappointment. Lockhart is fairly nice about it, apologizing to him for the bad luck, and Carrie tries to console him as well, telling him Javadi's still in play at least. After Saul leaves, the guys are still under fire and now trying to get out, but Brody refuses to abort, saying he's going to get into Iran anyway on his own. Of course, the control room gives Carrie the mic, so she can talk Brody out of it, but Brody still refuses. She tells him he'll have no support system, extraction plan or sanction, and he'll die there. Brody still won't back down, telling her she'll find a way to get him home, and he has faith in her. He hangs up and makes a run for it, crossing through the gunfire and diving into the rocks.
The rest of the guys make a run for it the other way, except for one of them (he's now Marine 2), who dives in to help Brody, saying he'll buy him thirty seconds, but it's too late, as both of them have lights shined upon them by what turns out to conveniently be the Iranians. Brody gives his cover story and says Marine 2 is his accomplice. They buy it and take them prisoner, and Carrie and Quinn are both in stunned relief. Carrie goes to see Saul in his office to tell him the good news. Saul is shocked, but Carrie is more than happy, telling him he's still in the game with Brody okay in Iran. Okay is a relative term of course, as he and Marine 2 sit in a prison cell for the moment. Brody tells Marine 2 that he will probably break under torture, just like he did, and he'll likely only last 7 days. That sucks, but Marine 2 is a real good sport about it, telling him he'll last as long as possible for Brody to get the job done.
Carrie goes to see Fara (hey, where's she been?) in a random office, to ask her to let them use her uncle in Tehran to provide Brody a safe meeting place to extract him. Fara really doesn't want to do it, understandably, but Carrie manages to talk her into it, calling Brody a "brother agent" in the field (ummm- doesn't Fara still think he bombed Langley?) Back at the prison, an Iranian guard walks in with Javadi, who I don't think Brody knows (does he?) and he tells him he's seeking asylum in the country. Javadi shoots poor Marine 2 instantly (aww, I liked him), and Brody cries out, but Javadi tells him to calm down and asks if he's ready to go with him to Tehran.
And that's it, folks. I wasn't wild about this one- I know it was a bottle episode on purpose, but to me this wasn't the most exciting hour, as it was just Brody getting into Iran, which we all knew he would, so there wasn't a whole lot of suspense there. Next week looks better, as it appears Carrie goes into Iran to find him, where of course, problems ensue. What's the over/under on Brody dying in the finale? I was thinking he would, but now I'm starting to waver on that. No particular reason, really, just a feeling. How about you? See you next week!
