Homeland – “Two Hats”

Season Two, Episode 9

Grade: B+

—

So Abu Nazir takes Brody for a day and tests him with the idea of torture, then has a nice conversation with him over tea. The tricky thing here is that we’re represented with the question that was the dark cloud over the entire first season: Should we trust Brody? In recent episodes, it seems like Brody’s family was the deciding factor for Brody’s allegiance, but if there’s anyone who can break Brody again, it’s Abu Nazir. And though it looks like Brody is still siding with the CIA, like Quinn and Saul, I would still keep a close eye on him.

Speaking of Quinn, we discover that he’s not actually a CIA analyst after Max and Virgil breaks into his apartment and after Saul does a bit of investigating. Quinn (which apparently isn’t even his name) is a black ops assassin ready to kill Brody the very moment they capture Abu Nazir. This creates a huge headache if you’re guessing where the story might lead to.

But back to the story, Brody tips off Abu Nazir’s plan to attack the coming-home ceremony of 300 US soldiers. Brody is supposed to convince the Vice President to allow Roya as the only reporter to cover the event. Her team will then set up the news van full of explosives and kaboom! With Brody’s help, the CIA and FBI are able to bring down the attempt but Abu Nazir is no where to be found. This is the only thing that kept Brody alive from a Quinn bullet inside the limo, but Brody can’t die right?

So the agents shoot a few, arrest Roya and her crew, but Abu Nazir is still out there. Isn’t this going to be enough intelligence for Nazir to realize that Brody has turned against him? Doesn’t Saul know enough about Quinn to possibly leak it and therefore causing problems inside the CIA? Just think if Carrie finds out. But what’s the next step? They’ll question Roya but now Brody has no one to report to.

Meanwhile, Brody’s family is brought to a safe house where Mike plays Dad. Dana hit it right on the head when she said that everything got worse when Brody returned. Look at all the relationships and situations in the family. But this episode we see what existed during the time Brody was practically dead. Mike played the father role: he disciplined Dana, calmed down Chris, and pleased Jessica. He’s everything that Brody isn’t for the family; he provides them with the feeling of being normal.

As a whole, this was another solid episode. Since the first four or so episodes of the second season Homeland has fallen a bit, but that’s mainly because the beginning was incredibly powerful and thrilling. But when the show displays the characters interacting with each other, that’s when the show thrives. But back to something I said before, it’s hard to believe that this isn’t leading towards the end of Brody. His whole life is unraveling and he’s either going to have the bull’s eye on his back from the CIA or Abu Nazir. In both situations, he dies. I can’t imagine it any other way, but I’m willing to keep watching to find out.