One of Homeland’s greatest strengths for me as a viewer has been its ability to make the relationship between its two leads ambiguous. Are they really in love with each? Or is one (or both) of them playing on the emotions of the other for the sake of their job? ‘The Choice’ removed this uncertainty and presented Carrie and Brody as two people deeply in love with each other, and while Danes and Lewis have continuously proved their great acting skills, Carrie and Brody in the throes of a new romance does not make for interesting viewing. In fact, watching the pair of them return to the cabin in which their elicit relationship first begun was rather painful to watch. There was juggling of potatoes, deep and meaningful conversations about absentee mothers, deep and meaningful conversations about their future as a couple, sex, and croissants, all in that order. Thank god Quinn was hovering in the background ready to kill Brody on Estes orders the second he was alone, just to keep thinks interesting.
Or not. Quinn approached Estes in his home and made it clear
that he only kills the bad guy, and that Brody’s involvement with the CIA finally
allowed them to kill Nazir, therefore Brody’s deal with the CIA should be
honoured. As a character Quinn was a great addition to Homeland this season,
although his sudden display of strong morals and affection for Carrie’s
wellbeing seemed uncharacteristic, him threatening Estes was entertaining
nonetheless.
Brody not being killed by Quinn allowed him to start moving
on from his past and into a possible future with Carrie. He made Mike buy him a
beer, thanked him, and basically told him now they that were divorcing that he
could have Jessica (not a bad trade, if you ask me). Jessica too was trying her
best to make headway in moving on, but the way in which she unceremoniously
removed all of Brody’s clothes from their room, and made certain that he came
to get his suit for Walden’s memorial while she wasn’t there makes it clear
there’s still some animosity towards him. Dana walking in on her father changing was
a superb call back to the season one final, although Brody’s decision to tell
her that he had planned to detonate a suicide bomb seemed unrealistic, although
perhaps it was representative of Brody’s continued attempts to move on. He no
longer needs to lie because that part of his is now over and he has no purpose
in continuing to hide it.
Estes, having hidden Saul in the CIA for three days, had no
reason to hide him any further either, with Brody’s assassination cancelled. Once
free he and Carrie, who had some decision making of her own to do in regards to
her future with Brody, had a talk in the best scene of the episode. Saul told
her she was in line to be the youngest station chief in the history of the
agency, to which her response is understandably conflicted. Saul gives her the
harsh truth: she can do whatever she wants, but an intelligence officer for the
CIA can’t, and that she’ll be throwing her life away for a terrorist if she
stays with Brody (which seems quite the contradictory thing for him to say
considering he just spent three days locked away for his attempts at trying to
stop Brody’s assassination, but the scene was gripping regardless).
Saul headed off to oversee Nazir’s sea burial, and Carrie
and Brody attended the beginning of Walden’s memorial before sneaking off to
Saul’s office where Carrie told Brody she had made her decision to be with him,
before Brody noticed someone had moved his car. Before Carrie could say ‘Fuck!’,
an explosion ripped through Langley incinerating Walden’s memorial service and
knocking Carrie and Brody over. Homeland’s
suspension of disbelief has come under heavy scrutiny recently, and I’ve no
doubt that the occurrence of a major explosion within a CIA facility will
garner a similar response, but I much prefer a Homeland that takes risks and throws everything into question in the
second half of ‘The Choice’ over the incredibly tedious first half.
That being said, the explosion is the catalyst that will see
Homeland into its third season, and
if the questions and atmosphere of the second half of ‘The Choice’ is anything
to go by, I’m extremely hesitant as to where the show is headed. The decision to
once again place Brody as a prime suspect for the attack just seems exhausted,
Carrie’s instantaneous response to blame him, while tense, is something we’ve
all seen before. He tells Carrie that this could have been Nazir’s plan all
along, that he orchestrated his Walden’s deaths in a master plan for revenge. And
once again, Carrie’s easily convinced, and the pair leave Langley, Carrie
provides him with money and a fake passport, before the star-crossed lovers say
goodbye at the border, Carrie telling him she’ll clear the name of the presumed
terrorist.
The problem with Homeland
is that the presentation of a character or storyline is never clear cut,
audiences think they’ve figured out who a character is or what has been
happening, but the way in which Homeland continues
aims to ensure us that you can never be certain, which leads to increasingly frustrating
viewing. Regardless as to whether Brody, Nazir, the long talked about CIA mole,
or even Saul or Quinn (yes, there has been heavy discussion online that even these
two characters could have blown up Langley, such is the elusiveness of Homeland), is culpable, what’s certain
is that Homeland will continue to entertain audiences next season, albeit in a
very confusing way.
Rating: 3.5/5
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