‘Homeland’ Recap: Carrie Meets Javadi; Dana Learns The Truth About Leo

Homeland “The Yoga Play” implicitly introduces Javadi in its opening minutes as a mysterious individual who crosses over the U.S. border, where he meets another individual on a deserted road. The two switch cars, and off goes the suspected terrorist into the heart of the country he devastated with his attack on the CIA.

Back in the action is Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend), who takes it upon himself to confront Saul (Mandy Patinkin) on everything – from Carrie (Claire Danes), to Saul's general handling of the CIA. Saul cuts his go-to hit man off and decides to tell him all about his plan with Carrie. He informs Quinn that Carrie has been willingly acting like bait to lure in the Iranian target, reassuring the agent that all is going to plan before getting his duck hunt on with a group of politicians he’s sidling up to for the sake of his position at the CIA.

With another episode lacking Nicholas Brody (Damien Lewis), Dana Brody (Morgan Saylor) is once again the show’s tying force to the family. She’s still on her runaway trip with the murderous Leo (Sam Underwood). In a desperate bid to get her daughter back, Jessica (Morena Baccarin) enlists her turned husband’s ex-paramour Carrie to help find her. Carrie, who has recently flushed her meds down the toilet again, agrees to help Jessica. Since her reputation isn’t what it once was, the FBI declines to help her so she calls Virgil’s brother Max to help her pull of “the yoga play” to lose surveillance.

Quinn tries to intervene and stop Carrie from making the risky move. She thanks him for his concern, and for his hospital visit, but of course, she’s not heeding his warnings. Successfully losing surveillance, Carrie hops into the van with Virgil and Max and the trio sets of to meet FBI Agent Hall. Hall is under the impression that Dana and Leo are simply on a Romeo and Juliet-esque adventure. Carrie reminds Hall that a) Romeo and Juliet didn’t end particularly well (Danes should know as she played Juliet to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Romeo back in the day) and b) Dana is likely the one person who Brody might contact.

At the duck/goose hunt, Saul hears from Sen. Lockhart (Tracy Letts) that the president is none to pleased with how the CIA is recovering from the bombing. In addition to wanting a boost in morale, the president wants more drone military action than the human intelligence operations favored by Saul and the old guard. When Saul asserts his intention to seek the directorship, Lockhart informs Saul that the president has nominated him, and not Saul for the position.

When Dana and Leo make a refueling stop at a gas station, Dana goes inside the convenience store to pay. There, she hears a news segment about them. From the report, she learns about Leo’s suicide pact with his brother, one that was his idea and that he himself didn’t go through with, leading to that initial murder charge. After confronting Leo, she realizes he’s lying to her and decides to hand herself over to police. When she gets back home later, she sobs uncontrollably, devastated.

Carrie gets reprimanded by Saul for electing to help Jessica locate Dana, something he calls a “fools errand” and that risked their entire covert operation. Saul worries that she was made. While maintaining her confidence that she wasn’t to Saul, alone Carrie frets that he might be right. She’s later roused from sleeping in the middle of the night and carted out of her house against her will by Javadi’s men.

Quinn calls Saul to tell him he can’t see what’s going on at Carrie’s. Saul, who just arrived home to find his wife Mira dining with a “colleague” from Mumbai, tells Quinn to back off. Quinn goes anyway and finds that Carrie has been taken and must be alone in the hands of Javadi. When he calls Saul in a panic, the aspiring CIA director assures him it’s the plan in motion and that “She’s always been on her own.”

At the mansion where she formerlly sat down with the lawyers, Carrie gets her face-to-face with Javadi. “Carrie Mathison. You’re in good shape. Must be all that yoga,” he sneers.

Homeland airs Sundays on HBO on Showtime at 9/8c.

– Chelsea Regan

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