2) Apparently, Kahn wasn't behind the tampering of Carrie's meds after all. Okay.
3) Saul hates Carrie for not letting him blow his brains out.
4) Terrorists DO notice when drone are following them! Because they have EYES.
5) Drones remind me of video games which reminds me of Ender's Game which makes me uncomfortable.
6) One Saul is the equivalent to a handful of terrorists, but how would this convert using Shrute Bucks to Stanley Nickels?
Alright. I just have to say something. I've been confused pretty much all season about character motivation, and I feel like this is not something that's happened before while watching Homeland. Complicated, contradictory feelings are nothing new to the characters on this show, but I feel like the contradictions were always conveyed in a way that felt organic. I'm not experiencing that this season. I'm just feeling like I don't know why anyone is doing what they're doing.
I don't get Kahn's deal, which is maybe okay, because maybe we're not supposed to yet. Maybe he really is clueless to his government's aligning itself with the terrorists. That was pretty much confirmed when we saw him watching Mr. Camera Phone, aka, Boyd, being slipped notes without Carrie present. Are we comfortable proclaiming Kahn a "good guy" now? I don't know. And why did he make such a production about telling Carrie what he saw? Why did they keep returning to the awkwardness of when she thought he was Brody? I feel like Kahn wants Carrie to "like" him. How many out of nowhere romances can they tease this season? We'll see!
I also thought I originally understood Carrie's position on Saul's imprisonment; she knew he would rather die than give into the terrorists or be a problem. She was willing to blow him up without even thinking about it. But for some reason, once it was confirmed through a telephone conversation that Carrie was exactly right about Saul's wishes, she did a 180. Suddenly, she couldn't bear to watch Saul shoot himself in the head. She cried. It was too upsetting. She forced him to keep going, to keep running, even as millions of little terrorist guys were closing in and she knew help would not be arriving.
This is where I got confused. Did Carrie know that it was hopeless, or did she think Saul actually stood a chance? Did she knowingly direct him right to the terrorists just to avoid watching him kill himself? What is the difference really between watching a drone blow up your father figure and watching your father figure shoot himself? I guess with an explosion, there's no body to see.
We saw Carrie get ready for bed again: retainer, earplugs, eye mask, lay down. Still waiting for this "going to sleep" theme to pay off. We may have gotten a glimpse of the significance when Carrie tells Quinn that she finally realizes there are no good solutions and no good endings to anything that they're doing, but the moment didn't feel climatic enough to be the "waking up" that I keep waiting for.
Even with the confusion, this episode was the most exciting of the season so far, no? Saul's escape was pretty intense (it involved murder-- with his bare hands!) and I honestly had no idea what was going to happen at the end. I can't believe it, but I actually wanted Saul to kill himself, just to win this one, and I was disappointed when he didn't. Obviously, so was he.
What do we think about this episode? Am I the only one who is greatly confused by character motivation this season? Will Saul now hate Carrie forever? Is there any way this can end well for Carrie and Co.?
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