Season two of Homeland has been just as exhilarating and surprising as last year’s Emmy Award-winning freshman season. Recently, Showtime announced that Homeland has been renewed for a third season, prompting many viewers to wonder if this show can maintain its Emmy-caliber status heading into 2013. Thanks to stellar performances by Damian Lewis, Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin to name a few, Homeland shows no signs of slowing down as it heads into the last few episodes of season two.
A major point that was stressed from the very start of the episode “I’ll Fly Away,” is that Brody is unstable. He has no control of his life, and the constant lying has him on the brink of a mental breakdown. Brody is fragile, he’s disheveled, and he has lost his will to live. While the spotlight of him running for vice president has dimmed, the demands of Roya and Carrie are clearly taking a toll on him. Brody has shifted sides so many times, that it’s surprising he can keep his lies in order—or even stand on his own two feet.
We can thank Carrie for shoveling a disarranged Brody from the fetal position in his home and thrusting him back into action for the CIA. Shortly after, Brody meets up with Roya, but after a few minutes, Brody becomes agitated and storms off saying he’s done. The man has clearly hit a wall, but Carrie refuses to turn Brody in to the CIA. She finds him as he’s walking to his vehicle, takes his keys, and drives off to an old crumby hotel only to empower him later in the evening by having sex with him. Let’s not forget that everyone who was part of the CIA operation heard that commotion—the scene felt embarrassing for Saul. His protégé Carrie appeared to have her own interests in mind when she whisked Brody off to a hotel to get her rocks off. Whether or not Carrie is stuck on Brody is still up in the air. Either way, it looks awful for her reputation and pushes her even further from regaining any credibility that she lost after being fired from the CIA in season one.
Meanwhile, young Dana Brody ran away and showed up at Mike Faber’s doorstep. She spends some time there to clear her head and later, schedules a time to visit the hit-and-run victim’s daughter. Dana’s effort to make good on the accident is met with hostility. The victim’s daughter was paid off by the CIA to keep quiet so that the incident wouldn’t derail the presidential campaign. While most of us saw this coming, it’s alarming to think that real political messes such as this can be muscled to keep quiet.
By the end of the episode, Brody is kidnapped and taken by helicopter to an undisclosed location. Once he arrives at his destination he is met face-to-face with Abu Nazir. This is the first time they’ve seen each other since Brody was MIA. While Abu Nazir’s intentions have not been revealed, it will be interesting to see how and why Nazir arrived in the United States. Whatever Nazir is planning, it’s big, and Brody seems to be an intricate part of it—whether he likes it or not.