Homeland: Trust Issues
(Episode 6.08)
Jeff Neumann/SHOWTIME
In “Imminent Risk,” Homeland nearly lost its balance, steadying itself against its allusions to the past. “Alt.Truth,” in which the series sways on this tightrope for much of the hour before finally tumbling off, possesses no such Polaris; its central theme, its basic structure, is a sort of double vision, through which it becomes impossible for both characters and viewers to distinguish fact from fiction. If it were handled more deftly, the episode’s commitment to this conceit might produce genuine fireworks—each plotline echoes precisely the same concern with regard to truth and its alternates—but by the time Quinn (Rupert Friend) emerges from that frigid lake, “Alt.Truth” is no more than a knot of contrivances, the series’ most risible installment since the end of Season Three. There’s even an unintended connection here to the episode’s thrust: As it happens, the real trust issue it raises is with Homeland itself.
Before it comes undone, however, “Alt.Truth” is a capable (if unsubtle) exploration of the ways in which our perspectives and preconceptions shape our understanding of the facts; as with the foregoing entries in the series’ sixth season, tonight’s episode is admirably attuned to the notion that new information is easily assimilated into narratives we already know. “Doesn’t sound like a hero to me,” the ultra-conservative Brett O’Keefe (Jake Weber) remarks in the opening sequence, which juxtaposes President-elect Keane’s (Elizabeth Marvel) morning routine with O’Keefe’s manipulative “exposé” on her son. As Keane examines the tiny portrait of Andrew she keeps in her locket, O’Keefe cajoles a tetchy veteran named Rudy into tarring his compatriot’s reputation, pressing the young man’s sketchy story into a familiar ideological mould. Strip this interlude of its conspiratorial language (“the world government”), though, and it mimics Carrie’s (Claire Danes) plight, in which the set of facts the Administration for Children’s Services presents in court wrongly adds up to “unfit mother”: From the same data points, we can string together a tale of courage under fire or cowardice in the ranks, a woman ably navigating mental illness or endangering her daughter with it. One need not fabricate “alternative facts” to dissemble, distract or discredit—stories can do that work for us, and also the reverse.
The unforgivable sin of “Alt.Truth,” then, is not that it wrestles with competing, even opposing narratives—of Andrew Keane’s death, of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, of Quinn’s relationship with Astrid (Nina Hoss)—but that it overplays its hand, collapsing the subject of the title into its most reductive iteration. As we learn later, for instance, O’Keefe is in contact with Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham), for whom he’s cut the footage of Keane’s last patrol into a venomous piece of propaganda. (Though O’Keefe is clearly modeled on Infowars’ Alex Jones, his name seems to be a dig at discredited “journalist” James O’Keefe.) On its own, this is satisfyingly thorny; the real O’Keefe’s misleading footage, amplified by right-wing outlets from Fox News to Breitbart, has indeed gained purchase among powerful figures in the U.S. government on more than one occasion, and the vilest lies now spout unabated from the raw sewage geyser where once the White House stood. It’s in concert with Majid Javadi’s (Shaun Toub) abrupt volte face and Quinn’s not-so-paranoid delusions that the doctored video begins to suggest the flat-footed gambit of a flailing drama, ginning up “excitement” when it can’t generate suspense.