Homeland: "The Drone Queen" and "Trylon And Perisphere"

October 6, 2014 6:50 AM - Season 4, Episode 2

How does life go on for Carrie after the excruciating death of Brody?

Discussion for last night's two-part premiere, S04E01 "The Drone Queen" and S04E02 "Trylon And Perisphere".
Both episodes can be watched for free: http://www.sho.com/sho/homeland/home

posted by travelwithcats (24 comments total)

Smash 12 is such a buzzkill. No cake for him.
posted by homunculus at 11:48 AM on October 6, 2014

Ah, I'm not the only one who thought that Carrie's baby's resemblance to Damian Lewis is uncanny.
posted by homunculus at 11:52 AM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

Mixed feelings for sure. The best part was the stuff around "who is Sandy's source?" and the effort to rescue him which is back to what Homeland seems to do best. I hope that's set it up now and we'll see more of that. Quinn's devolving has been coming from some time - since he killed the kid in the operation where they killed the 6 operatives who conducted the Langley bombing - and it's clear he's in love with and yet repulsed by Carrie.

Carrie is still crazy-pantsuit but I also am so annoyed at her sister. Carrie was TRYING to give the baby up before she had it and it was her sister and father who insisted she keep it and said they'd do whatever it took to help her. This is what it takes - did her doctor-sister really think that having the baby was going to change Carrie and make her long for a stable DC-based desk job? C'mon. I'm glad Carrie didn't kill the kid but I also think it's nice to see a woman who knew she didn't really want to keep a baby not suddenly have some epiphany and change her mind once she gives birth to it.

There's a lot of unrealistic thinking going on that drives me batty:
- Saul think he'd be at all content in the private sector. Saul's wife thinking (35+ years of marriage later) that he'd at all change either.
- Anyone thinking Carrie would sit around calling in drone strikes for any length of time and not find a way to do more on-the-ground work (including Carrie)
- Smash 12 thinking he'd signed up for anything other than remote murder of clearly defined "bad guys" PLEASE DUDE
- Maggie thinking Carrie'd want anything to do with a baby

Also of note: Carrie's over the shoulder bag has been upgraded (I always loved she carried that kind of practical bag) and looks like Marc by Marc Jacobs!
posted by marylynn at 11:57 AM on October 6, 2014

I thought this was a very good start to the season. Homeland is good when it is as little like 24 as possible. First season: Not like 24. Second season: A lot like 24 and thus the worst season. Third season: Mixed bag, but not nearly as good as Season 1.

These two episodes were nothing like 24.
posted by Justinian at 12:08 PM on October 6, 2014

Quinn is becoming the moral compass of the show. My guess is he's either blowing a whistle, going off the reservation, or dead before the end of the season.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:46 PM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ah, I'm not the only one who thought that Carrie's baby's resemblance to Damian Lewis is uncanny.

There a potentially big spoiler in the article at that link, one that many might not be happy to see.
posted by fuse theorem at 7:49 PM on October 6, 2014

I didn't see a spoiler. I mean yeah, if one hasn't watched the series before then it spoils alot, but then why read a review of the first two episodes of season 4?
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:20 AM on October 7, 2014

I'm current on the series. I called it a spoiler because a) it could represent a potentially huge development in the storyline, and b) it was a bit of information that I'm not sure is widely known. It has to do with a former cast member. I've since read elsewhere that the showrunner has denied that the cast member is returning but I'm taking a "wait and see" approach.
posted by fuse theorem at 2:00 PM on October 7, 2014

At first I thought you were talking about James Rebhorn and I was thinking you were being somewhat optimistic with your "wait and see" approach.
posted by Justinian at 3:54 PM on October 7, 2014

I'm interested to see what becomes of James Rebhorn's character.

Also, did anyone catch what all those injectable bottles were that that Ayaan grabbed? Not sure if I missed something there.
posted by triggerfinger at 9:05 PM on October 7, 2014

"Carrie was TRYING to give the baby up before she had it and it was her sister and father who insisted she keep it and said they'd do whatever it took to help her. This is what it takes - did her doctor-sister really think that having the baby was going to change Carrie and make her long for a stable DC-based desk job? C'mon. I'm glad Carrie didn't kill the kid but I also think it's nice to see a woman who knew she didn't really want to keep a baby not suddenly have some epiphany and change her mind once she gives birth to it."

I'd forgotten that she didn't want to keep the baby (I found when I began watching these two episodes that I could hardly remember anything that happened in the last season and I had to stop and go to Wikipedia for a synopsis). That makes me more sympathetic to her feelings now and, as you say, much less sympathetic to her sister. I found myself very ambivalent about all that stuff because I have strong feelings about the cultural expectations about new mothers, that there's a vast cultural denial of how common feelings like Carrie's really are and this concomitant expectation that all women become immediately infatuated with their newborn child and instantly become maternal. There's so much harmful stuff in that. But then, I'm part of this culture and I found that I was feeling very unsympathetic to Carrie and angry with her, even though I know better! Argh. But I felt that some of my anger was justified because I'd forgotten that she didn't want the baby and so I thought she'd selfishly decided to keep it because of Brody but then couldn't be motivated to be responsible. Because, after all, Carrie can be very irresponsible and very selfish. But I'm more sympathetic if her family was a strong influence on her decision to keep the baby.

But she really was deep into her selfish and self-involved mode, wasn't she? I thought the scene at the funeral with her and Quinn was very good and on-the-nose. Carrie is amazingly uninterested in the people around her and tends to narcissistically see them all as extensions of her own concerns.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:15 PM on October 8, 2014

Oh, from homunculus's link: "If you didn’t already love Quinn, the scene where he offers to take the hotel manager to breakfast cinches it, no?"

I did really love that. In fact, when the scene changed to them having sex, I cringed because I felt sure they were using this character and that actress as no more than a trope concerning Quinn's state of mind. But not everyone is TV-attractive and not everyone, even people who look like Quinn, can only see people who are TV-attractive. And so when, first, he treats her like an actual person and has breakfast with her (and, I mean, that would be a bare-minimum in real-life but in this context on a TV show, that's practically a day at the zoo), and then she seems to be someone the writers are seeing as a person and not a trope, maybe someone who will be a recurring character and, you know, be interesting, then I really was happy and hopeful. Because, look, with television shows, the audience tends to respond exactly like those guys to characters like hers. Worse, even to the actors that play those characters. I cringe while imagining what people tweeted during the show. So, damn it, I want her to be a real character who's treated well by the show.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:25 PM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Carrie's sister, Maggie, was completely unfair to Carrie. As was said above, Carrie's sister and father convinced her to have the baby. Carrie knew she wasn't ready nor in any mental condition to be responsible for an infant. However, the scene with Carrie giving her daughter a bath was creepy.

Carrie was creepy in general. She has turned herself into what she is fighting. She has become a terrorist. She was willing to blow off the slaughter of an entire wedding party as just part of the damage that occurs when one is completely focused on killing America's terrorist enemies. Lockhart, the Director of the CIA, says to Carrie while showing her Aayan being interviewed "And he's not a foaming at the mouth jihadist. He's reasonable. Can you believe it?" The foaming at the mouth fanatic is standing right next to him.

I've always thought Carrie was fascinating. To me, in the first 2 seasons, she was the symbol of America's response to 9/11. A hysterical focus on stopping terrorist acts no matter what the cost to ourselves. This fourth season she has become the symbol of our single minded effort to kill our enemies no matter what that turns us into. It's an old human story, becoming the monster you're fighting.

I had to look up the title "Trylon and Perisphere." New York Public Library. 1939 New York World's Fair.
posted by cwest at 2:50 AM on October 9, 2014

I might be an atypical viewer because I never really liked Brody nor understood Carrie. When I started watching the show earlier this year I was intrigued by the story, but throughout season 1 and 2 I wished they would finally get rid of Brody and that Carrie would come to her senses and stop getting involved with him. It took me a long time but then in season 3 I actually started rooting for Brody and was pretty upset at the way he died. Throughout the last season I couldn't help but think that what Brody went through was simply too much for one person.

So it’s the start of the new season, my favorite character is gone and I am still torn with regard to Carrie. I didn’t find her behavior shocking, and I expect we will see even more “transgressions” going forward. She is so deeply enmeshed with the hunt of the evil that there is little room for anything else. Interestingly though, she was the one who wanted to help/save Sandy while Quinn was all: “Let it go. There is nothing we can do.” And then it was him who struggled with this whole incident later on. All in all, the first episode left a bad taste in my mouth.

I also didn’t really get why it is suddenly such a big deal that no one knows who Sandy's source was? I recall several instances where Carrie had to travel somewhere far away/dangerous just because her source would not talk to anyone else. Throughout the show many sources were kept confidential and had only one contact person. So it’s a bit inconsistent to use that as a linchpin for the entire season.
Like triggerfinger, I also wondered what meds Aayan hoarded, but couldn’t really see what it was.
posted by travelwithcats at 3:47 AM on October 9, 2014

Interestingly though, she was the one who wanted to help/save Sandy while Quinn was all: “Let it go. There is nothing we can do.” And then it was him who struggled with this whole incident later on.

Quinn was being realistic. There was not a thing he and Carrie could have done once the mob had successfully pulled Sandy from the vehicle. Quinn and Carrie against a hundred angry raging men in close quarters? No way. They would have been murdered along with Sandy. Carrie's impulsive desire to save Sandy from the mob was foolish. There was nothing they could have done.

Quinn struggled with the incident because he had just killed two men and watched Sandy die. Quinn has been having moral doubts about his work, i.e., murdering people. This just added to his personal crisis. Anyway travelwithcats, that's how I saw it.

I also didn’t really get why it is suddenly such a big deal that no one knows who Sandy's source was?

The way I read it was that Sandy's source set him and the CIA up. The source gave reliable info to gain trust and then made sure that the wedding party would be bombed. On top of that the source was possibly the party that blew Sandy's cover. Now throw on top of that the fact that Carrie now knows that Sandy and possibly other parts of the CIA have been trading secrets to the enemy in exchange for the location of targets on the kill list. The two enemies are now trading info with each other so that each side can shore up their power positions in their organizations and countries. That's the way the picture looks now. The key to unraveling the mystery lies with identifying the source. Who wanted the wedding party bombed? And why?

Some of the containers of meds were labeled A-Xeron Injection. A quick google search shows Axeron to be testosterone. Also came up with Axiron which is also testosterone. I don't know if it is injected or not. I suppose Aayan was hoarding the meds to sell. He's going to really need the money now.
posted by cwest at 6:01 AM on October 9, 2014

Thanks cwest, maybe I didn't make myself clear.

I understand that the mysterious source is a convenient peg to hang the whole story on. (They use the search for the source as a reason for Carrie to return to the Middle East and will continue to use it throughout the season I predict). In light of the way the agents interacted with sources so far in this show, it is not a consistent choice. That's my point.

Yes, the situation where Sandy got pulled out of the car was pretty hopeless. I find it just interesting that Carrie was the one who displayed a shred of empathy here, despite her being depicted as cold-hearted throughout the episode.

Testosterone, huh? Well spotted, cwest! Wonder what that's all about. If Aayan needed it himself, he would not have stashed it at his girlfriend's place. He left it in his dorm room during the wedding, so presumably no one in his family needs it. He is either selling it or there is some other twist. It's also used as hormone replacement therapy for transgender people, but I don't think that is what is happening here.
posted by travelwithcats at 8:12 AM on October 9, 2014

I understand that the mysterious source is a convenient peg to hang the whole story on. (They use the search for the source as a reason for Carrie to return to the Middle East and will continue to use it throughout the season I predict). In light of the way the agents interacted with sources so far in this show, it is not a consistent choice. That's my point.

Ah, I see. My bad. So why is everyone so concerned that nobody except Sandy knew the contact/source when in previous episodes it was shown to be common that agents had contacts that only they knew or met with? Good point. Besides being something to hang the story on the only thing I can think of is that in the case of targets being identified for elimination from a source, that source would have to have been vetted, I guess that's the word, by several people. In other words, in so important a situation it would be standard practice for more than one person to be in the know about the source. But that's a reach, isn't it? The show has never indicated any such thing to the viewer.
posted by cwest at 9:10 AM on October 9, 2014

No worries. Sorry, I came off harsh.

I guess there is nothing more to it than a convenient way for the writers to move the show along. Fair enough. Thinking a bit more about the source, I kind of had the impression it was an intimate relationship. Something about the way Sandy acted, can't really pinpoint what it was though. However, a women would be unlikely to have a high position in the government/military, could be a wife, sister or daughter of someone important maybe.
Perhaps it's not the source that set Sandy up but someone else. But then they wouldn't have changed the locks, just torn the place apart I guess.
posted by travelwithcats at 1:16 PM on October 9, 2014

Perhaps it's not the source that set Sandy up but someone else.

That could very well be the case. Maybe the source was compromised.
posted by cwest at 10:25 PM on October 9, 2014

One thing I was still wondering about last night: Isn't that odd that some guy (Quinn) can kill people on the street in the middle of the day and just walk away as if nothing happened?
posted by travelwithcats at 6:05 AM on October 13, 2014

Do you mean "walk away as if nothing happened" emotionally? Or logistically?

If emotionally, I mean, he's not. He's obviously carrying a heavy burden and he's starting to have a hard time dealing with it.

If logistically, well, he's got a gun, the crowd doesn't. He's got a big vehicle, the crowd doesn't. He shot his way out of the situation, sped away, and there were three black SUVs heading toward the scene.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:37 AM on October 13, 2014

Yes, logistically. Just imagine an alien would randomly shoot two people in broad daylight on American soil. He would not be able to leave the country. (Or does Quinn have diplomatic immunity?)
Also, I didn't notice the three black SUVs, my bad.
posted by travelwithcats at 9:11 AM on October 13, 2014

Just catching up, loved the two part opener. The scene with them being attacked in the car in Islamabad was so intense I could hardly breathe while watching it.

Absolutely loved Quinn's casual sex thing with the Landlady. After such a grim series of events in the show the cut to her bouncing fleshily over his scarecrow body was so joyful that I laughed and smiled for the pleasure of it. The actress' name is Emily Walker, XOJane identifies her as being involved with Second City. For a seemingly minor character without even a name she acted the hell out of it, adding a lot of nuance and dignity. I suspect in the end she'll only serve to give some non-death-robot balance for Quinn, but they did a good job with it.

I'm a little skeptical of Suraj Sharma as Aayan, the victim of the wedding attack. He has great facial expressions but every time he talks I wince a little. I do like what they've done with the character though. Homeland has always been dangerously close to right wing fantasy, like 24, so making him so sympathetic is a nice turn.

I think the attack in Islamabad and Quinn's homicidal role in it was inspired by Raymond Allen Davis, a rather extreme example of a CIA station chief killing some people in Lahore a few years back. He basically got away with it, too, albeit with more than the usual pushback from authorities.
posted by Nelson at 5:34 PM on October 15, 2014

“Homeland” and the Innocence of Innocents
posted by vibratory manner of working at 9:31 AM on October 16, 2014