Homeland: Clarity

April 16, 2018 4:09 PM - Season 7, Episode 10

Carrie needs to choose a side. Keane needs an ally. Saul has an idea.

Alternate recap: The official "Let's everybody just calm down and take a breath before we build up to the big finale" episode.

posted by penguin pie (6 comments total)

Well, we needed a quieter episode I guess, but I was a bit bored. The Presidential stuff is well done, but not terribly exciting (let's face it, the machinations and plotting are never going to reach West Wing levels of brilliance) and likewise with the Franny custody stuff - beautifully written and acted, but maybe not what I come to Homeland for. Am looking forward to - hopefully - a great two-episode set piece finish with wall-to-wall spy shit.

Thought Saul was totally without scruples - "Carrie, you have to do what's best for you, you really need to take care of yourself. [Beat]. Look, I really need you to sack off Franny's custody hearing and come to Eastern Europe with me".

Gutted to discover that Dante is, indeed, definitely dead - I'd just started to like him! There was a moment in the previous ep when he realised Carrie had indeed poisoned him when he looked genuinely upset by it, as if he'd really liked her, which made me think they could have a really interesting relationship down the line (platonic or otherwise). But no, the Angel of Death rides again.
posted by penguin pie at 4:15 PM on April 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Would have liked to have Dante live. Also it’s now twice as bullshit that Oleg was able to 1) get into the hospital and kill Dante and 2) escape without being caught.

Super happy we may never see franny again!
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 2:51 AM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah, that hadn't even sunk in MisantropicPainforest - the idea that a seriously ill patient in custody could be smothered to death, presumably alarms going crazy as he stopped breathing, Saul or Carrie aware it was happening and able to call the hospital and tell them to get the hell in there, but neither security nor medical staff went in until he was beyond saving and the murderer fled, is kinda nuts.
posted by penguin pie at 4:37 AM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I suspect thats why they did the time jump--so that could just hand-wave away Yevgeny's l33t spy skills.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:18 AM on April 17, 2018

Pretty boring episode, but the "next week on Homeland" at the end looks pretty spectacular.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:42 AM on April 17, 2018

I liked this quiet episode! Homeland is two separate things: a soap opera and a spy drama. I like the soap opera! I liked the time dedicated to finally finding a stable place for Frannie (bonus: she's written out of the show and we never see her again except as a cutie-pie cameo). I particularly liked that Claire's creepy friend stole documents out of her sister's house and she had them in her hand and was like, nope, this is too far. Also Maggie's respect for Claire and her job, just the sad understanding that world-travelling-spy + mental illness != good mother.

I also liked all the West Wing drama. They've done a great job hewing close to real world current events, the question of how one would actually depose a president. And boy Keane is so, so dumb in how she plays this. I get the VP guy is a creepy and unreliable ally but she sure didn't do herself any favors. All that's missing was a final scene with O'Keefe, locked away in a federal jail somewhere but offering wry commentary on how Keane has hung herself.

Without all this stuff Homeland would just be another dumb spy drama. Which I guess is what we're about to get for the last two episodes. I hope they wrap this part up, the setup seems awfully straightforward. Confused and alarmed at how thin Saul's resources must be if she has to use Carrie and her band of scary misfits. For that matter how desperate are "the boys" for a job that they'd take this risk? Yikes.

(Guess we're not getting a return of Dar Adal? Maybe that's for the best.)
posted by Nelson at 7:23 AM on April 18, 2018