204: 'New Car Smell'
Written by Meredith Stiehm
Directed by David Semel
Synopsis: Following a secret debrief from Saul, a stunned
Estes authorizes a covert operation to pursue intel recovered in Beirut
- but not without putting his own trusted operative in charge. Brody,
still reeling from his misadventures, gets
another shock when he runs into Carrie at Langley. A casual invitation
to bury the hatchet turns into an encounter neither of them could have
foreseen. And Dana discovers she has something in common with Finn
Walden, the Vice President's son.
Review: Well. As if the show-altering revelation at the climax of 'Beirut Is Back' wasn't enough, the Homeland scriptwriting staff manage to one-up themselves this week with the closing moments of 'New Car Smell', which surely must rank amongst the Top 5 'WTF?!' moments in the show's history, if not number one with a bullet. Instead of tip-toeing around the colossal Brody reveal and keeping us in a perpetual state of frustration for the next half of the season, gnawing at our nails, desperate to see the shit hit Nick's fan, so to speak, Homeland actually pulls the trigger only four episodes into its sophomore season, following some stellar scenes which reunite Carrie and Brody's characters and give Claire Danes and Damien Lewis further opportunities to demonstrate to all and sundry exactly why they won those Emmys. It's a brilliantly underplayed scene, totally out of leftfield, and it catches the viewer completely unawares; kudos to everyone involved for resisting the temptation to indulge in a lil' bit o' foreshadowing. What this means for the show is anyone's guess; to be honest, the story could go in any number of different directions at this point, not all of which are detrimental to the preservation of the Carrie/Brody relationship and hence, the backbone of the series. But let's not dwell on that too much for the time being... fact is, we have another top notch episode here, neatly paced and cleverly plotted. It's good to see decent use made of the perpetually drunk veteran too. The only real gripe is the burgeoning romance between Dana and Finn which, while undoubtedly important from a narrative perspective for future episodes (of course someone, somewhere, will take advantage of this development), feels a little underwhelming when taken in conjunction with all that surrounds it. It's difficult to care, to be honest, when you're faced with the prospect of an explosive Carrie/Brody reunion, and yeah right, as if the Secret Service would allow the VP's son to just go traipsing around A CONSTRUCTION SITE unsupervised with a girl. Uh and huh. (8)
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