'Homeland' Recap: "Beirut is Back"

Last week’s episode of Homeland was a little on the slow side, but it was definitely a season build up. Carrie was sent to Beirut to talk to a possible informant that had been helping her before she returned to the US. Brody tiptoed the line between a terrorist and a patriot and was outed as a Muslin to his wife.

 ICYMI:  Homeland Season 2 Premiere Recap: “The Smile”

We start up back in Beirut where Fatima, Carrie’s asset is praying and Carrie meets up with her. She knows of a reward for Abu Nazir, $5 million. Screw playing the lotto, being an informant is where it’s at, apparently. She tells Carrie that Nazir is meeting with her husband tomorrow and that they can both be killed.

On the Brody front, looks like he’s at yet another gala like a good politician. The VP tells him that Israel’s strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities were only partially successful because one of the sites is too deeply buried. They need a bigger bomb, which they have but the commander-in-chief isn’t too cool with using it, it’d make America look bad. But the americans would be blamed for it anyway so the VP wants Brody to help him get this done with the Secretary of Defense. Because you know, Brody isn’t being pulled in enough directions as is.

To make things better for him, Brody’s wife is also trying to get him more publicity by hosting a fundraiser to help wounded Vets with Cynthia, the VPs wife. But Brody is getting a little jaded, even though she already accepted, he tells her that the people hosting the party make bombs and if she wants to help veterans, she should take them all out instead.

Carrie had been missing since her little run in with the guy who had been following Saul and only after her meeting with Fatima, she is making her way to the embassy. She tells Saul her information and he doesn’t seem nearly as impressed and he should be. He did however request a call with Estes and Special Ops. By the time the call connects, Carrie is already blonde again. She tells Estes what Fatima told him and Saul offers him information on the location where the meeting is taking place. Estes and Saul seem to think it’s a trap because the place is filled with holes, anyone could be in there. Carrie thinks it’s them preparing to get back at the US for destroying the nuclear facilities. The timing seems off and Carrie doesn’t seem to have enough to back up this tip.

Back in the US, Dana and Jessica are going over to the VP’s house to meet with Cynthia about the fundraising. Dana is sent to the library to do her homework while the two of them went to meet with the group of women running the fundraiser. They want Brody to be the keynote speaker. Jessica just smiles politely. He’ll love that. Back at the library, Dana is being unfriendly toward Finn, the VP’s son. She’s famous at school now, but not necessarily in a good way.

Saul and Estes are still trying to figure out whether or not to use Carrie’s information. Estes tell Saul he will need to make the call on if this is an ambush, he doesn’t like that. He didn’t want Carrie there in the first place. She can hear the whole conversation and she doesn’t seem too well. She’s taking deep breaths, on the verge of tears. With some difficulty, she gets out of her room and up to the roof. Saul is right behind her. She’s angry because she knows why they won’t trust her judgement.

Being wrong about Brody really messed her up (except she wasn’t, but she doesn’t know that). She is having a hard time trusting her own thoughts. But they have a shot at Abu Nazir, but Saul doesn’t want to risk lives on a hunch. But Carrie knows Fatima, she helped her out of abusive situations and she knew she’d be on her side eventually. She knows she’s unstable now, but she wasn’t when she recruited Fatima. She believes that Carrie. And so does Saul apparently, because the operation is on.

Brody is trying to leave his office for a secret meeting off campus, but an old friend of his, Captain Mike Faber shows up. He leaves with Brody and wants to talk about Walker. He doesn’t believe Walker was a lone sniper, but he was too good, he wouldn’t have missed the VP. All ‘the guys’ seem to think there’s something bigger going on but Brody quickly dismisses that theory. His friend wants him to look into the classified information since he has a clearance now. Brody’s agenda number 176.

Special Ops and Estes are discussing the mission: Capture or kill Abu Nazir depending on how it goes. Carrie, Saul and Fatima have fifteen minutes to run once it’s done. Meanwhile, Carrie and Saul are at the safe house, she asks why he stopped calling her, he says her doctor told him to, but Carrie had been secretly hoping they’d be doing missions again. But she shouldn’t get used to it.

It looks like Brody’s secret meeting was with the VP. He instantly tells him about the Special Ops operation. He’s invited to watch how the mission progresses.

The meeting is right on time, a car with six men pulls up to the location and clears the streets. Six more on the opposite side and the US soldiers are blocked in. The capture mission is a no go, but the kill mission is still possible.

Brody is told who they are going after and he instantly tenses when he hears it’s supposedly Abu Nazir. His other boss. A third car pulls up and it’s Fatima’s husband as she told Carrie. Growing more and more anxious, Brody pulls his phone out of his pocket. The snipers are standing by to shoot Abu Nazir. Brody texts ‘May 1’.

Nazir comes out of the car. Just as the orders to fire are given, he gets the text from Brody and ducks back into the car. Shots are fired and the car Nazir came in on takes off. At the safe house, Carrie and Saul are being told they need to move, but they don’t have anymore information.

VP realizes someone warned Nazir, Brody is nervous. Carrie and Saul are in the getaway car, they get the news that he got away. The soldiers managed to get out unharmed. Carrie is pissed but her source came through, Saul calls it a victory. They stop to pick up Fatima, but instead of leaving as planned, Carrie runs back into her apartment. Her husband lives there, he was about to meet up with Abu Nazir, she wants to see what she can find.

The car Fatima and Saul are in is surrounded by men as Carrie searches the building, the men start pushing the car, Fatima wants to leave but Saul won’t leave without Carrie. They break the windshield, the driver takes off. The men enter the building just as Carrie is getting out after stealing a whole bunch of documents, they shoot at her. She runs to the roof and manages to make her way down through another building, knocking one of the men out on her way down. Just as she is back on the streets, she gets grabbed, but it’s an agent. He gets her to the car and they manage to get away again. Awesome, badass Carrie. How dare you question her, CIA?

Brody has a late night, parking lot meeting with Roya. Abu Nazir is thanking Brody. They know it was an informant and they think it was Fatima. Brody is freaking out. He can’t text secret messages when he is surrounded by US government. He says he’s done, she says his role is more important than ever now. Nazir needs him. And Brody needs some alcohol, can’t blame him on that one. That’s what you get for being a double agent. Or triple agent, not sure.

He meets up with his friends from the marines at a bar. His friends wants information on Walker, Mike tells them to calm down. Brody says they don’t know who killed Walker. Lauder, the one with the drinking problem, calls him on it, saying he knew he wasn’t going to come up with anything. Lauder wants answers, he wants Brody to get to the bottom of this. Brody tells him that the truth is that Walker broke. He gave everyone’s positions while being tortured, he says he heard him.

After his long day, Brody is back home. He’s distressed. Dana is still up, she tells him Jessica will ask Brody to speak at the fundraiser and warns him to say yes. He asks who she is talking to online and she tells him she’s talking to Finn Walden. This could be interesting.

 Carrie is back home in one piece, but seeming to feel a little lost. Not that I blame her, after she was back to work and being awesome, going back to teaching ESL probably sounds a little too mundane.

 As for the documents she stole, Saul and the other CIA agent didn’t seem to find anything other than a few names and addresses. Just as Saul is packing the documents up, he finds a tiny flashdrive hidden in the bag that Carrie also picked up at the apartment. He opens it up and… holy crap. He finds Brody’s video. The one he made before the failed terrorist attack on the VP last season.

 All the action in this episode definite made up for the last one, this season is shaping up to be as intense as the last already and we’re only two episodes in. Definitely can’t wait for more next week!