'Homeland' Recap: "State of Independence"

Carrie got back home from Beirut safe and sound in last week’s Homeland but what really caught my attention were the last few seconds of the episode when Saul found a flash drive hidden in the bag Carrie stole from Fatima’s apartment. And in it, he found the video Brody made before his failed terrorist attack the previous season.

ICYMI:  Homeland Recap: “Beirut is Back”

This week, we pick back up from Saul. He is at the Beirut airport when he gets pulled by security. He is carrying a briefcase that is marked as a diplomatic bag, he tells the them they can’t open, but they insist on a key. They go through it, and cut a hole in the bottom of the bag, pulling out a flash drive. Looks different than the one Saul found, and I’m guessing that’s not a mistake on the prop department’s part. He keeps the drive but gives Saul his things back, then tells him never to come back to Lebanon. In the plane, Saul unlocks the briefcase again, then pulls another flash drive hidden in the lock itself, of course he had a backup. Because he’s Saul.

Back home, Carrie is in her room, listening to loud jazz and writing a report, her dad tells her to go to bed (yay leaving back home, it’s like you never grew out of your teens), that the doctor said sleep is one of the most important ways to control her bipolar. She says she feels pretty great, but he says she’s just wired and she has one more hour to finish up and go to bed.

Next morning at Brody’s, Jessica finds Brody’s speech for the fundraiser on the table and she seems touched if a little uncomfortable by it. He was talking about how he had prepared himself to die in captivity, and how he convinced himself his wife and kids would be better off without him. She knows he’s doing this for her and she wants to show him how much she appreciates it. She starts to drag him to the bedroom but Brody seems to prefer the kitchen counter. He’s being pretty rough so she tells him to slow down but before they can really get to anything, Dana gets home with a friend from her old school.

Brody gets a text and leaves the room, it’s Roya. He calls her, she tells him the CIA are processing intelligence on the operation in Beirut. They are close to finding out about the tailor in Gettysburg, you know the one who made Brody his lovely bomb vest. Roya wants Brody to go there and move the tailor to a safehouse. He’s not so sure the CIA isn’t already watching it, but she is. She gives him an address and reminds him that the tailor is the one man who knows the truth about Brody, so really, him getting caught would be bad.

Carrie is up and her report is done, a CIA agent, Danny, is at her doorstep to pick it up. He tells her debriefing isn’t until six, which is apparently late. But there is an emergency debriefing on something he’s not sure what it is yet.

In Gettysburg, Brody is making his way into the place where he met the tailor previously. He cuts to the chase and tells the man that the CIA knows about him and that he is there to get him out of there. A delivery truck stops across the street and Brody seems to think it’s the CIA so they rush out the back door. They get in the car and on their way but the truck is following them, Brody makes a turn but the truck keeps going, looks like he was just paranoid.

In her classroom, Carrie is in the middle of class but keeps checking her phone. No texts from Danny to confirm the debriefing. She tries calling him after class, but he’s not answering so she’s heading there.

Brody and the tailor are on their way to the safehouse. The tailor wants more information but Brody doesn’t know anything. On their way, Brody gets a flat tire, and guess what? There is no jack. Back in DC, Jessica and Cynthia are setting up the fundraiser. Brody is still struggling with the tire. Jessica calls him and while he is distracted, tailor guy thought about knocking him off with a rock, but didn’t.

Carrie is back at the CIA, she is early so she’s told to wait. So of course she pretends she’s going to the bathroom and goes after David Estes, he’s at a debriefing and she wonders if she’s late. He tells her she can’t be there and pulls her out of the room to talk to her in private. Her report was amazingly detailed so he wanted to see her anyway but didn’t want her to be a part of the debriefing. She says they need to go after Nazir, but he says that’s not her concern anymore. Burn. So she wants to know if there was any intelligence in the stuff she pulled out of the apartment. He says yes but doesn’t tell her anything else. Asks her if she went there expecting to be reinstated. She’s uncomfortable, says of course not and leaves.

Back to Brody, he’s got the flat fixed and he’s at a gas station, the tailor asks for tobacco and he goes in to get it, when he comes back, he’s gone. Brody is driving around looking for him and sees him running on a field and into a wooded area, so he leaves his car and runs in.

Meanwhile, Carrie is back at her dad’s. She’s packing, she needs to go home, figure out what she’s going to do with the rest of her life.

Still in the woods, Brody can hear him but not see him. His phone starts to ring, so the tailor picks up a rock and knocks him over the back of his head with it. He follows the tailor, grabs him, they are both on the ground and apparently the tailor has gotten himself stabbed in the gut in the process. He tells Brody he has a family, wife and daughter. Brody tells him to keep thinking about his daughter, she’ll give him the strength he needs. Jessica is calling him again, he says he has a flat, she’s worried about his speech. The tailor keeps making noise and Jessica can hear him. So Brody just breaks his neck. Problem solved.

Carrie is back at her place, she’s looking around, taking it all in, then she’s making her bed. She gets into her closet and find some dressy clothes, puts on make up and her fake engagement ring (to keep away guys looking for something serious). Just as she’s about to leave she stops, stares at herself in the mirror and she’s headed back upstairs. She has all of her medication out and she takes it all at once. Not good. She goes back to her room, lays down and tries to fall asleep but then she freaks out and heads to the bathroom, making herself throw up. Good.

Brody is digging up a grave for the tailor right there in the woods. It’s raining, he’s never gonna make it back to the fundraiser in time. Jessica is there and she doesn’t look very pleased, the VP asks her what the plan is and she says it is her mess. She goes up there herself, tells everyone he’s had car trouble and isn’t going to make it. She’s making a speech, great. She talks about how the best way to help wounded warriors are families, she’d have been able to support him better if she’d been more ready. She wished someone had warned her he’d look at her as if he didn’t know her anymore. How bad his nightmares and interaction with the kids would be. She thinks some of the fundraiser money could be used to set up a place where family members could get ready for their veterans coming home. “Because in the end, we’re all fighting this war together.” Applause. Jessica saves the day by making everything about her! Hurray.

Brody is in a car wash washing himself up. Classy. Meanwhile, Mike the vet who used to sleep with Jessica is taking her home. Asks if she wants to talk about it. Maybe Brody didn’t just have car trouble, Mike suggests she cuts him some slack. But Jessica says no, that Brody vanished for a whole weekend and that he had been with Carrie then. With that, Mike decides to come in for a drink, just as Brody pulls into the driveway.

Mike immediately tells Brody she kicked ass. And he says he doesn’t doubt it, that she’s quite the hostess. Mike says she gave a speech of her own, and leaves. Jessica goes into the house, she looks pissed. And Brody follows. She wants to know where the meeting was, which town. But then tells him not to answer. She knows he’s hiding something. She wants him to tell her what is going on or he can look for a hotel room and give their marriage some serious thought, because she can’t do this anymore. So much for her speech. And of course Dana heard the whole thing. She stands there just long enough to give Brody a disappointed look, then heads back to her room.

The doorbell is ringing insistently at Carrie’s, she’s asleep. She sees who it is and freaks out, hides the empty medication and wine bottles in the trash before opening it. It’s Saul. He went straight there from the airport. He’s heard about her being turned away from the debriefing, and how shitty that must have felt. Before the Beirut trip she thought she had found a way to deal with being out of the company, but Saul interrupts her. He has to show her something.

Saul hands her the flashdrive, it’s the one piece of intel she has recovered in Beirut that the company hasn’t seen yet. He went there straight from the airport because she deserves to see it first. It’s Brody’s little video, of course. Carrie starts to cry “I was right”. I wanna hug her.

We’re pretty much left at the same point we were last week. Should be interesting to see how the rest of the CIA deals with that information, also, can we get Carrie hired back yet since she’s the only BAMF in that department aside from Saul? Thanks.