Image via Showtime.
After a disappointingly bland and awkwardly titled episode last week, last night’s especially grim and hopeless episode, “Tower of David,” provided just the momentum shift that Homeland’s third season has been in desperate need of. Finally, after two weeks, we catch up with America’s favorite terrorist Congressman, Nicholas Brody. And what’s the old chap been up to since he was set up for blowing up Langley at the conclusion of last season? Well, besides keeping a freshly shaved chrome dome, looks like things haven’t been going too well for him. “Tower of David” finally injects some much-needed life into Homeland’s otherwise lackluster season, with Brody and Carrie being the only main characters featured in the entire episode. As a bottle episode, “Tower of David” was great; a bleak, tense, and masterfully paced hour of television, but as for what it does for this season’s narrative arc, it doesn’t do much to push the story forward. I suspect a lot will happen next week.
Anyway, let’s take a look and analyze what happened on last night’s terrific Brody and Carrie-centric episode:
What’s Eating Nicholas Brody?
In the opening scene of the episode, we find a badly wounded Brody handed over to a group of Venezuelan mercenaries who nurse him back to health. “Why are you helping me?” Brody asks El Nino, the leader of the mercenaries. “You know Carrie Mathison. So do I,” he responds cryptically. While Brody’s saviors slowly nurse him back to health, mostly led by a mysterious, English-speaking “doctor” and El Nino’s daughter, Esme, Brody becomes anxious to get moving to the next destination. But El Nino explains to Brody that there is no “next place,” that his residence in the unfinished skyscraper, the “Tower of David,” is now his new home.
The circumstances may be very different, but once again, Brody finds himself a prisoner of his own surroundings. The CIA has a $10 million hit on his head, thus making Brody a huge liability for Nino and his mercenaries if he ever gets out. For reasons yet to be revealed, Nino must owe Carrie greatly, considering how much he and his crew go through to keep Brody stashed away out of sight. The episode’s haunting final shot sees Brody locked away in a decrepit cell after an attempt at escape leaves three police officers and two innocent Muslim civilians dead. I’m really interested to see how Brody gets out of this situation.
Image via Showtime.
The Venezuelan Mercenaries
Who are these guys? Are they good or bad? Why is there allegiance to Carrie so strong? Many questions to be answered about El Nino and his mysterious mercenaries. Looking forward to learning more about them and seeing how Brody escapes his seemingly hopeless situation.
One Flew Over Carrie’s Cuckoo Nest
As I predicted in the season premiere, Carrie’s struggle with her mental illness seems to be the primary arc in this season. Last week’s grim final scene saw Carrie in a lobotomized-like state barely mouthing the words “Fuck you” to Saul, who put her there (props to the commenter who pointed out that the episode’s title “Uh…Oh…Ah” is the sound of Carrie trying to verbalize “Fuck you, Saul”). This week, we find Carrie in full One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest mode, locked away within a whole host of loonies in a full-fledged nut house. After failing to convince her psychiatrist that she is indeed doing much better, Carrie convinces herself that Saul will come and visit her and see how much better she’s doing. She desperately stares out the window, eagerly awaiting his visit. A visit that never comes.
I really like the direction they’ve taken Carrie in this season. I mean, after Saul threw her under the bus at the Congressional hearing, I can’t imagine there’s any other direction they could have taken her in (maybe had her go off the grid and try to reconnect with Brody, which still might happen). Still, I think the hopelessness and desperation of Carrie’s situation so early on this season is setting up for some explosive plot turns. Let’s just hope they don’t linger on her locked up in the crazy house too long.
Brody’s Addiction
During Brody’s recuperation period, Esme—El Nino’s daughter—helps Brody ease the pain by giving him heroin injections. After a while, he begins to refuse them because they affect his “ability to think.” But in the episode’s final scene, Brody is locked up in solitary confinement, with nothing more than a heroin needle by his side, which he proceeds to use. Was this a moment of desperation for him, or is a heroin addiction something that’s going to be plaguing Brody for the duration of the season? We’ll see.
Image via Showtime.
Esme
El Nino’s daughter, Esme, nurses Brody back to health and displays a genuine affection for Brody. When Brody tries to escape, she begs him to take her with him, but he refuses, telling her it’s too dangerous. Throughout the entire episode, I kept waiting for some kind of romantic altercation to happen between them, but I suspect that’ll come later, especially after El Nino’s blunt warning for him to stay away from her. Classic doomed romance!
Paul Franklin, Attorney At Law
I like the mystery that this guy represents. He doesn’t appear until the end of the episode, visiting Carrie at the nut house, cryptically telling her that he’s an associate of one of the partners at the law firm he works at, offering her freedom if she speaks with his boss. She refuses, telling him that she won’t sell out the CIA (after trying to do just that to a reporter last week). Interested to see where all this is going.
Carrie Mathison Tear-O-Meter Rating: 1
Image via Showtime.
She doesn’t appear until the episode is half over, but still manages to breakdown in tears at least once.
