Episode Summary: Sergeant Nicholas Brody makes a video recording explaining the reason behind his deed. According to Brody, forces loyal to Saddam Hussein captured him and sold him to Abu Nazir, an Al-Qaeda commander. Abu Nazir held him captive for more than eight years. Being a prisoner of war, he was tortured and suffered inhumanity in the hands of his captors. He claims that his ordeal will be used against him. Brody, who believes of being branded as a terrorist by the time the video recording is publicized, stresses the contrary to the fact. He declares his love for his country, and justifies his action as part of his service as a marine. Brody, as a marine, had sworn an oath to defend the United States of America from enemies both foreign and domestic. He claims that his action is directed at domestic enemies, and identifies the vice president and members of his national security team as the enemy. Brody declares them war criminals responsible for the deaths of eighty-two children. The massacre was never acknowledged and never put to justice.Continue reading...
Carrie Mathison goes into a deep depression, refusing to eat, confining herself in the bedroom. She, however, still receives visitors. Saul Berenson pays a visit to his protégé to see how she is doing, and finds that the woman still has hopes of returning to the C.I.A., one he knows to be unlikely. Carrie begins asking about the case, but accepts the fact that Saul can no longer discuss with her details of it. She, however, startles Saul with her disbelief at Brody’s betrayal and asks him why the man had done it. Saul explains that Brody has numerous reasons to betray her. Brody running for Congress is possibly the main reason for it. Saul learns that Carrie could not let go of Brody, and only then realizes that the woman has misguidedly fallen in love with the person whom she once thought to be a terrorist.
Brody finishes his recording, and takes the micro SD card from the camera. He then makes his way to a park, hides the memory card in a loose rock, and leaves a mark with a chalk. That same night, Tom Walker sneaks inside an old woman’s car who left it at a parking lot while she played Bingo. The woman makes her way home, and finds that police officers had set up a checkpoint near her home that is two blocks away from the State Department. Security in the neighborhood has been heightened given the vice president’s address the following morning. Officers confirm the identity and address of Mrs. Samler, and she is given permission to pass through. Tom Walker comes out of hiding, and points a gun at Mrs. Samler as soon as the woman parks her car. With the old woman tied to the chair, Walker prepares his station, carefully sets his sniper rifle by the window of Mrs. Samler’s apartment.
Vice President William Walden addresses a distinguished group of people to thank them for their continued support, and confidence in his upcoming presidential candidacy, one he will be announcing the next day. C.I.A. Deputy Director David Estes is one of the guests, and he makes one last plea to the vice president to take necessary precautions given their knowledge of an impending terrorist attack. David foregoes asking the vice president to postpone his announcement until they catch Tom Walker, and only requests that the vice president change his venue. Walden refuses David’s request.
Brody could not fall asleep. He remembers the words of Abu Nazir, and begins to purify himself for prayer. He begins the ritual when Dana enters the garage catching him at prayer. Dana recognizes his chants as Arabic, and learns that her father has converted to Islam. Morning came, and news about an event where Vice President Walden is to address the people alongside his high-ranking supporters and the Joint Chiefs of Staff wakes Carrie from her stupor. Virgil is delighted to see her up and about, and agrees to drive Carrie around town. He soon finds that Carrie had been navigating him towards the State Department where the vice president is to announce his candidacy for president. Carrie believes that the terrorist attack will occur at the event, and it is up to her to stop it. She disputes the theory that a single sniper will carry out the attack, because it is uncharacteristic of Abu Nazir’s plots. Virgil acquiesces to support Carrie.
Saul speaks to David about the nearly yearlong gap in Abu Nazir’s activities that Carrie had uncovered. David is apprehensive about the theory sensing that Saul had gotten it from Carrie. Saul, however, following Carrie’s speculation did a grid search and found that a drone strike occurred around the time Abu Nazir went silent. Despite this discovery, David is more concerned about the vice president’s conference, and would rather have Saul attend the conference than follow the lead he unearthed.
Dana watches as her father hugs her brother tightly as the boy leaves for karate, and sees him longing to do the same with his wife. Brody nervously puts on the vest rigged with explosives, and becomes startled when his daughter tries to enter his locked room. Dana senses that something ominous is about to happen at the event her father is going to attend. She speaks through the locked door, and tells her father not to go. Brody, however, has made up his mind. He continues to put on his vest. Dana presses on, and urges her father to let her enter his room. Brody takes out the vest, and hides it in the closet in order to appease his worried daughter. He walks out of the house clad with his uniform, but underneath it is the vest rigged with explosives. Dana waits for him by the car, pleads one last time for him not to go, and attempts to give him a hug. Brody, however, pushes her away.
David accompanies Walden as they make their way to the State Department. He takes the opportunity to inform Walden of Saul’s discovery. This alarms the vice president who thought that all traces of the drone strike have been eliminated. David assuages Walden’s worry convincing him that Saul is merely fishing for information that would explain Abu Nazir’s actions. He receives direct orders from the vice president to get Saul to drop his investigation. Saul, however, is bent on finding answers. Although he submitted to David’s order for him to be at the conference, Saul is in contact with Manny Galvez, who confirms that the redacted document they unearthed does refer to a drone strike. They learn that no other supporting document exists. Manny speculates that the redacted document Saul found was an oversight. It probably was not even supposed to be there.
Carrie and Virgil walk among the spectators as they try to understand why Abu Nazir would carry his attack at an event with heighted security. Carrie believes that the event is one of the rare occasions where quite a number of high-ranking officials who hardly come together are in attendance including Brody. The sight of Brody brings Carrie close to the edge remembering very well his betrayal. Brody speaks with Elizabeth Gaines blocking Tom Walker’s line of sight. Tom had his sniper rifle aimed at the vice president’s trusted adviser. The vice president arrives, and meets his influential supporters by the steps of the Harry S. Truman Building. Walden speaks with Elizabeth, and seconds later a shot is fired at her killing Elizabeth instantly and splattering the vice president with her blood. Tom takes another shot, but only fires at a glass door and a random official. Chaos ensues, and the Secret Service rushes every official inside the building including Brody. Everyone bypasses security and the metal detectors. Tom’s mission is complete. He takes his rifle and leaves his hostage.
Carrie calls Saul, who is surprised to hear that she is at the vicinity. She frantically relays her theory that disputes the belief that Tom was aiming for the vice president, but missed. She informs him that protocol dictates the need to sequester high-value targets in the event of an attack. Carrie believes that Brody will carry out the real attack, which would eliminate all high-value targets. She speculates that Brody’s betrayal was due to her coming close to uncovering the truth. Her mention of Brody’s involvement cast doubt on her theory. Saul instructs one of the agents to apprehend Carrie, informing the man that the woman is unstable. Virgil and Carrie watch as several agents make their way towards them, and they know that they have come to accost Carrie. Virgil puts his trust on Carrie, and gives her his keys as he tries to sidetrack the agents.
Brody finds that everyone but the vice president is in the bunker. Walden, however, arrives more upset about being ushered into a hole than the fact that a terrorist has claimed the lives of a few of his people, and is currently on the loose. With every high-ranking official sequestered in the bunker, a full lockdown is officially put in place. They are to stay there until the sniper is apprehended or has been confirmed to have left the vicinity. Brody nervously puts his fingers on the switch, and walks slowly towards the furious vice president. He gains courage as he remembers Abu Nazir’s words. Brody flips the switch. Nothing happens. He continues to flip the switch, but the explosives do not detonate. Brody goes to the restroom and inspects the vest that failed to detonate.
Dana gets wind of the assassination attempt at the event his father is attending, and right about the same time finds Carrie knocking at her door. She is relieved to hear that her father is not one of the casualties, but is shocked to hear that her father is involved in the attack. Dana is in disbelief, but agrees to Carrie’s request to dissuade his father from what he is about to do. Dana takes the phone from Carrie, but calls 911 instead. Dana rushes out, but Carrie runs after her still attempting to convince the teenager to help her dissuade Brody from carrying out the attack. Jessica and Chris arrive and see Carrie distressing Dana. Jessica confronts Carrie. The unstable woman now tries to convince Jessica of her theory, but to no avail. The police arrive and apprehend Carrie.
Brody sits in a stall as he fixes the cut wiring, and wears the vest again. The head of the security team checks on him, and informs him of having found the weapon. Moreover, he anticipates that the lockdown will be over soon enough. Brody and the agent leave the restroom. Brody puts his hand on the switch, and prepares for the blast when the agent comes to him with a phone telling him that Dana is on the other line. Dana apprises Brody of the incident with Carrie that occurred only a few minutes ago. Dana relaying Carrie’s claim of Brody working with Tom put some sense into him, which caused Brody to deny being involved in the terrorist plot. Dana pleads her father to promise her that he will come home. Brody struggles to make a decision, and chooses to fulfill his promise to Dana. The lockdown is over. Walden leaves the bunker followed by every other high-ranking official that survived Tom’s attack.
Brody sits in his couch watching the news where Walden uses the attacks as a catalyst for his announcement to run for president. Meanwhile, Jessica would like Brody to decide on whether to press charges against Carrie. Brody confronts Carrie at the parking lot of the police station to stress the fact that he is not a terrorist, and to emphasize the distress the woman has caused his family. Carrie apologizes for her actions, and learns that David had informed Brody of her condition. Brody asks Carrie for the last time to stay away from him and his family. Carrie promises to stay away from the Brodys. Her encounter with Brody once again pushed Carrie over the edge, but the woman managed to keep an ounce of sanity enough to decide to commit herself into an institution.
Walden meets with Saul to discuss the redacted document he unearthed. He instructs Saul to turn a blind eye on what he uncovered, but Saul is adamant in finding out the truth. Saul threatens the vice president with releasing the supposedly destroyed interrogation tapes that captured the inhumane handling of prisoners as ordered by Walden. Saul’s plan worked. He with David watches a recording of a deliberation about carrying out a drone strike within the vicinity of a school. The recording captured Walden convincing his team of fulfilling his desire to carry out the drone strike even if it means claiming the lives of innocent children. Walden puts the blame on Abu Nazir for putting the children at risk. Saul is in disbelief. Moreover, he saw that David, who at that time worked for him, was involved. Saul senses that David’s ambition has clouded his judgment. David justifies his choices, and claims that the game has changed. America’s goal is to project power in order to degrade Al-Qaeda militarily. Saul threatens to release the drone strike that killed eighty-two innocent children to the media, but David calls his bluff for he knows that Saul will not do anything that will endanger the lives of his field agents and soldiers. Moreover, the United States claiming responsibility for the horrific massacre will only spur hate towards the country.
Brody makes his way to the spot where he left the video recording accepting responsibility for and justifying the attack he should have carried out the previous day. Regrettably, he finds that someone has already taken it as planned. Brody returns home to get his pistol, and meets with Tom. Tom points a gun at Brody’s forehead, and Brody tries to justify his failure to detonate the bomb. Brody tries to convince Tom that the terrorist attack would not have made a difference. Soon he learns that Nazir has been listening to their conversation. Nazir instructs Tom to hand Brody the phone. Brody now tries to convince Nazir to change his strategy. He informs him that his new stature allows him to influence policy at the highest levels. Nazir becomes open to Brody’s strategy, but wants Brody to demonstrate his commitment by killing Tom. Brody follows Nazir’s order.
Saul rushes to the hospital where Carrie had herself committed. He barges in her room in order to prevent her from going through electroconvulsive therapy. He is surprised to learn that it was Carrie’s decision to push through with the shock treatment. Saul tries to convince Carrie that there are other ways to cure her illness, but Carrie is determined to go through with it. He warns her of the side effects of such treatment especially the loss of memory, but she has already weighed all those in her decision. Saul could see that nothing can be done to dissuade Carrie from undergoing shock treatment. He, instead, informs her that her theory about Abu Nazir dropping out of sight is correct. Nazir’s son died in a drone strike in northern Iraq that Vice President Walden ordered and later expunged from records. Carrie then definitively learns from Saul that she cannot return to the agency. With Maggie by her side, Carrie bravely undergoes shock therapy. During the sedation phase, she recalls the weekend she spent with Brody, and figures out that Issa was Nazir’s son, and the name Brody called out when he had his nightmare. Carrie stated the connection and asked that they not let her forget, but no one in the room knew what she was talking about and so dismissed it as the effects of the anesthetic. Carrie twitches and convulses as electrical currents pass through her brain.
Watch the Homeland episode Marine One - Part 1
and Marine One - Part 2
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