WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
Brody's back! And thing's are not going well for him.
When we last saw Brody (Damian Lewis, the 2012 Best Actor in Drama Emmy winner), he was sneaking into Canada and on the run. He shows up in this third episode of Season Three and because of a $10 million bounty on his head, he has caught a bullet on the Columbian/Venezuelan border. He is taken in by local drug lords from Caracas. The drug lords take him to an unfinished high-rise somewhere in Caracas and his wound is treated by Graham (Erik Dellums), a pedophilic "doctor" that's found a home in the Tower of David, a project that was started by an Evil Banker, but never finished, and is the home of squatters and those folks under the protection of El Nino and his gang.
I don't know if this is the same Evil Banker that Quinn threatened in "Uh Oh Ah".
Brody gets treated and is helped through his recovery on a young woman named Este (Martina Garcia), who is the daughter of El Nino. While he's recovering, he is given heroin by Graham. He also hears the bells of a mosque in the distance. Once he gets well enough to walk, he tries to get out of the Tower of David, but El Nino and his men stop him and explain that since he is a friend of Carrie Matheson (Claire Danes), they will protect him from harm. They emphasize their protection by murdering a thief that took Brody's passport. El Nino tells Brody that this place is his last stop, there is nowhere else for Brody to go.
Brody recovers, kicks his reliance on heroin as a painkiller, and talks Esme into helping him escape to the mosque. Once he gets there, the local mosque guys recognize him and throw him out, telling him that they will not harbor known terrorists. El Nino arrives just in time to take Brody back into "protective custody," and to kill all the folks at the mosque that have seen Brody. When you have a $10 million bounty on your head, you can't be too careful.
Brody is placed in a solitary room/cell, and after repeated unsuccessful attempts by Graham to get Brody to take heroin again, he relents.
I'm not buying it. Brody has spent years in a hole in Iraq, has been held captive by Abu Nazir, and has mostly been in captivity in some form or another since returning to the States. I just don't see him breaking at the Tower of David.
Meanwhile, Carrie is trying to say the right things to get out of the psychiatric ward. Her therapy session with her doctor gets her to realize that Saul took the most prudent action, with outing her and getting her committed. She is doing well and appearing lucid at times (because of her lithium prescription), but she is still erratic and experiencing mood swings. And she's being helped by a nurse that bends the rules for Carrie. For what purpose, we don't yet know.
A lawyer comes to meet with Carrie, thanks to the help of the sympathetic nurse. The lawyer proposes a meeting with his partners, but Carrie suspects that he is an agent for another country, and she declines the meeting.
There is an obvious parallel between Carrie and Brody's situations. Carrie is hoping Saul will come and get her out. Brody is hoping Carrie will come and free him. But by the end of the episode, they are both giving up hope and taking medication to cope with their predicaments. No Saul, no Quinn. Just a Brody and Carrie hour. No answer yet to the burning question that is on the minds of Season Three viewers. Will Leo take Dana to the prom?
This episode was the strongest of the season, and I found myself sympathetic and intrigued by Brody's predicament. I just don't know where the show will go from here. In some ways, this episode could have served as the series finale, with Brody and Carrie alone and isolated.
I particularly liked the scene where Brody put on the swim trunks and leather jacket, and jumped his motorcycle over the shark tank. Or maybe that was another show?
Random Thoughts:
- Quinn ran his operation out of Caracas last episode. Does he have a Venezuelan connection to Brody?
- Carrie is trapped in Girl Interrupted.
- I may be dropping Homeland from my "to view" list.
What did you think?
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