Carrie on the other hand succumbed to what I’m sure are the voices in her head telling her she has nothing to live for anymore. Coming off from a fulfilling and successful mission in Beirut, she is “wired” and certain she will be reinstated in the CIA. She stays up all night writing a report, returning to her previous life as an obsessive person constantly in the need of positive reinforcement. Danny comes over, takes the report, and tells her of the debriefing of the mission that is to take place the following day. Skip forward to the next day, she is seen teaching once again, only to be clearly distracted due to Danny not contacting Carrie for confirmation.
We’re back to the old Carrie from the beginning of last season, but only for a bit. Most of her scenes were extremely short in length, only long enough to throw in a few lines and reminders of Carrie’s condition. The constant hounding from her father paired with her anxious meandering was a pleasant start to this episode only due to the fact that we were bound for something to happen in terms of Brody’s video. The only reason Carrie is in such an unstable state is because she went to such unfathomable heights just to prove she was right. When she was wrong, her mind collapsed under itself and gave us the shell we have today.
Carrie goes to the CIA and waits for the debriefing to happen only to get impatient. She finds Estes and realizes they are doing the debriefing without her. Estes speaks with Carrie and says he still does not trust Carrie’s instability and tells her he wanted to meet with her privately to give her a “pat on the back”. He asks Carrie if she really thought she was going to be reinstated as she storms out. Carrie is completely heartbroken and decides to return to her actual home. Staring at her empty life, she decides to commit suicide by taking a fatal dosage of pills and alcohol as she lays down in bed, prepared for death. She instantly realizes what she had done and forces herself to throw up in order to clear her stomach before it can take effect.
After such a successful mission, to see Carrie spiral down into destruction was almost unbearable to watch. It was most painful knowing that she thought she had found freedom in Beirut, only to find out it was false hope. When she brought out the pills and wine, I had to turn my head. I knew she wasn’t going to die, but just the thought of a hero succumbing to the weight of the world on their shoulders was disconcerting and quite sad. Even after she rethought her actions, I was still shocked she would not only consider doing it, but more so that she actually did it. Though Carrie didn’t die physically, she died mentally and emotionally.
Finally, the moment we had all been waiting for, Saul returns and shows Carrie the video of Brody’s confessional. She breaks down, allowing all the negativity she received fall to pieces. She was right.
There really isn’t much to say about this scene as her facial expressions said it all. The pacing leading up to this moment was again, pure brilliant, as Homeland brought Carrie to the lowest of the low, only to revive her spirit with a triumphant move that will hopefully pave the way to a thrilling season void of the insecure and weak Carrie. Though this episode wasn’t quite the push we were all hoping for, it was still strong as the characters came forward while the story took a step back. Seeing as how this show likes to switch back and forth between the two, next week’s episode should be ripe with story progression. I can’t wait.
