The series Homeland ended on Sunday. And as there is one ending, there is a possible new beginning. Don't put it past the producers and the money behind Homeland to spin itself off with a continuation series, perhaps called Red Square.
But never mind that. It's hard to make fun of an episode that was so thoroughly well crafted and enjoyable. With a twist. Gotta have a twist.
As if you can forget, the penultimate episode ends with Yevgeny imploring Carrie to "kill Saul." And basically, that's what Carrie and her Russian handlers set out to do in order to get Saul to divulge the name of the double agent working in the Kremlin who's been passing very valuable intel to the U.S. (basically Saul) for decades now. A thoroughly committed woman who grew to hate the Russian state decades ago when they assassinated for no apparent reason a cadre of her Russian students who were learning English.
Yes, Carrie has Russian "handlers" who show her how to bring Saul close to death so that he might divulge the asset's name so that Carrie can continue to coordinate her flow of information. Carrie is shown how to mix two liquids into a nerve agent, that when applied to Saul's skin will paralyze his movements, but not necessarily his voice. The plan is that once the name is divulged, a team of Russian operatives will inject Saul with a lethal dose of something between Saul's toes. "Kill Saul" will have been accomplished, and the asset identified.
Saul approaches Carrie in the guest bedroom of his house where Carrie has been staying and asks what she's up to. It's then, with a lightning gloved right hand, Carrie manages to smear the liquid on Saul's left neck. Down goes Saul. And it's not a pleasant sight.
Saul drops to the bedroom floor, looking like a human version of a beached whale with a full beard. The two Russian operatives who have been given the signal by Carrie to enter the house carry Saul to his bed, where they remove his shoes and socks and prep him for a fatal dose of something that they plan to administer between his toes. "Do you pick your toes? Do you pick your toes in Poughkeepsie?" Saul's are about to be picked in Bethesda.
Carrie keeps trying to get Saul to give up the asset's name. Saul has her lean in for the time honored retort that all stubborn people ready to die will utter: "Go fuck yourself." Saul has just entered Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.
Carrie calls off the toe jab and leaves Saul to growl for another day. Carrie goes to Plan B. And it's a doozie.
Counting on news not traveling fast to Israel, Carrie confronts Saul's sister on the West Bank (flight connections are absolutely no problem in a miniseries) and tells her her brother has suffered a fatal heart attack. Carrie strongly suspects Saul has entrusted his sister with the instructions that on his demise she is to give the name of the asset to Carrie. And the sister Dorit does go to the safe and produces a thumb drive that will give Carrie the name. Mission accomplished.
With perfect cell phone reception, Yeygeny comes on the scene and is handed the name by Carrie. The name is quickly relayed to the Russian minister at the U.N. who sets out to arrest the head interpreter who is the double agent.
Things are moving very fast at his point. The two Russian operatives have fled the house and left Saul alone in his home to recover from the Ketatmine Carrie smeared on his neck. Saul reaches Scott Ryan at the U.N. and commands him to find the interpreter and get her out of there, she's been blown.
Anna flees with Scott into the bowels of the U.N., but they are basically trapped in a storeroom, knowing the Russian delegation is coming for her. And they do. In a dramatic exchange, Saul tells Scott to give Anna the gun she wants to use to kill herself with. Anna didn't count on this, and there are no cyanide pills at the ready.
The sound of the suicide shot devastates Saul. Meanwhile, back at the kibbutz, Carrie and Yevgeny learn that Anna has killed herself and that they better get out of there before Israeli Intelligence gets to them.
The Russian minister, happy that the double agent has been eliminated, produces the black box flight recorder (for the last time, it is orange) and reveals to all that the helicopter was not shot down, but suffered a mechanical failure that caused it to crash, with all on board being killed.
Jamal Haqqani did not shoot down the plane. There is no need for Pakistan and the U.S. to face off over battlefield nuclear weapons and risk starting WW III. Carrie has basically prevented such a war from getting started. The double agent's suicide was for the greater good. It was the cost of doing business.
Flash forward two years and Carrie is living with Yevgeny is a sumptuous duplex in Moscow with a spectacular view. The night lights twinkle. Carrie is putting the finishing touches on her makeup and stunning off-the-shoulder ensemble, as she and Yevgeny get ready for a night out on the town. Even in Moscow, you can apparently go out and enjoy yourself. No lockdown from Covid-19 ever makes its way into the script.
By all appearances, Carrie has gone over to the other side. Kim Philby never looked this good. Carrie and her hot Russian lover, Yevgeny, are enjoying a jazz concert by Kamasi Washington, someone who is now bound to sell more downloads thanks to providing the closing music to Homeland.
But like a James Bond movie, it's not over. Carrie is shown to have sacrificed herself and become a double agent, infiltrating the Kremlin through Yevgeny and no doubt pillow talk, eager and ready to pass information onto Saul.
And she does, by inserting a message in the spine of her recently released book on why she turned her back on the United States and getting the book with the message to Saul through his bookstore alias. The message: a certain Russian made rocket sold to the Iranians has a back door to disable it. Stay tuned.
Carrie and Saul are Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra, and you can't break them up.
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