Episode Title: “The Yoga Play”
Writer: Patrick Harbinson
Director: Clark Johnson
Previously on “Homeland”:
Regardless of whether everyone accepted the twist from last week’s episode of “Homeland” (and I certainly have my problems with it), this is where we are in the story and it’s not going away anytime soon.
Fortunately, Carrie Mathison’s (Claire Danes) attempts to stay ahead of the surveillance team following her was entertaining and it was almost enough to carry the episode by itself. The jarring change in tone at the end of the episode also brought a sense of danger to Carrie that we haven’t seen for a while. Who knew that the words “must be all that yoga” could carry an undercurrent of menace?
But for every bit of Carrie brilliance and Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) power plays, we still had Dana Brody’s (Morgan Saylor) ill-conceived runaway with Leo (Sam Underwood) subplot that bled into the main storyline in a huge WTF?! way. When exactly did Jessica (Morena Baccarin) even learn where Carrie lived? That seemed like a huge contrivance just to get Carrie involved in the search for Dana.
From this point on, there are full spoilers ahead for “The Yoga Play,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “Homeland” then you should probably skip this review or else the dog from Duck Hunt will laugh at you.
Let’s just get Dana’s story out of the way, because it ultimately went nowhere. Last week’s episode tried to make us worried about Dana’s safety because Leo may have killed his brother in a suicide pact. When Dana finally learns about this from the news, she’s suitably horrified and stand-offish from Leo. But when he demands that Dana get in the car, she does! Yes, Dana. That’s the perfect response. Just get in the car with the guy that you’re suddenly so afraid of and then nearly cause an accident while trying to get back out of a moving vehicle
I don’t know if there was a way to make the audience care about Dana and Leo’s subplot; which is all the more reason that it shouldn’t have been on the show in the first place. It was just completely incompatible with all of the other storylines on “Homeland.” Dana had the same problem in season 2 when she and Finn ran over a pedestrian. It seems that the “Homeland” creative team never figured this out.
Perhaps the one redeeming moment out of this is that Dana has a private meltdown when she finally gets home and Saylor is very good at conveying her emotions. But to take valuable screen time in two straight episodes just for that tiny payoff is a very small return on our investment in Dana and the Brody family.
As little sense as it made to bring Carrie into Dana and Jessica’s orbit, it was fun watching her pull off “The Yoga Play” with Virgil (David Marciano), Max (Maury Sterling) and a blonde girl who looked very similar to Carrie. Even Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) had a late assist in keeping Carrie’s cover intact.
Bringing Quinn in on Carrie and Saul’s plan was overdue, but it was still a good move. I believe that “Homeland” is slowly setting the stage for a Carrie and Quinn relationship, even though it’s fairly one-sided at the moment. Quinn clearly cares about Carrie, but she doesn’t even like the idea that he’s watching over her.
However, Quinn screws up big time by failing to notice when Iranian operatives break into Carrie’s home, strip search her and then abduct her. By the time that Quinn disregards his orders to keep his distance, Carrie is long gone. Some time later, Carrie is brought before this season’s big bad, Majid Javadi (Shaun Toub). And Javadi’s line about Carrie’s yoga seems to suggest that he knows that she slipped his surveillance.
Earlier in the episode, Saul found himself on political hunting retreat because he thought that he was about to become the next director of the CIA. As deserving as Saul the Bear might be, it’s a gut punch when he learns that Senator Lockhart (Tracy Letts) is not only getting the nomination, he’s got no idea how to run a spy agency and his philosophy towards the CIA might actually be dangerous.
Lockhart was also the a**hole who oversaw the Congressional hearings earlier this season, as he tore into Carrie and the entire CIA. Saul gets a measure of revenge by publicly calling out Lockhart’s shortcomings in front of his supporters. We’re told that Lockhart may be nominated and confirmed within two weeks, which is a great ticking clock for the season. Because it doesn’t look like Saul is going to have a job when those two weeks are up.
Nor are things any better for Saul at home. After leaving the retreat early, Saul finds his wife, Mira (Sarita Choudhury) having a late dinner with a man she claims to have worked with in India. Saul is so dispirited that he ignores Mira’s attempts to explain and he lashes out at Carrie for seemingly blowing the mission.
Yet when Saul learns that Carrie has been abducted, he’s oddly happy. Their long shot (and somewhat unbelievable) plan is paying off and he trusts that Carrie can take care of herself. But that’s not the safest bet even on Carrie’s best days.
The storylines for Carrie and Saul are very compelling and there’s definite promise to where they can go from here. It’s only the dead weight of the Brody family that’s holding “Homeland” down.
