Coral

It was pretty obvious they were trying to make us think Brody bailed on the CIA after the failed attempt - since that the kind of thing the show does to try and create suspense and twists.

Why did Brody waste all that time suffocating buddy-boy? Why didn't he just snap his neck like he did that other guy he killed in Season 2? It'd be so much quicker. Oh right, trying to create suspense.

I understand why buddy used Nazir's widow to vet Brody, but why did buddy have to show up there just to drive away before meeting Brody? Create suspense again?

Red Dog

My thoughts too. Why on earth they would send Carrie there to run the operation is beyond me.

BDB

Carrie going to Iran was hilarious, and of course expected. Totally idiotic.

the person who they had to shoot to stop her from blowing the cover is just allowed to pop off
on Iran?

Dave99 said it best at the start - Suspend all rational belief.

This show is now 100% 24..

Fagcludedly

It's nowhere near that good of a show.

My Other Self

Doesn't make sense. He kept it rolled up in his sleeve the whole time up until then. Seems kind of odd he'd just destroy it.

It looks more to me that he was enjoying his new found fame and when he realized the CIA was going to waste him he decided to just take action in to his own hands.

I dunno, you gotta suspend all disbelief while watching and all of the back and forth is hokey but it's still better than last season.

RUSF18

There's still time...

Bandoman

Maybe Chloe can open up another socket or something.

Josh-da-man

Maybe Brody ditched the syringe because he didn't want them to find it on him. Makes a certain sort of sense that he wouldn't want to hang onto it.

And one reason to send Carrie to Iran is because the CIA was decimated during the bombing, and they don't have a lot of other available options.

At any rate, this seemed like a harebrained scheme from the get-go. There's no guarantee that Akbari would agree to meet with Brody at all, especially considering his paranoid nature, and even if he did, there's also no guarantee that Brody would have able to get close to him. Also hard to believe they would allow Brody to smuggle any kind of weapon to the meeting without being thoroughly searched.

There are a lot of things, beyond the control of the CIA or Javadi, that needed to align in the right place for the assassination to go down.

BDB

I lol'd

majorjoe23

If Brody could have spent an episode being chased by a cougar at the Iraq/Iran border, it might measure up to 24.

Groucho

Paging Courtney Cox...

Coral

Makes sense to me. He had it hidden in his bed, and only rolled it up in his sleeve when it was time to meet buddy. He obviously needed it to kill him. Once the opportunity to kill him was lost, why bother carrying it risking getting caught with it? You take a risk for a payoff, otherwise why take the risk?

Decker

Are we still supposed to think that Javadi is going to be made new head of the IRG after Brody tells Nazir's widow that he has to speak with the head of the IRG about Javadi right now...then kills him? That seems like an improbable turn of events there.
Last year Carrie was tailed all over Jordan, but she can mingle in Tehran with impunity and even have extended conversations on satellite phone in public without arousing any suspicion.

Jeremy517

I don't think he told the Nazir's widow why he wanted to talk to Akbari.

sydonesia

Dude, she dyed her hair and gained a little weight in her gut. She's completely unrecognizable now.

mcnabb

The best way I get through Homeland these days and still enjoy it is I just do the occasional eye-roll at stuff that you mentioned above. The creators don't even care that anything makes sense anymore, as long as the narrative and suspense continues for the 50 minutes.

RUSF18

Not sure if it was her either, but he definitely told someone that he needed to talk to him about Javadi.

Raul3

It's Iran, women have no voice. No one will listen to her.

RUSF18

Except for the head of the IRGC!

Decker

If only Tony Mendez had known it was that easy to fool the IRGC, Ben Affleck might have one day won an Oscar for a movie entitled "Clairol Nice n' Easy & the Rosetta Stone".

Dave99

Coral

Wait, that was Carrie??! I was wondering why she wasn't in the episode and when/where the new girl came from.

Bill Needle

I don't know why you guys are being so snarky. Why, Hitler himself would occasionally don a powdered wig and stroll the halls of the Houses of Parliament during the Blitz.

DJariya

Really absurd, yet entertaining episode. Agree with everyone that Carrie had absolutely no business running that op. She just doesn't have the objectivity to run it effectively. and did Carrie actually think that no one would find out she was the one talking to Brody and warned him about the hit squad. Duh!

The last 15 minutes was pretty intense. Was kind of hard to tell about Brody's motives and then he made the big move to kill the IRG leader. I guess he really wants to redeem himself.

Interesting that Showtime didn't show any scenes from the finale in the teaser. The last 2 seasons they showed quite a lot. Hopefully it makes for a really effective and suspenseful episode. I cannot see Brody making it out alive.

Bill Needle

I can't see anything that could be done with Brody after this. He is the most notorious and recognizable man on the planet at this point, wanted in every country. Even though his allegiance is apparently once and for all tied to the USA, the CIA/government can reveal next to nothing about his deeds, as that would almost certainly lead to exposing the placing Javadi as the #2 (or was it #3?) guy in Iran. There has been tape after tape of him publically denouncing America and flaunting his terrorist acts. And I would have to think he has just worn out his welcome in Iran. Or, maybe, just maybe, Javadi can use his new authority to cover for Brody and pin some BS crimes against the guy Brody killed (everything that Javadi has done for instance), making him a hero of the republic. He then stays in Iran and works with Javadi on the USA'a behalf from within. Then he parlays his fame into becoming a congressman and gets tapped as the next hot VP candidate.

As vastly improved as the second half of the season has been, I do have one major plot hole gripe: The Iranian government's believing Brody's story when he seeks asylum. They know Brody did not mastermind the bombing of the CIA, so why on earth do they believe that or any other part of his story? Are we to believe that Javadi was the only person in Iran that knew Brody wasn't the bomber/didn't move the car/etc? And anyone that knew Brody didn't move the car also knew Brody knew nothing about the explosives. I have to be missing something because this is so glaring.