When “Homeland” left off two weeks ago, we didn’t know if Carrie, Redmond and Saul were hurt or even alive. This week opened to find Carrie and Saul disoriented and bloodied. Redmond has been killed, a shard of glass in his neck indicates the cause. While the marines are surveying the explosion area and rescuing those involved — Carrie and Saul included — the ambassador is panicking back at the embassy. She informs Quinn that she believes the attack on the convoy to be a diversion so the ISI can infiltrate the embassy via the underground tunnel. Quinn takes charge, issues an embassy lockdown and checks in with the marines on site so they can return. Post Quinn’s check in, more hell breaks loose and sniper fire overtakes the already burning convoy.
The already injured Carrie crouches behind a car with Saul and calls Aasar Khan for help. Aasar Khan, in the car with Tasneem, moves to telephone aid to the convoy site only to be stopped by Tasneem. Her insistence that he wait to place the call reveals to Aasar Khan that she’s been working with Haqqani all along and he’s disgusted. Tasneem justifies her actions by saying that she does not believe the enemy — the United States — is their friend, like Aasar Khan does.
Lockhart preps the embassy for a possible infiltration from the outside. As the embassy members begin to gather themselves for the fallout, Haqqani and his men succeed in their breach. Just before Haqqani’s men reach Lockhart, he is given a briefcase full of documents Sandy gathered before his death. They have no other duplicates and must be safeguarded. Lockhart barely escapes with the briefcase as bullets rain all around him.
Haqqani’s men have the embassy members kneel in a line in front of them — including Max and Fara. Haqqani almost immediately calls on Fara to give him information and insults her for being Muslim who helps kill other Muslims. Meanwhile, Quinn and a marine are in a safe place watching Haqqani’s men plot their next move. He overhears them indicate that they intend to make their way to the vault — where the rest of the embassy members are — and Quinn knows they need more backup.
Having been given a full rundown of where everything is, Haqqani and his men head to the vault to retrieve the Sandy documents they inexplicably know Lockhart has. They line up the embassy members they have hostage and proceed to kill them one at a time until they use Fara, being held at knifepoint, as the bait they need to lure Lockhart out. Lockhart comes out, against the ambassador’s insistence he stay, and attempts to save Fara’s life. Haqqani takes the documents and kills Fara anyway. Quinn and the marine assisting him have been watching the entire time from around a corner. As they see Fara fall, they intervene and start firing at Haqqani and his men. They manage to injure most of Haqqani’s men — including Haqqani himself — and Max and another hostage are saved. As the injured men escape to safety with the briefcase in hand, Quinn follows them. As they leave, they set a bomb off in their wake, leaving it impossible for Quinn to follow. Quinn returns to the hallway surrounding the vault to see the last of the embassy members in shock. Max is holding the deceased Fara as he weeps. Quinn’s face perfectly exemplifies the complex emotion of being scared, angry and confused all at the same time.
Back at the convoy spot, the snipers have not let up. Carrie is given a gun by a marine to start fighting back and her shot is not very good. It takes a bit longer, but finally Aasar Khan’s garrison has arrived to take Carrie and Saul to safety. Upon arrival, Carrie and Saul see the flag Haqqani has placed on the front wall of the embassy and they realize the infiltration they feared has in fact happened. Flashing forward four hours, the ambassador and Lockhart watch the news as it talks about the attack. The two sit, looking wounded and tired, and are only interrupted when a call comes in for the ambassador.
Max and Carrie sit next to the bodies of the fallen, the dimmed lighting and American flag behind them is a great juxtaposition. Max tells Carrie how mean she was to Fara and how she should have treated her better. Carrie tries to defend herself, realizes she’s fighting a losing battle and relents. Lockhart interrupts the tender moment to tell Carrie that the call the ambassador received was from the White House. They want to take the U.S. presence out of Pakistan and end diplomatic relations. Lockhart tells Carrie that they’re leaving the next morning, which she obviously takes a issue with. Carrie insists that she needs to stay to make sure all of their assets are safe but Lockhart indicates she can’t and that he’s sorry he let the information go. Carrie semi-consoles him by saying she’s unsure of what she would have done too (because, honestly, he did the only thing he could do).
The ambassador goes down to the cell Dennis is in to see him, at his request. She’s still in shock after the attack and tells Dennis that this is all his fault – which it is, he leaked the information to get into the embassy to Tasneem who in turn told Haqqani. Dennis asks what will happen to him when they leave for the states the following day and the ambassador tells him that he will go to jail for treason. Distraught, Dennis asks the ambassador for her belt. Initially, the request for help to kill himself seems absurd and selfish, but, after a discussion, it’s clear that he’s thought it all through and knows it would be the best for the ambassador. There’s a moment where the two exchange a look that shows how broken their marriage is because for the first time all season, we see the ambassador look at Dennis completely devoid of emotion. After hearing Dennis plead his case for suicide, the ambassador realizes that if she doesn’t have to deal with the trial, it saves her son from the heartbreak of knowing his father was a traitor and it can save her career. She relents and, unwilling to give him her own belt, retrieves Dennis’ belt from the locker adjacent to his cell and tosses it towards him. She leaves without giving Dennis a second look.
Quinn pseudo-interrogates Saul to try to find out where Haqqani could be heading. Saul is flustered and unsure of anything regarding where he was kept. Quinn gets incredibly frustrated with him and starts yelling, causing poor Saul to break down crying. Carrie intervenes and tells Quinn about how they are being pulled out of Pakistan. Naturally, Quinn is infuriated and has no desire to give up, despite Carrie’s insistence that he must. Carrie leaves Quinn, who goes to illegally search the dead bodies of Haqqani’s men for clues, and goes to talk to Saul, who has composed himself a bit more. The two are still bloodied and Saul feels guilt for those who have died. Carrie attempts to console him by saying that Haqqani has had this all planned from the start. Saul looks drained.
Everyone is reeling from the day’s events in their own ways. The ambassador, Saul, and Carrie are all grieving as Quinn leaves the embassy, without telling anyone, after garnering a cell phone from one of Haqqani’s murdered men. Knowing he’s been followed, Quinn creates a distraction at the location he heads to, circles back to the car that’s following him, and forces the man to take him to Haqqani. Once there, Quinn knocks out the man who drove him and garners a second cell phone.
The next morning, everyone is getting ready to leave for the states and Carrie informs Lockhart that Quinn is missing. She insists she needs five days to stay behind so she can retrieve him and Lockhart allows it. Lockhart and Carrie go to talk to the ambassador and she’s informed that her husband has just been brought to the car. Dennis is the biggest coward that ever lived and didn’t follow through with the only good thing he ever promised the ambassador. Ugh. Saul goes to usher Carrie into the car to the airport and she says she’s staying. He wishes her luck and tells her to be careful. Carrie sends off the embassy members and the look of fear overtakes her.
And then there was one.
