Homeland (8×08) Threnody(s) Review

For our review of the last episode of Homeland, click here.

Synopsis: Carrie waits. Wellington makes a discovery. (IMDB)

If it wasn’t clear then, then it is definitely clear now. The Black Box is the key to everything. Homeland is not screwing around anymore as the United States finds itself once again at war with the Middle East as the episode saw an unfortunate body count. Also, John Zabel is a dick.

Threnody(s) began with Haqqani’s attempted execution. It was not successful as Hayes managed to have it halted at least for 24 hours once Max’s captivity became known. Jalal Haqqani threatened to kill Max unless his father was freed. Now there would be time to attempt some sort of rescue which would be easier said than done. Meanwhile, Zabel continued to be slimy and drive a wedge further between Hayes and everyone else. Unfortunately, it was working. Wellington definitely noticed (he found a fiery, war-inciting speech Zabel had wrote for Hayes).

Saul visited Haqqani who was resigned to his fate (it was now up to Saul to continue what they started). Meanwhile, Zabel must have gotten to Hayes as his stay of execution was a short one as Saul witnessed Haqqani’s execution by firing squad as his attempt to convince G’ulom to stop failed (he would need two rounds to finally die). As that was happening, Carrie and Jalal Haqqani got the news. Jalal and his minions left the compound but not before Jalal killed Max as she helplessly watched. Carrie ran to Max’s body and absolutely let it all out (and also lashed out at Saul who was still on her side). While she stayed with Max, Gromov stayed with her as well. As the night went on, Carrie told him more about Max and got emotional about how she took him for granted (another strong moment for Claire Danes after that earlier emotional outburst).

With Haqqani gone, division grew within the Taliban but Jalal Haqqani quickly brought them together on his side with a rocket launcher, claiming that he killed the presidents. Meanwhile, Hayes wanted Wellington and Zabel to work together though that was obviously never going to happen. The latter called a woman named Claudette Fletcher (Hilary Jardine) to find dirt on Saul, Wellington, and others in an attempt to get them out of the way. She found a video of Jalal Haqqani’s admission for which he would share to Hayes who he steered back towards war with Pakistan.

The situation became heated as Saul hopped in a helicopter with the team set to retrieve Max’s body. He made it clear to the others at the station that she wasn’t a defector (he wanted to work with her to find the black box for which she had a lead on) but not everyone else got the message as she got spooked by the soldiers who were trying to restrain her (Saul did not know about this and was angry).

As a result, the episode ended with Carrie leaving with Gromov (who was still waiting nearby) and telling him about the black box (which he didn’t know about).

Carrie and Saul have now been pushed over the edge and that’s when they are at their best. The last 4 episodes of the series are going to be exciting. Too bad about Max though.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.