Homeland (8×12) Prisoners of War Review

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

Synopsis: Series finale. (IMDB)

So it’s over now, or is it? Last episode’s grim cliffhanger certainly set the tone for this series finale but knowing Homeland is still has a few tricks up its sleeve. That being said, it should still do its characters justice after 8 years and that, it definitely did. In the end, it was never going to please everyone.

Prisoners of War began with a callback to Brody (the parallels to what he did and what Carrie is doing are pretty clear). Meanwhile, there is still war on the horizon with Russia entering the fray. Anna (Tatyana Mukha). the translator and Saul’s asset, was still around and continuing to do her other job. Zabel preempted Saul’s meeting with Hayes, not caring the least about going to war under false pretenses. His next step was to turn to the press.

Maggie Matheson showed up at Saul’s wondering where Carrie was (solid point). She hadn’t seen Frannie since coming back to the states (but she still went to their house to grab money and passports from her room). As soon as Carrie returned, Saul confronted her on that and everything else. Things got heated now that everything was in the open. Saul was still unwilling to give up his asset as she was still more valuable than whatever lives would be lost from the war. He wanted Carrie out of his house which signaled that it was time for her to strike (using a sedative she got from the Russians so their kill team could do the job). With Saul’s last chance, he told Carrie to go f*** herself. Even after that, Carrie gave the order to keep him alive (though the damage had already been done).

Wellington arranged for Saul to meet a few reporters and was getting worried with his disappearance (he knew something was up). Carrie visited Saul’s sister in Israel to tell her about his death as a ploy to get something that he had left for her (presumably the identity of his asset). With the sister gone, Gromov came over to get the name (confirmed by a video Saul left for Carrie). Now that Anna was outed, it was up for Saul to warn her but she never really had the chance. While on the phone with Saul, she said her goodbye and took her own life. Meanwhile, the Russians held a press conference at the UN where they played the contents of the flight recorder. Carrie was concerned about Anna but her death according to Gromov and the deaths of American soldiers according to Saul were just the cost of doing business. In the end, she was more concerned about the status of her relationship with Saul (which Gromov did not understand).

As far as Carrie was concerned, she was in danger so Gromov took her away. From there, the story jumped two years into the future in Moscow with Carrie and Gromov together. They were getting ready to go to a jazz concert. At one point during the concert, she left to freshen and up and appeared to be giving something off to another woman. Meanwhile, Saul was moving but still got a delivery to one of aliases. It was Carrie’s book about how she had to betray her country. There was a note within the spine of the book,

Carrie is Saul’s new asset in Russia. The series ended with Saul smiling and Carrie seemingly happy in Moscow. 

Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin have been spectacular over this season’s last few episodes, giving their all, and are certainly deserving of Emmys. It is sad that the series is over but the ending is definitely a cause for hope seeing that a return is plausible.

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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.