Homeland: “Super Powers” Review

By Scott Collura

Warning: Full spoilers below.

Oh, Carrie. You don’t have super powers. We know that now. Sure, it was easy to think, O.K., maybe you’re onto something with the whole stopping the meds thing. After all, we had seen the evidence in the past of what manic Carrie could piece together, the deductive magic she could work. But after the trainwreck that she turned into this episode, while getting no closer to the truth about who is out to get her, it’s safe to say that whatever possible edge going off the meds can provide is far outweighed by the dangers inherent in doing so.

So we wind up with another award- and cringe-worthy performance from Claire Danes as Carrie goes off the deep end. It’s all very effective dramatically, with Carrie yelling at the photo of Haqqani, the Taliban leader she faced in the past, before being confronted by the “ghost” of Aayan, the poor med student who Carrie got killed last season. Bringing Suraj Sharma back to play the Aayan from beyond was a nice move by the Homeland team, as it was that character’s fate in particular which really drove home how cold Carrie could be — and which surely haunts her every day.

“Oh, 167 you say?”

The image of Carrie sitting in the center of all those photos — her enemies list — is a striking one, but not as much as when she takes in the faces of those who have died because of her. No wonder she can’t stay afloat once she’s off the meds; who could with 167 lives on their conscience? Were some of them terrorists or associated with terrorists? Sure. But were they all? And even so, how does one deal with being responsible for that kind of bloodshed?

It’s no wonder then that her boyfriend Jonas (Alexander Fehling) is aghast when he learns of that number. “You’re appalled,” she screams. “You think I’m appalling!” And he thought snorting caffeine pills was bad… (Speaking of Jonas, I’m glad he was able to stand up to Carrie here as he is a potentially weak character when stacked against his uber-CIA agent girlfriend, not to mention the ghost of Brody. Of course, we may never see him again at this point!)

So Carrie’s grand plan of figuring out who wants her dead goes haywire, because even if her true enemy is the sum of her sins — the “avenging angels” — the more immediate threat is coming from someplace much more real. But as we see at the end of “Super Powers,” it might not really be Quinn after all who she has to worry about. If he was just going to kill Carrie, he would’ve done it by now. Instead, he injected her with something or other… and we’ll have to wait until next week to find out exactly what his plan is.

I’m glad Quinn and Carrie will be interacting soon in some capacity though, because Terminator Quinn was getting old fast. Seeing him with his ex-flame Astrid this week, however briefly, was a reminder of the charm that Rupert Friend can bring to the character. (With just one line he almost convinced Astrid to walk out on her date. And if she didn’t know him so well, she might’ve gone for it too.) So the writers have wisely gotten Quinn and Carrie together here, whether as friends or foes, and really it would’ve been a mistake to stretch out the game of cat and mouse between them for too long. Don’t forget, our three leads have been almost entirely separated so far this season, but that can’t go on forever. And Saul is still out there, doing his own thing as it is.

Speaking of Saul, I guess my question from a couple of weeks ago about where his wife is now was moot, as we now know that he and Miranda Otto’s Allison have a thing going. That’s interesting, considering the backstabbing and double-dealing that the two were working against one another at their day jobs. Of course, in the end, Saul did save Allison’s gig as Berlin Station Chief, and he clearly gave zero f#@%s when the guy who took the fall for Allison attempted to confront him about it. Does this Saul seem harder and meaner than the cuddly Saul of yesteryear? Düring and Carrie’s conversation would support that idea. “He seems like a man too used to getting his way,” said Düring. He wasn’t like that before, replies Carrie. Saul!

Some notes:

• “Don’t you ever get tired of that Clark Kent routine?”
• “You can’t atone for that much blood and that many souls.” Now we know who Carrie was actually praying for in the season premiere.
• I don’t trust Düring.
• I’m still having a hard time getting into or caring about the journalist Laura’s whole story, although it seems that things might be heating up there thanks to “Newman’s” partner.
• Saul and Dar have a green light! But for what…
• “Motherf#@$er.”