We’re now a quarter of the way into the first season of Homeland, and the characters are beginning to open up in unexpected ways. It’s clear now that Brody, if he’s at all a potential terrorist, is only one piece of an even greater puzzle.
Carrie and Brody take a step back though this week to let the world around them begin to develop. In “Clean Skin” Carrie’s informant Lynne closes in on Abu Nazir, while Brody’s daughter Dana decides whether to come clean during the family’s interview on national television.
Carrie: Me? No, I’m never done.
Though I think we all knew that Carrie’s informant friend Lynne probably wouldn’t make it to the end of the season, I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon. But as the episode started, and Prince Farid almost caught Lynne transferring files from his phone, there was definitely a feeling of foreboding in the air. From then on, we knew it was only just a matter of time before Lynne met her end.
The question now is whether Carrie should feel directly responsible for her death. She did involve Lynne in a dangerous game of international espionage without the supposed backup she promised was watching over her. Would Lynne have gone through with Farid’s data transfer if there was no backup? Probably not. Would she still be dead? Probably so.
It’s only a small consolation, but it appears that her death wasn’t actually the result of Carrie’s influence. Instead, Lynne had already unknowingly been targeted by the prince’s bodyguard Bin Walid to be a kind of mule for a necklace worth $400,000. It was Walid who was secretly meeting with Abu Nazir, rather than than the prince himself as Carrie had thought.
There’s one part of the plan though that I’m still wondering about. Prince Farid was noticeably distraught in his video interview after Lynne’s death, so Carrie believes he had nothing to do with it. And while I’m inclined to agree with her, I can’t help wondering how the necklace got to Prince Farid, who gave it to Lynne, and then back to Walid in order to sell for $400,000. It wasn’t actually explained, so I guess we’ll just have to assume how Prince Farid got the necklace in the first place.
Brody: I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to tell the truth either.
Elsewhere, the Brody family have their own set of problems now that the media is setting up shop in their home to do family interviews. Tensions are running high, and Dana, in particular, is not happy about them pretending to be a happy family while she knows her mother had an affair with Mike. Frankly, I can’t say that I blame her.
Yet, I also can’t help feeling bad for Jessica. She’d gotten over her husband’s presumed death and was just starting to build a new life with his best friend, only to then find out her husband was very much alive. Still, the longer she keeps this secret from him, the worse it’s going to be for everyone.
Man: I like being close to the airport. For us, it’s perfect.
The episode then ends rather ominously when we’re shown a couple, the husband looks to be Middle Eastern, buying a house next to an airport using the $400,000 from the stolen necklace. I think we can be sure that nothing good will come from this purchase.
Notes and Quotes:
Did you know that Gaby Hoffman from Now and Then plays a news producer in the episode?
One of my good friends played Lynne’s mother in that last scene at the morgue. Very cool.