HOMELAND Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: ‘Oh My God’
This recap is titled ‘Oh My God’ because those are usually the three words that appear on my timeline when Homeland is on. It’s also what I say after almost every episode. Who would’ve thought this show would get even better than its first season? I was worried. Especially after it just completely swept the Emmys for everything they had. I was worried we’d return to this show and be like, “…well…”. When I was deciding about recapping either Homeland or The Walking Dead, it struck me how attached I am to this show. As much as I enjoy The Walking Dead, I’m not completely invested in it. By invested I mean I don’t care about the characters and it usually results in a half watch. That isn’t the case with Homeland, a show I am fully invested in.
Last episode concluded on maybe the best scene of the season with some of the best acting from Claire Danes. I noted that this show works best in the silent, smaller moments. When Carrie was in that room alone after all was said and done, her face read EVERY single emotion she was going through. I used to think that Claire Danes was a terrible actress, but I think she’s playing Carrie so well that it feels too real to process. As everyone has noted already, this episode contains some of the best acting you’ll see all year. Yes, the acting was outstanding, but so was everything else.
This episode built and built and built until you couldn’t take anymore and then half way through it just completely unraveled itself for the viewer to watch and dissect. Everything became so raw and real. While everyone is praising the acting of THAT Q&A scene, I thought the script and the direction made it work as well as it did. This was coming for a while now. That moment. Their moment. All of what came before led to that scene and then, boom, it went off and now we’re at 00:00 for Brody and Carrie. “Because of you I question my own sanity” is the line that spoke to me most from last night and really defines Carrie as a person.
There she is, Carrie, sitting across from him, Brody, revealing herself completely. These two are so intertwined, so together yet so far apart. This scene, while shot mostly from Carrie’s POV, is so about the two of them that as a viewer I felt as if I were invading their privacy. “She’s obsessed with me” is another line that stood out. I don’t think he said this out of weirdness towards her but out of their fucked up kind of love for one another. Then she goes and turns off the cameras in the interrogation room. Why? Because she’s fucking Carrie. And we NEVER know what she’s going to do.
And now, for Dana Brody. We Need To Talk About Our Dana Brody. We all agree Morgan Saylor is much better than any of us had anticipated, right? I need a spin-off where her and Sally Draper do fun things, but that could never happen so I’ll digress. That entire storyline this episode was ridiculous, right? As good as this episode was, and as shocked I was when Mr. My Father Is The Vice President Of The United States hit a woman with his BMW, it was completely unnecessary. When did this become The OC? This plotline will most likely be resolved in two episodes and then they’ll be given something else to do.
As unnecessary as this plotline was, it ties into the entire theme of the episode and the show at large: our decisions, our choices and the result of how we handle them and how that affects us and the people around us. The final scene, once again, proves that theory right. There she is, Carrie, sitting on the couch with her glass of wine and contemplating. Where is this going to go? I think she knows exactly where this is going to go. Or, at least, where she wants it to go.