Nadav Kander/SHOWTIMESpoiler Warning: Do not read ahead if you haven't watched Homeland's season 3 premiere. We repeat, back away now. For everyone else, continue on.
"How can the CIA protect this country when it can't even protect itself?"
That was the question extended to Carrie (Claire Danes) by the committee investigating the Langley bombing at the top of Homeland's 3rd season premiere, and she did not have an answer for them.
Though we didn't see a speck of Brody (Damian Lewis) in the episode, he was talked about plenty, and we had enough new questions and plotline setups to keep us occupied:
Carrie, Meet Under the Bus: Carrie, who is off her meds and searching in vain for Brody, spent most of the episode answering questions about the CIA bombing from the season finale, and the man leading the investigation, Senator Lockhart, is clearly out to get her and the CIA. And he has some help, because someone is leaking info to the committee, including the document promising Brody immunity if he helped them track down Abu Nazir. Afterward, she vents to Saul (Mandy Patinkin), who's also the new director of the CIA, that she was ambushed because that document was supposed to be secret.
The next leak is a big one. Someone leaks Brody and Carrie's relationship situation to the press, perhaps to put the blame on her and off the CIA. Carrie blames Saul since the story plant is textbook CIA work. After Carrie intensely confronts him at a restaurant, Saul suspects Adal (F. Murray Abraham), who pleads innocence. Who's the rat?
Carrie also tells the committee during her interrogation that she doesn't think Brody knew the bomb was in his car and that he's innocent. At the end of the episode, after Saul organizes a successful assassination of the top tier terrorist network responsible for the Langley bombing, he makes a public statement to the committee about the mission. When Saul is asked to comment on the story in the press about Carrie's relationship with Brody, the wanted terrorist, Saul admits that the story is true and that Carrie hid the relationship for her superiors, and he also reveals that Carrie is bipolar and has a history of erratic behavior. Carrie watches the whole thing on TV, crestfallen. How's the view from under those bus tires, girl? Smell like betrayal?
Quinn's Mistake: Quinn (Rupert Friend) was the point person on the coordinated attack on Nazir's terrorist network, but he accidentally shoots a child during his mission. Is that something that will haunt him during the season? Or will he brush it off as an occupational hazard?
Brody's Family Is in Pieces: Dana (Morgan Saylor) attempted suicide following the CIA bombing, but she's on her last day of therapy and is doing well. Plus, she now has a new boyfriend, who is still in therapy when Dana leaves. When Jessica (Morena Baccarin) leaves with Dana, they are mobbed by the press asking questions about Brody and his whereabouts.
Dana obviously never learned the one law of taking nude photos and sending them to someone: they will, almost certainly, get out. Almost immediately after she gets home, Dana takes a photo of herself topless to send to her boyfriend in therapy. That situation will not end well, mark our words.
The government has cut off the Brody family, so Jessica is attempting to go back to work. Her mother urges her to take legal action against the Marines, but Jessica is reluctant to go that route.
New Big Bad: Besides the CIA investigation and the mole storylines, the episode also touched on the next terrorist they'll likely be going after: Javadi, also knowns as "The Magician". He hasn't been seen for years, and many believe he's dead, but if they find out he was the main person behind the Langley attack, (besides Nazir) we bet the CIA will be hunting for him shortly.
What did you think of Homeland's season-3 premiere?