‘Homeland’ season 3, episode 3 preview: How Claire Danes is playing the game (video)
On Sunday night, “Homeland” season 3 will be back with an episode in “Tower of David” that may answer some questions like “where has Brody been?”, but is also going to ask some new ones. For example, why is Carrie Mathison trying all of a sudden to act completely normal and that she hasn’t suffered any sort of emotional trauma?
There are a couple of different answers to this question, but all of them trace back to the same basic theme: Perception. It is all about the image that they give to the world, and that is a big theme of “Homeland” overall when you look back at Brody’s campaign, Saul’s betrayal, and why Carrie is acting like she is allegedly back on the lithium and cares about what Saul thinks and is not remotely upset with him. She is trying to play the game, and has realized that there is no way that she is going to expose the CIA for its faults or help to clear Brody’s name when fighting them on the public front. She’s just one person, and someone that most of America is not going to take too seriously right about now. She needs a new endgame if she plans on coming out on top.
As for what that endgame is, this will be the story of the next few weeks. Could it include some surprising twists? Well we know that she will be spending at least one scene with the Brody family in the weeks ahead, so she is not going to keep herself away from hostile territory or headlines. The joy of this show can be found in some of Carrie’s own thoughts. Some shows make fixing problems look oh so easy, or at least capable of being cleverly-resolved in an episode or two. Carrie is realizing that there are hundreds of people just as smart as her, and she instead has to do the mental version of a sneak attack to get what she wants.
Maybe we’re giving the character too much credit here, but if Carrie is not acting with a greater purpose in mind, then the only other action of the story is Dana and her family problems. While we like this story more than most viewers, that’s not enough for an Emmy-winning show.
In going back to Damian Lewis and the Brody story, click here if you’re curious to see another peek featuring part of his transport to the land known as Wherever He Ends Up.
Photo: Showtime