Homeland – “Halfway to a Donut” Retrospective. Escape or Die.

Season 4, Episode 8

Air Date: Sunday, November 16, 2014, 9:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

“Don’t do it; don’t do it. Nothing they ask; don’t do it. Not anything, not a fucking thing. You tell them to go to fucking hell; tell them to go to fucking hell!” – Saul Berenson

“Halfway to a Donut” is one of the most thrilling episodes of the season. When we last saw Carrie (Claire Danes), she was sobbing into the arms of Col. Aasar Khan (Raza Jaffrey), the ISI counter-intelligence chief who she hallucinated was Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis). As an aside, wasn’t that a cool cameo by Lewis? As “Halfway to a Donut” opens, Carrie awakes in a beautiful bedroom in a magnificent house belonging to Khan, with no memory of the events in “Redux.” Carrie may have been dosed with hallucinogenic medication but she’s not the kind of woman you should ever count out. It is a pleasure to watch Carrie as she puts two and two together. In the meantime, famed terrorist Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar) makes a demand the United States cannot entertain, even though Saul’s (Mandy Patinkin) life hangs in the balance.

A “Breach” in the Embassy

Martha tells Dennis Carrie knows about the switch in her meds. Bad move, Martha!

Khan has no knowledge that ISI Agent Nasneem (Nimrat Kaur) had Professor Boyd (Mark Moses) switch Carrie’s bipolar medication until Nasneem fesses up to him outside a scheduled meeting, admitting she wanted Carrie to be sent home. Doesn’t Nasneem realize the United States will just send someone to replace her? For an experienced agent, it was a stupid move, and one that will have far-reaching effects. Before long, Carrie figures out what happened, realizing there is “a breach” somewhere in the embassy. While Carrie shares this information with Quinn (Rupert Friend) and CIA Director Andrew Lockhart (Tracy Letts), she doesn’t want Ambassador Martha Boyd (Laila Robin) brought into the situation since she doesn’t know whom to trust. True to his loutish nature, Lockhart stupidly tells Martha anyway.

The Pakistani Delegation

Haqqani’s request for a prisoner exchange doesn’t go as planned when Saul is dragged in front of a video camera. He certainly doesn’t mince words because he knows what America would have to sacrifice. Saul, ever the patriot, is willing to give his life to prevent this from happening. An infuriated Lockhart marches out of the room, while Martha tries to smooth things over, saying they need to discuss this with their respective governments. Way to stall for time, Martha, while Carrie, Quinn, Redmond (Michael O’Keefe), and Lockhart try to figure out what to do.

Redmond and Quinn do their best to track Saul.

Lockhart asks Martha a question I’ve also been pondering. “Isn’t Pakistan supposed to be on our side?” If the ISI is a counter-intelligence unit, why are they helping Haqqani? I suppose it’s possible not everyone in the delegation is helping him. It’s frightening to think all of Haqqani’s top regime would be returned to Pakistan where they can reign down terror throughout the country should the United States comply with his demand.

More compelling than Lockhart’s question, though, is the discussion they have about Martha’s job.

Lockhart: “I really don’t know how you do it. Sit across from them day by day, knowing all they want is to stab us in the back.”

Martha: “I’m a diplomat. It’s my job.”

Lockhart: “To eat shit.”

Martha: “To suck it up if that’s what it takes to find areas of common interest.”

Lockhart: “They hate us. Good luck finding common interest in that.”

While I am not a fan of Lockhart’s, I agree with him. I haven’t a clue how Martha can look the opposition in the eye and pretend everything’s ok when it’s not. She’s a better woman than I am, that’s for sure. I could never do her job. I’m sure she’s right, though; you catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar. Still…

Even though he hasn’t been a CIA operative for quite some time now, Saul still has his wits about him as he grabs a long nail protruding from his cell floor as he is dragged out. As he uses it to open his handcuffs, Patinkin does an excellent job of making you feel what Saul is going through. I was on the edge of my seat as Saul struggles with the nail, frantic to get the handcuffs open as he hears his captors approaching his cell. I’m not so sure Saul is as sick as he looks, though; I’m wondering whether that hacking cough of his is a ruse so his captors won’t know just how strong Saul actually is.

And strong he is! What a thrilling escape! I held my breath throughout the scene. Although I’m not too happy with Saul’s request to Carrie that she bomb the hell out of the place should he be recaptured, I understand it. In some of the most riveting scenes of Homeland, Saul runs for his life, trying to avoid the myriad of Taliban members hunting him down. But the most heartrending of all is when Carrie talks Saul out of eating his gun. It brought tears to my eyes knowing what Carrie was doing. As she watches from the command room, doing her best to direct him out of harm’s way, she has no choice but to let the worst happen. My heart broke as the Taliban surrounds Saul, and he calls out for Carrie to honor her pledge, “escape or die.”

Khan tells Carrie about the switch in her meds.

The most surprising scene of “Halfway to a Donut” is Khan telling Carrie that Dennis switched her pills. Is Khan having a crisis of conscience? Or maybe he has feelings for Carrie. Why else is it so important to Khan that Carrie believes he had no part in what happened to her? For that matter, why did he rescue her in the first place? He could have let her rot in that disgusting jail cell. Khan is quite the conundrum. First, he helps in Saul’s capture; then, he makes sure the airport tapes don’t show what actually happened to Saul; and now, he’s kissing up to Carrie. Have his loyalties changed? Maybe he’s not the bad guy I originally thought he was.

Additional Thoughts

Bravo, writers, for bringing a huge dose of realism to “Halfway to a Donut” during Lockhart’s impassioned speech when he mentions Jim Foley and Daniel Pearl, the brave men who were decapitated by terrorists, during an impassioned speech. It helps to hit home just how desperate Saul’s situation is.

Carrie wows me with her brilliance. In a meeting where Martha uses a stall tactic to give the American forces time to get to Saul, Carrie couldn’t be more perceptive than when she figures out the Pakistani delegation already knows Saul has escaped.

Now that Carrie knows about Dennis, I hope they throw the book at him! All the delicious Middle Eastern pastries in the world, or “halfway to a donut,” as he describes them, can’t help him now.

Overall

“Halfway to a Donut” is a gripping episode that leaves me wondering what will happen to Saul now. Will Carrie and company ever be able to rescue him? I have no doubt Saul will take his life given the chance. And I would absolutely hate that.

What did you think of “Halfway to a Donut?” I’d love to discuss it with you so leave me a comment below or hit me up on Twitter @SeasideTV.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!