Review: Homeland, S1, E9 – “Crossfire”
Air Date: Sunday, November 27, 2011, 10:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime
Rating:
“Two Marines are captured and one comes back a terrorist? Dad must be going out of his mind,” Dana (Morgan Saylor) tells her mother Jessica (Morena Baccarin). You’d think so, Dana, but that’s not the case as Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) shops at the market acting like nothing’s wrong. That is, until he’s attacked, beaten with a tire iron and kidnapped. What do the Arabian-speaking attackers want and why do they inject Brody in the neck?
Carrie listens to what the Imam is saying to the Muslim community.
The majority of “Crossfire” spends its time between present day and three years ago when Abu Nazir (Navid Negahban) brings Brody to his home to be his young son Issa’s (Rohan Chand) English tutor. There are two distinct, separate storylines in this episode: Carrie’s (Claire Danes) involvement in handling the outrage of the Muslim community after last week’s shooting in the mosque; and Brody’s kidnapping as he goes in and out of consciousness, reliving his time with Issa. And we finally learn what Brody’s mission is as we come to understand the deep connection formed between him and Nazir.
Highlights and observations:
Carrie has her hands full dealing with Imam Rafan Gohar (Sammy Sheik) who she’s certain knows something about Tom Walker (Chris Chalk) but won’t talk. Although his wife does and leads Carrie and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) to the home of a Saudi diplomat (Ramsey Faragallah), who turns out to be our mysterious diplomat from “Achilles Heel.”
Estes tells Carrie not to mention the FBI's involvement in the mosque shooting.
Special Agent Hall (Billy Smith) makes it clear he won’t allow the CIA to “throw any of my guys under the bus” during his conversation with Carrie, and Estes (David Harewood) gives Carrie strict orders not to publicly discuss the FBI’s mistake. She’s not exactly known for following orders so I can’t wait to see how Carrie handles this.
I have a question for you: is it me or do you think Hall treats Carrie with absolute disrespect both at the mosque and the diner? Is it because he doesn’t respect women in general; is it because he knows about Carrie’s mental instability, as may be evidenced by his phrase, “you’re fucking high;” or is it the inherent dislike between the FBI and the CIA.
Each time Brody is injected, we see another portion of his time with Issa and their blossoming relationship. It’s easy to see the tight bond they come to forge. It’s also readily evident how and why they come to love each other deeply. So when the boy is killed by an American drone, sent in by the then Director of the CIA/now Vice President, Brody is as deeply affected as Nazir.
Carrie and Agent Galvez ask the Imam to help them find Walker
The scene where Brody searches the ground strewn with dead bodies repeatedly calling out “Issa?” is heart-wrenching and beautifully played by Lewis. You can almost feel how frantic he is to find Issa alive as he digs through the rubble to no avail. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Lewis has first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to lose one’s child.
Speaking of actors, I must give kudos to Chand for his portrayal of Issa. He’s a handsome young boy and knows how to command a scene, especially with those beautiful big brown eyes of his. He is absolutely adorable when he throws his arms around Lewis after his character proudly reads an entire book in English. I can imagine having a father like Nazir is difficult so when Brody pays attention to him, Issa soaks it up like a sponge and a beautiful relationship is borne.
The whole purpose of kidnapping Brody is to remind him of the promise he made to Nazir to avenge Issa’s death. It’s understandable why Brody would do such a thing. He spent five years in captivity and then is plucked from a cave and brought to a beautiful home where he is given the opportunity to take a bath, shave, eat good food and become friends with a child who represents, to him, the child he’s left behind, presumably never to see again. He is thankful for the three years of comfort and even comes to love Nazir, and is angry with his country for killing all those innocent children, particularly Issa. I must bring up one point though. If he’s clean-shaven with short hair in these flashbacks, why is he so dirty with overgrown hair and beard when he’s rescued in the series premiere of Homeland? Did he go back into the cave after Issa’s death? Just saying.
Has anyone given thought to the possibility of Elizabeth Gaines (Linda Purl) being part of the conspiracy? She’s the one who’s been courting Brody to run for office. I also find it very interesting that Brody receives a call from the Office of the Vice President at the end of the show.
Memorable line:
Agent Hall to Carrie: “You people have rubber hoses, don’t you?”
Nick and Jessica hug it out after he returns from being kidnapped
Was Nazir right when he said three years ago he could “never trust a man who wouldn’t turn on his country after eight years of torture?” If Brody wouldn’t turn against his country then, does Nazir really think he will now? Given the closeness Brody and Jessica are rekindling, as well as his good relationship with Dana and son Chris (Jackson Pace), one has to wonder.
Tune in to Homeland, Sundays at 10:00 pm ET/PT only on Showtime.
Follow Homeland on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SHO_Homeland.
“Like” Homeland on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/HomelandOnShowtime.
Check into the show’s official site: http://www.sho.com/site/homeland/home.sho.
All photos courtesy of Kent Smith / © 2011 Showtime. All Rights Reserved.
Linda
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2 comments
Author
Hi Anon,
Thanks for your response. On one hand, it’s obvious and on the other, perhaps it’s not. It’s obvious for all the reasons you point out. But, could it have been a mistake on the part of the showrunners of the show? If they didn’t think this sequence through, that could be the problem. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened.
And why the last response? I love when I get comments so please – keep ’em coming! Keeps me on my toes!
” If he’s clean-shaven with short hair in these flashbacks, why is he so dirty with overgrown hair and beard when he’s rescued in the series premiere of Homeland? Did he go back into the cave after Issa’s death?”
It’s obvious. The plan was for Brody to be rescued by the Americans. If they rescued a clean shaven man that was supposed to be captured/tortured for 8 years, they would be suspicious and know something’s wrong. Thus they throw Brody back into a whole and let his hair grow out to help sell the story. Once he was ready to be “rescued,” they leaked the information about his location. He was more than willing to do what it took to get revenge.
Last response, I know.