Big Man in Tehran - HE

Homeland episode 3-11 "Big Man in Tehran"
Aired Sunday December 8, 2013

Written by Gansa and Gordon

Directed by Daniel Minahan.  Of Game of Thrones "A Golden Crown" which is when I realized it was a different kind of show

Brody, a man we know to be of dubious loyalty, is hailed as a hero and determined by governmental high ups to be a piece in their grand plans.  Unbeknown to said government officials, Brody has been put through the rigmarole by the other side and given a secret mission to complete once he is close enough to the government officials trying to exploit him for their personal and national interests.  The mission culminates when Brody, alone with the target, watches the light go out of his eyes.

Essentially, the second go-round of Brody as CIA agent is the exact process and mission that terrorist and frequent Skyper Abu Nazir put him through.  Second verse, same as the first.

You could even argue this plot has been done 2 1/2 to three times counting the events of "Q&A" through the capture of Nazir.

We continue playing out Saul's master plan, laid out several episodes ago.  While there are several hiccups along the way, the result is ultimately the original stated goal.  Still holding off judgement until we see the end result next week, but why would the show take such care to set us up for 3 and 99/100s episodes, with the big reveal at the end of episode four, while at the end of the season lay out the plan ahead of time and simply watch it play out.

In contrast, think about The Wire Season Four.  They don't tell us that Namond is going to wind up fostering with Bunny.  In fact, Colvin doesn't appear until episode three, when he's working as hotel security.  His first change in jobs doesn't put him in contact with Namon either.  He goes from the hotel to the UMD study.  Initially study focuses on 18 year olds, but changes to 14 year olds which is Namon's age (and telling us a story about juveniles in the meantime).  It's a lot more reward to have it slowly connect and revealed to us like a puzzle than to have the ingredient and result told to us in advance, like reading a recipe before baking a cake.

The first four episodes were expertly done.  Like one of those pictures where you see an old or young lady depending on if your eye goes to the white or dark space, the first four can be viewed differently depending on if it's the first or second viewing.  Maybe this is one of those times where television is particularly unsuited to episode by episode write ups.  I hope so.

• Bite it hard, Carrie!
• Carrie tries to wreck another mission.  Keep at it, you idiot.  
• We have Mira's paramour in play still.  Did not check back in with him after Saul touched base.  Doop be do.