Tortured soul Nicholas Brody was finally put of his misery on Sunday night’s season finale of “Homeland.”
And, for the first time this season, the show’s fans — whose loyalty has been tested by silly plot contrivances and several “jump the shark” moments — had reason to celebrate “Homeland’s” return to the land of authenticity.
After fulfilling his “redemption” mission of assassinating Akbari, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard — thereby elevating CIA “asset” Majid Javadi into power — Brody (Damian Lewis) was sacrificed by his US handlers in Langley and publicly hung for his crime – ending the saga of this ex-Marine turned terrorist turned ambiguous anti-hero.
And, this time, not even weepy, bi-polar CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) could help her lover, the man whose baby daughter she’s carrying (see “jump the shark” moments above).
Thank goodness for small favors, and for original “Homeland” showrunner Meredith Stiehm, who was brought back late this season after the show went off the rails to help save its dignity (she co-wrote Sunday night’s season finale).
Sunday night’s episode moved along at a frenetic clip, leaving no stone unturned in tying up most of the loose ends left dangling since October’s season premiere.
Yes, Carrie finally told Brody about their incubating baby — “I’m pregnant. I’m four months pregnant from our time at the lake” — and seemed shocked when he accepted the news with grace while they hunkered down in a desert “safe house” that proved anything but.
Brody, for his part, questioned just what he was doing on God’s good earth — after all the torture, all the duplicity, all the physical and emotional agony he’d been through since the show’s very first episode when he returned to the US after eight years as a captive in Iran intending to wreak terroristic havoc.
“I’m not Marine. I haven’t been for some time,” he told Carrie, seemingly relieved when he was captured by Javadi’s men and sentenced to hang.
Naturally, since this is “Homeland,” fans were treated to several full-on Carrie lip-quivering crying jags — and, with a flash-forward four months after Brody’s death — her questioning her pregnancy (little late in the game for that, don’t ya think?).
With Saul (Mandy Patinkin) out at the CIA, and Carrie eight months pregnant — all while accepting a posting as station chief in Istanbul — who knows what “Homeland” has in store for us in Season 4?
But at least we’ll be back.