Homeland Series Finale: Stay Tuned!

Homeland has always been about ‘the cost of doing business’. How far are you willing to go to your country? How much are you willing to give up? This American spy thriller series, developed by Howard Gordon and Alexa Gansa delivered a fitting finale on April 26, 2020.

Season 8 Episode 12:Prisoners Of War

This episode opened with footage of Nicholas Brody, going back a full circle, right to where the show began. It all just seemed very bittersweet. It seemed like the writers were having fun with a bit of wordplay by naming the episode after the Israeli series Homeland is based on!

The series has come a long way from where it began with Carrie believing that Brody poses a threat to the United States. The series focuses on a storyline that evolved from this premise. Homeland has always been about making sacrifices. The idea is always to put your country first and it is okay to kill one to save millions. Carrie has always been about making sacrifices for her country and she has gone to the extent of giving up her daughter!

Carrie struck a deal with Yevgeny that she would give him the name and identity of Saul’s Russian asset in return for the flight recording that would prevent war between the U.S and Pakistan. She then reveals this deal to Saul and begs him for the name of his Russian spy but he refuses as the United States’ intelligence in Russia is too critical and it would be eliminated. Carrie then gives him a dose of a paralytic agent and her two GRU operatives are ready with a lethal injection to kill Saul. She once again begs him for the identity but he calls her close and says, “go fuck yourself”. This will be the last ever face to face conversation between Carrie and Saul. She then gives up the bluff, leaves him under the observation of the operatives, and then flies to Israel.

In Israel, she meets Saul’s sister Dorit and tells her that Saul has died of a stroke and that Saul left an asset to be passed on to her after his death. This is her plan B to get the identity of the Russian spy. Dorit marvels at the similarity between Saul and Carrie, at how they always have an ulterior motive and are only about business. She then hands over an envelope to Carrie and leaves for Saul’s service. Carrie finds a pen drive with the asset’s identity. She shows the video to Yevgeny and as a part of the deal, they release the flight recording but Saul somehow manages to warn Anna Pomerantseva(who is the asset) who is at the U.N summit and she kills herself before being captured by the Russians.

Two years later, Carrie and Yevgeny are in Moscow, rejoicing the completion of her new book: Tyranny Of Secrets: Why I Had To Betray My Own Country which she dedicates to her daughter, in the hope that she might understand someday. Saul then receives a package containing an advance copy of Carrie’s book and he looks into the book to find a note which ends with “Specs to follow. Stay tuned.”

The series finale was very traumatic and bittersweet but it ended at the perfect time. But many viewers feel that Carrie and Saul deserved a better last conversation, deserved a better ending. What are your thoughts on this?