‘Homeland’ Ends Its Run With a Visceral Thriller of a Climax 

Alci Rengifo

Some spies pack up while others stay in the field for the series finale of “Homeland.” One of the defining thrillers of the post-9/11 TV world ends on a fittingly visceral note. Political fiction can only be as good as what it imagines and this one always felt real enough to chase the headlines. Even as by its eighth season it was resorting to that time honored plot twist in many a spy yarn, the threat of nuclear war, “Homeland” was produced with a sharp sense of detail in its storytelling. There was no way this show could close poorly. In fact the series finale caps a season that felt like a return to the kind of intensity and intrigue that made its early runs so memorable.

When last we left agent gone rogue Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), the U.S. and Pakistan were on the brink of nuclear war following a helicopter crash that managed to snuff out the presidents of Afghanistan and the United States, presumably due to a Taliban missile.  When the U.S. tried to take out terrorist leader Jalal Haqqani with false info from the Pakistanis, it sparked the current standoff. Carrie faces bogus charges of being implicated in the attack and is rushing to fulfill a deal with Russian agent Yevgeny Gromov (Costa Ronin). The Russians will hand over the black box proving the crash was an accident caused by mechanical failure if she kills old CIA mentor Saul (Mandy Patinkin). Yet even as Carrie is given the toxins to take out her old acquaintance, she figures out another possible trade. Maybe Saul will give up the identity of the only true and best Russian asset the CIA has in Moscow. We already know the operative is interpreter Anna Pomerantseva (Tatyana Mukha), who was revealed a few episodes ago, but only Saul can divulge that to Carrie. Saul is himself trying to find a diplomatic path but the new president is surrounded by hawks like John Zabel (Hugh Dancy) who wouldn’t mind doing an Iraq War sequel in the same neighborhood. Carrie must now confront Saul and make some harsh, possibly deadly choices to get the information she needs to avoid Armageddon.

It’s become common coin to observe how “Homeland” started feeling more and more taken from some whole other era. No one knows what the “War on Terror” really means anymore. When aerial vehicles are accidentally shot down these days it’s in some surreal near-war like what happened between the U.S. and Iran earlier this year, and now a pandemic has come out of nowhere to rearrange global norms. During these last two seasons the show’s main grab at relevancy was in tapping into current, renewed U.S. suspicions regarding Russia. Carrie has gone from suspecting the president was a Russian stooge to being captured and tortured in Vladimir Putin’s turf. For season eight Carrie returned to the tumultuous Middle East, but Moscow always hovered like a big specter. The series finale, “Prisoners of War,” weaves everything together into a major thriller climax that rarely slows down. 

Showrunners Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon and their team deliver a crackling hour where it’s never clear just how far anyone will go. Is Carrie truly willing to kill Saul? She paralyzes him with some Russian-made chemical and demands the name of the Russian asset, but Saul is devoted to the cause and only manages to mumble a “go fuck yourself,” even as some Russian agent holds a needle to his toe. Earlier in the episode the U.S. threatens Pakistan with annihilation if it doesn’t stand down its own atomic arsenal, which makes one wonder if “Homeland” will end under a mushroom cloud. Ironically enough, this episode airs just as the U.S. has finalized a supposed deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan. It’s never easy for a political seasonal to keep up. 

But this is enjoyable fiction and “Prisoners of War” keeps the suspense going with sheer battles of will. When Carrie fails to get the name from Saul she flies to the West Bank to meet with Saul’s sister Dorit (Jacqueline Antaramian) and claim he’s passed away. It turns out Dorit has “the fallback,” meaning a message Saul prepared years ago to handover his asset in case he died. Information in hand about Anna, Carrie is ready to make the trade with Yevgeny. In-between these moments the episode does give adequate space to other, more personal dimensions. Before their showdown, Saul wonders why Carrie wouldn’t visit her own daughter, who is a ghost at this point, and in the West Bank Dorit recounts a melancholic memory of Saul disappearing for years at a time while doing his work for the CIA. 

“Homeland” doesn’t necessarily end on the same evocative note as another similar show, “The Americans,” but it nonetheless allows its spies to be more human than mere action cogs. Although Carrie began long ago as a character unique in that she was a CIA agent dealing with bipolar disorder, she’s now more of a symbol. In an increasingly uncertain world, “Homeland” still tries to hold on to the idea that we’re the good guys navigating the swampy waters of world affairs. Saul laments that Russia is attempting to corrode American democracy, and later Carrie will look at Yevgeny and wonder if Russian operatives are all so cold and detached, because the American ones are at least willing to shed tears. Claire Danes pulls off these moments with some of her best acting in years in the show, conveying a grinding stress within her.

The last 30 minutes of “Prisoners of War” are quite riveting. Now compromised by Carrie handing over her information, asset Anna will be trapped within a room at the UN as Russian intelligence comes after her. She faces a choice of suicide or surrender while Carrie must decide if she’s willing to leave it all behind and keep working with Gromov. In a scene that feels nearly combustible, Saul is forced to hear over the phone as Anna decides to sacrifice herself. Then, two years later we catch up with Carrie, now living in Moscow. She attends a jazz concert featuring Kamasi Washington in a welcome, classy cameo, with Yevgeny. The occasion? Carrie has finished her memoirs. This leads to an ending that has an elegant resonance. Saul, now moving out of his old house, receives the book in the mail and within it the old spymaster finds a message from Carrie. She hasn’t abandoned the cause and has vital information on Iranian-Russian missile systems. 

“Homeland” will continue to define the spy thriller in the peak TV era for some time to come. It accomplished something unique in being both a taught thriller and an entertainment snapshot of global conflict in this era. Claire Danes also delivered one of the decade’s great female leads in this genre, giving Carrie a depth and authenticity that could have easily been lost if the character had become just another action tool. But it’s fitting that Gansa and Gordon keep Carrie in the field, because “Homeland” knows all too well that the world keeps going.

The “Homeland” series finale aired April 26 at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.