S04.E10: 13 Hours In Islamabad

[Roseanna]

On ‎8‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 5:35 AM, Artsda said:

The head of the CIA caved to terrorists and handed over intel? What? Was he not taught "We don't negotiate with terrorists”?

 

 

On ‎8‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 6:04 AM, LilaFowler said:

One of the dumbest things ever.  You don't have to be psychic to know that they were going to kill everyone. 

 

On ‎8‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 6:17 AM, eyetotelescope said:

Aside from Quinn, though, the CIA as depicted on this show has got to be the worst intelligence agency in the entire world.  Lockhart was ridiculously stupid this week (what, he thought Haqqani would say "OK, thanks, have a good day, we'll leave through the front door now"?!) a

 

On ‎8‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 1:18 PM, myname2use4now said:

I think my CIA 101 handbook says that if you hand over intel to the enemy, make sure it's false. I would have loved it if we were to see Haqqani reading the list of assets and realizing all the names on it are guys in his camp.

 

On ‎9‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 9:28 PM, CozyKat said:

Even aside from the fact that Fara was a pretty woman, which unfortunately was probably part of it, the way Haqqani dragged her right up to the camera and appeared ready to perform a sloppy beheading with that knife made her different from the first two shockingly fast executions, in which he proved beyond a doubt that he wasn't messing around. It was a definite escalation, and I could see why that would be the breaking point for any old guy with a desk job. I was so afraid Haqqani was going to take out all the occupants of the safe room after that door swung wide that Fara's particular death still shocked me, though, even though I knew intellectually why she was the last one Haqqani would spare.

 

On ‎8‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 10:00 PM, shelley1234 said:

While I thought it was all kinds of idiotic for Lockhart to open the door, it was an interesting piece of character development.  Lockhart has been openly critical (often with good cause) of Carrie and her inability to follow order/chain of command and to just all around make the right choice when she is out in the field.  Since Lockhart is someone who spends his days sitting behind a desk, I think he got a rude awakening that actually walking the walk is much harder than just talking the talk.  I also liked seeing Lockhart so affected by the idea of losing someone he considered a colleague and maybe even a friend.  It really made him so much more human....much more stupid, but also human. 

 

On ‎9‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 11:28 AM, Cosmocrush said:

Maybe I'm projecting but I like to think it was intentional to make that exact point.   He seemed stunned by the Haqqani actually killing Americans and I loved Martha telling him, "This is a war." in a  way that told me that this was probably the first time he really understood what happens to people during war.

- - -

Unlike Lockart, I think Martha has long understood what it's like to be in the field, fighting the good fight.     I've always thought that people who work in the state department are all in.  It's more than just a career.  I don't think she gave him the belt to save her career but maybe saw this as a good way to really be rid of him.  And who knows, it might have helped her save something of her career/legacy -  as Dennis reminded her about the CIA, "these are the people that can rewrite yesterday's weather."  And they do it all the time. 

I also think that Lockhardt was wrong to open the door and give Haqqani the list of the local agents. Why would anyone serve Americans after that betrayal?

Probably the writers wanted to show that as a politician, Lockhard couldn't endure the real situation where he had to chose between losing some Americans or making harm to American interests. 

Of course, also Carrie who could order drone attack couldn't allow Saul kill himself but he was her friend. 

Edited July 1, 2018 by Roseanna
added a letter

[Roseanna]

On ‎8‎.‎12‎.‎2014 at 3:05 PM, stillshimpy said:

By the way, I think what the show was attempting to do with Max's telling Carrie she should have told Fara she was doing well, was to ultimately shift blame onto Carrie for Fara being too rattled and hurt to do a decent job at the safe house cleanup.  It didn't work for me.  Some times the show seems to not trust that I'd pick up on something subtle, so they spell it out a tad too cartoonishly.  Like the super obvious break-in and Dennis lurking so nearby that she practically should have heard him breathing.  Or that there are still photographs scattered on the floor (again, stuff there was just no excuse for Fara not to pick up on) to make sure that I'd get "Dennis took the photographs! Oh no!"  

Max and Carrie didn't see what the audience saw when Fara cleaned in the safe house and thus they don't know that Fara did a mistake. 

It's clear that the writers let Fara not to notice the matter that all normal person would have regarded as suspicious, to make the audience understand how Haqqani would learn about Aayan's betrayal.

But the truth is that there was a possibility that Fara would have done some other mistake as she had no training for such a job.

Thus, ultimately it was Carrie's mistake. She was angry to Fara who reprimanded her about Aayan, so she sent Fara to clean the safe house as a punishment, not Max or somebody else who knew the job. 

[Norma Desmond]

This is one of my favorite episodes. Season 4 was, to me, the best season, on par with 1 and 2.