S07.E10: Clarity

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Carrie needs to choose a side; Keane needs an ally; Saul has an idea.

Promo:

Clip:

[Bannon]

Saul's idea: "Let's not guard critical witnesses, thought to be targets of the KGB, like Barney Fife protecting a box of donuts from overzealous noshers at a Mayberry Rotary gathering".

[SuprSuprElevated]

Carrie:  "I think I can be useful."  

Wasn't that last week's episode?  

[SuprSuprElevated]

At least the Frannie thing is handled.  Seemingly.

[JocelynCavanaugh]

BYE FRANNY!!!! ✌??

I don’t really like what’s happening to the President here. She’s got her issues but it shouldn’t be this easy to overthrow the CiC just because you don’t like her. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

At least the Frannie thing is handled.  Seemingly.

Wouldn't it by hysterical if she got over to Russia and seven days later told Saul she had to leave because it was her weekend to see Franny?

I kid! No, no that would not be hysterical AT ALL. 

Good riddance, Franny! The only useful Brody offspring are the ones never seen on camera. No exceptions to the rule. 

[Pike Ludwell]

The maneuverings that would go on behind the scenes to implement the process of the 25th Amendment is something i have always thought would be fascinating. So I am finding this episode entertaining. One wonders where Pence would come down in similar circumstances.

Edited April 16, 2018 by riverclown

[anonymiss]

I don't see why this inevitable conclusion couldn't have been reached the season she was conceived. Instead she was filler for when the writers felt it was easier to do Life at Home instead of Homeland.

[Spike]

Whenever they get things wrong it takes me out of the story.  Last season they kept talking about the Solicitor General.  He’s an appellate lawyer, he wouldn’t meet with people about offering immunity.   Recently Saul mentioned mandamus.  In addition to mispronouncing it, it applies to public officials and he was trying to have it issued against a private citizen. And this episode they were talking about Congress having to ratify the 25th amendment.  It wouldn’t be an amendment if it hadn’t been ratified.  

It was also interesting that when they were detailing the raid on Dante’s apartment during the custody hearing to demonstrate Carrie’s unfitness that no one mentioned that Mom had been screwing the mole on the couch at the time and he was dragged out naked.  But hey Franny sleeps through everything, right?

[SkyJockey]

Anyone else notice at 31;23 (Assuming time-code is the same which it probably is not) that the DC clip with the monument in the background has a good deal of snow on the ground but no other shot has snow in it? Its right when Carrie is looking for her file and realizes that it is at her sister's house.

[scrb]

1 hour ago, anonymiss said:

I don't see why this inevitable conclusion couldn't have been reached the season she was conceived. Instead she was filler for when the writers felt it was easier to do Life at Home instead of Homeland.

Yeah it seems they didn't have enough material to fill up episodes involving this whole Russian plot.

So they used episodes on O'Keefe, then that dumb hacker episode and then a few about this Franny custody thing.

[scrb]

Carrie is going to lead a crack team into Putin's Russia, to abduct their top agents?

Who does she think she is, a badass like Elizabeth Jennings?

Russia isn't that powerful any more but they have nukes and a leader who makes Genghis Khan look like a pussy.

US wouldn't do that and if they did, they certainly wouldn't publicize it but if the objective is to bring Simone back and make her testify that she was a Russian agent, then it wouldn't be much of a covert mission.

Just look at some of the biggest covert missions the US undertook.  It tried to rescue the hostages from Iran and failed because those helicopters failed in the desert.  But the one success was sneaking into Pakistan and taking out Bin Laden, and getting away, with helicopters.

Homeland is going to have us believe that 3 men and a woman are going into Russia and coming back out.

Preposterous.  Homeland took losses in previous seasons, like Javadi literally getting away with murder or in the Afghanistan season was it, the Pakistanis got away with some stuff and in the end, Saul and Carrie couldn't pay them back.

And they're doing this to save Keane, who's coming across as paranoid, rigid and probably going out of her way to show how tough she is as a woman occupying the WH.

[ruby24]

I remember when Carrie had a whole conversation with her dad and sister when she was pregnant about how she couldn't keep the baby and was going to give her up for adoption, because she was unfit to be a mom, etc. And BOTH of them talked her out of it, insisted she had to have the baby. Now Maggie sees the light, after all this time? 

I'm not sure why this conclusion wasn't reached ages ago. If the actor who played her father was still alive, I do wonder how they could have incorporated his role on the show now- probably he'd be living with Carrie and Frannie and it'd be easier for Carrie to just take off and leave her with him. I think he even said that he wanted to raise her himself at one point.

[Quark]

Superb episode, Claire Danes was phenomenal.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved the conversation between Carrie and Saul at the hospital. Even though Saul was also there to discuss using Carrie's team, it was clear that he loves her and was worried about her. When they aren't butting heads and second guessing each other, they have such a nice relationship. I was so proud of Carrie for not even hesitating to say no to helping out with the mission.

Of course, that was quickly canceled out when she sent Anson to steal her medical records from Maggie's office, knowing that what Maggie did (prescribing medication to Carrie under an alias) was only to help Carrie handle her condition without the agency knowing about it. Maggie was doing everything she could to help her and Carrie was willing to let Maggie lose her medical license over it. The fact that she was letting to let Anson break into Maggie's office and then Maggie's house and that she even considered destroying her career shows how desperate she was.

Carrie voluntarily ending the hearing by giving custody to her sister was the most mature thing she's done. See ya, Franny!

Cindy from OITNB was awesome as Carrie's lawyer, Rhonda.

[Empress1]

5 hours ago, ruby24 said:

I remember when Carrie had a whole conversation with her dad and sister when she was pregnant about how she couldn't keep the baby and was going to give her up for adoption, because she was unfit to be a mom, etc. And BOTH of them talked her out of it, insisted she had to have the baby. Now Maggie sees the light, after all this time? 

I'm not sure why this conclusion wasn't reached ages ago. If the actor who played her father was still alive, I do wonder how they could have incorporated his role on the show now- probably he'd be living with Carrie and Frannie and it'd be easier for Carrie to just take off and leave her with him. I think he even said that he wanted to raise her himself at one point.

Carrie's pregnancy and parenthood never should have been a storyline in the first place. I'm not sure of the timing, if Claire Danes' real-life pregnancy was written into the show; if so, they should have just stuck her behind furniture and shot her from the waist up and kept it moving. I think I read that Claire Danes said she wanted Carrie to become a mother but admitted that it might have been her own motherhood experience influencing her. They should never have let her "win" that storyline; it makes no sense. Carrie is a sole parent with a life-threatening job with insane hours that takes her overseas for long stretches of time. She loves her job and would never give it up. On top of that, she has bipolar disorder that she sometimes intentionally does not manage. Of course she shouldn't have a kid. Not everyone is meant to be a parent. 

[Bannon]

Good grief, if recovery from a bipolar psychotic episode is this easy (some electroshock treatments, and medication adjustment has the patient going from nonfunctioning to leading a covert mission in Russia, within a couple days), Carrie should always keep some jumper cables and a fully charged car battery on hand at all times!

Edited April 16, 2018 by Bannon

[preeya]

13 minutes ago, Bannon said:

Good grief, if recovery from a bipolar psychotic episode is this easy (some electroshock treatments, and medication adjustment has the patient going from nonfunctioning to leading covert mission in Russia, within a couple days), Carrie should always keep some jumper cables and a fully charged car battery on hand at all times!

ECT is usually given up to three times a week for a total of two to four weeks.  I'm guessing she'll be receiving the remaining treatments at some clinic in Russia.

The idiocy of television.

[TVbitch]

On the bright side, Carrie now has another dead dude for her next breakdown montage. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Nice to see Adrienne C. Moore outside of Orange is the New Black.

Not cool of Saul to ask Carrie to work while she was still recuperating and fighting to keep her daughter. Did he think she needed a distraction?

Wellington still seems shady to me and like he's manipulating Keane. But on whose behalf?

Keane does seem kind of unhinged. She hasn't proven able to withstand major stress and tends to overreact.

Wow, they effectively boxed Keane in. It's odd how she has had no one she could truly rely on. Saul and Carrie are really more about protecting the democracy than Keane in particular,  and it's still unclear (to me, anyway) what Wellington is up to.

Phew, Carrie's now completely free to save the world now and Frannie's better off. At least until the Russians kidnap Frannie or something equally unnecessary and melodramatic.

[Bannon]

31 minutes ago, preeya said:

ECT is usually given up to three times a week for a total of two to four weeks.  I'm guessing she'll be receiving the remaining treatments at some clinic in Russia.

The idiocy of television.

If the writers are going to be this ridiculously lazy, with regard to mental illness, the audience would have been better served if it had never been part of Carrie's character at all. Frankly, I've never been a fan about how this show has treated this element, and this twist was as bad as these writers have produced with it. Good grief, she was out of the hospital in time to get to Dante's burial. Really, really, dumb writing. Like I wrote a few days ago, I mostly hate watch this show now.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Bannon

[Bannon]

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

Carrie's pregnancy and parenthood never should have been a storyline in the first place. I'm not sure of the timing, if Claire Danes' real-life pregnancy was written into the show; if so, they should have just stuck her behind furniture and shot her from the waist up and kept it moving. I think I read that Claire Danes said she wanted Carrie to become a mother but admitted that it might have been her own motherhood experience influencing her. They should never have let her "win" that storyline; it makes no sense. Carrie is a sole parent with a life-threatening job with insane hours that takes her overseas for long stretches of time. She loves her job and would never give it up. On top of that, she has bipolar disorder that she sometimes intentionally does not manage. Of course she shouldn't have a kid. Not everyone is meant to be a parent. 

It may have been managed ok if they had given Carrie enough common sense to have her sister adopt the baby at birth, and, if written well, could have added some interesting character background for Carrie. Of course, I'm of the opinion that the writing would have been better if Carrie and Brody had never become lovers, but even if they decided to go in that direction, it didn't have to be as badly executed as it has been.

[SuprSuprElevated]

10 hours ago, scrb said:

Yeah it seems they didn't have enough material to fill up episodes involving this whole Russian plot.

How fitting, lol.

7 hours ago, scrb said:

And they're doing this to save Keane, who's coming across as paranoid, rigid and probably going out of her way to show how tough she is as a woman occupying the WH.

I actually have an almost visceral dislike for Keane.  I can't imagine, even for the sake of "art", what the hell this character is even about.  She's been given nothing to work with imo.  I'll repeat that she just resembles a school marm at a gulag.  With bad skin.

Edited April 16, 2018 by SuprSuprElevated

[SuprSuprElevated]

1 hour ago, Bannon said:

Good grief, if recovery from a bipolar psychotic episode is this easy (some electroshock treatments, and medication adjustment has the patient going from nonfunctioning to leading a covert mission in Russia, within a couple days), Carrie should always keep some jumper cables and a fully charged car battery on hand at all times!

Exactly!  I was jumping up and down with the idiocy of that.  One day - ECT, next day - all better, released from psych hosp., and on to court.  Ridiculous.

[Bannon]

17 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

How fitting, lol.

I actually have an almost visceral dislike for Keane.  I can't imagine, even for the sake of "art", what the hell this character is even about.  She's been given nothing to work with imo.  I'll repeat that she just resembles a school marm at a gulag.  With bad skin.

I kind of appreciate that she is pretty unlikeable, because I suspect the sort of person who is driven to become President tends to be, up close, an unlikeable person. What I don't appreciate is that she isn't especially good at being manipulative, because I also think that people who are driven to become President are really good at manipulating the people that surround them.

[slowpoked]

10 hours ago, scrb said:

So they used episodes on O'Keefe, then that dumb hacker episode and then a few about this Franny custody thing.

Yeah, that's what bothered me this season. The domestic cyber-terrorism is a very interesting premise, but what was the point of all those? Franny, I get, because well, she's Carrie's daughter. But what was the point of O'Keefe and that hacker dude?! To prove there are some crazy wing nuts out there?! So pointless. I wish they hashed out Dante Allen and his connection to the Russian operation more instead of spending four episodes on O'Keefe and his bad accent. That trio of Dante, Yevgeny and Simone was key to this season's villain, and yet it took the 4th or 5th episode to get to that point.

Keane becoming unhinged sort of reminds me of what is actually going on right now in our real WH administration. And they say women are too emotional to lead. 

I think Wellington is truly on Keane's side. He makes a good point about the end game of Russia with Keane playing right into the constitutional crisis trap they set for her. But she's so far off in the deep end already to see it. IT will be interesting to see if she does indeed survive the presidency. 

[Bannon]

25 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

Yeah, that's what bothered me this season. The domestic cyber-terrorism is a very interesting premise, but what was the point of all those? Franny, I get, because well, she's Carrie's daughter. But what was the point of O'Keefe and that hacker dude?! To prove there are some crazy wing nuts out there?! So pointless. I wish they hashed out Dante Allen and his connection to the Russian operation more instead of spending four episodes on O'Keefe and his bad accent. That trio of Dante, Yevgeny and Simone was key to this season's villain, and yet it took the 4th or 5th episode to get to that point.

Keane becoming unhinged sort of reminds me of what is actually going on right now in our real WH administration. And they say women are too emotional to lead. 

I think Wellington is truly on Keane's side. He makes a good point about the end game of Russia with Keane playing right into the constitutional crisis trap they set for her. But she's so far off in the deep end already to see it. IT will be interesting to see if she does indeed survive the presidency. 

Hey, I was just surprised these lazy writers didn't have a copy of Carrie's cyber striptease surface again, in the midst of the child custody hearing.

If they have eliminated Carrie's parenting duties as a major plot element, and have no more Carrie psychotic episodes, maybe they can have decent season 8 to finish the show. This season has been at least 50% wasted.

[Pallas]

12 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

I think Wellington is truly on Keane's side. He makes a good point about the end game of Russia with Keane playing right into the constitutional crisis trap they set for her. But she's so far off in the deep end already to see it. IT will be interesting to see if she does indeed survive the presidency. 

For a moment there it seemed to me that the show was threatening to have both Keane and Carrie Do the Wrong Thing, in a big and irremediable way, in their moments of crisis. That felt too much to be borne, and I'm especially glad that Carrie saw the light in the courtroom.

Maggie's speech was very well-composed and delivered. It was brilliant of her to include her own take on growing up in the Matheson household, reminding Carrie of things she had to have sensed about how she, Carrie, had been prized by their father and how that felt to Maggie, the elder sister. The normal one, of the three people left behind in the household by her and Carrie's mother, worn out from the glare of two bright white lights like her husband and younger child.

Keane. I do think she had a point in not yielding to the Veep, when he dealt her explicit terms for his support. She'd have been beholden to him for the next three years and nine months of her term. Better, perhaps, for her to bet on the red ball of Team Carriesaul and their mission to Russia. After all, she may be the President but she's in their show.  

[preeya]

59 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

Keane becoming unhinged sort of reminds me of what is actually going on right now in our real WH administration. And they say women are too emotional to lead.

Had the 2016 election gone the other way, this was meant to be a mirror image of what the real-life WH would be.

[SuprSuprElevated]

1 hour ago, slowpoked said:

Keane becoming unhinged sort of reminds me of what is actually going on right now in our real WH administration. And they say women are too emotional to lead. 

Or what could have happened.

[slowpoked]

33 minutes ago, preeya said:

Had the 2016 election gone the other way, this was meant to be a mirror image of what the real-life WH would be.

 

19 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Or what could have happened.

Homeland then hit the jackpot regardless of who won. Except the gender part. 

[Pike Ludwell]

2 hours ago, Pallas said:

Keane. I do think she had a point in not yielding to the Veep, when he dealt her explicit terms for his support. She'd have been beholden to him for the next three years and nine months of her term. Better, perhaps, for her to bet on the red ball of Team Carriesaul and their mission to Russia. After all, she may be the President but she's in their show.  

I agree. And, IMO, He seems the type to have some deep, underlying sleaziness and I would not trust him either and would not want to be beholden to him. He had been close to bolting after input from the last person he spoke to, so he could again, after the next person he speaks to. And the fact that he was trying to extort concessions from her is sort of a foreshadowing  ... that sort of stuff could have continued. I do wonder why the delay in firing them - not to take effect till late that afternoon. In the meantime why couldn't they act fast and do the 25th amendment thing before the firings took took effect? And I do not believe the mass firing would be unconstitutional. That is BS -- if a prez has a number of cabinet members acting disloyal based on ignorant misinterpretation of events .... fire their A....s !!! asap!

Edited April 16, 2018 by riverclown

[Bannon]

I do love that the writers engaged in self criticism, with the Senator practically shouting, "Every witness we have under protection by the Executive Branch keeps getting kidnapped or murdered! How ridiculously stupid is that?!!!!!!".

[Jextella]

I binged watched the entire series recently.  My major objection with this show is that it is non-committal.    None of the characters are developed deeply enough for me to care before they move on to the next thing.  Dante is a great example.  He's a character who could have been super interesting and long-term but his storyline came and went so fast that he/it felt like filler.

Same goes with the story lines.  It's like there is a new threat and shifting direction ever 3-5 episodes.   It's like a whack-a-mole game and it's disconcerting.  I would much rather have the writers develop an actual story and dig deeper rather than creating something new all the time.

[slowpoked]

55 minutes ago, Jextella said:

I binged watched the entire series recently.  My major objection with this show is that it is non-committal.    None of the characters are developed deeply enough for me to care before they move on to the next thing.  Dante is a great example.  He's a character who could have been super interesting and long-term but his storyline came and went so fast that he/it felt like filler.

Same goes with the story lines.  It's like there is a new threat and shifting direction ever 3-5 episodes.   It's like a whack-a-mole game and it's disconcerting.  I would much rather have the writers develop an actual story and dig deeper rather than creating something new all the time.

Brody was supposed to die in Season 1. The writers and producers were pleasantly surprised with the audience's and critics' reaction to him that they extended his storyline to three seasons. I wonder what turns this show would have taken had they stuck to the original plan. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by slowpoked

[lovinbob]

8 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Cindy from OITNB was awesome as Carrie's lawyer, Rhonda.

She was almost unrecognizable. Shows how much range Adrienne C. Moore has!

Speaking of which, Catherine Curtain is also refreshing in this role. On OITNB, she is such a shrill pill. I love her character here. 

[Lathund]

As badly as Carries bipolar disorder has been portrayed at times, I have to say I'm still happy to see ECT portrayed in a positive light, which doesn't seem to happen too often  on television. And while the time frame of the treament and the recovery makes very little sense, the actual ECT session itself was fairly realistic. 

[Bannon]

28 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

Brody was supposed to die in Season 1. The writers and producers were pleasantly surprised with the audience's reaction to him that they extended his storyline to three seasons. I wonder what turns this show would have taken had they stuck to the original plan. 

Man, all that idiocy with regard to Brody's daughter could have been skipped, and maybe the awful, awful, story arc that culminated in the bombing at the CIA. I almost quit after all that stupidity, but was glad to see the seasons in Afghanistan and Germany. Not too pleased with last season or this one. This has been a very, very, uneven show.

[lovinbob]

Does anyone suspect Bill of anything? The character was invisible for six seasons, and then they cast a "name" actor (not A-list, but pretty well known) and he's in almost every episode. Plus when Dante's ex turned out to work for Treasury, as Bill does, it piqued my interest. 

Also, what happened to Carrie's other niece? 

[Spike]

Yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill turns out to be a mole.  But they may save that for next season.

[Lucky7]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

Yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill turns out to be a mole.  But they may save that for next season.

I was wondering about that, too.  "St. Bill" seems a little to smooth.

[lovinbob]

That would make me really said. Maggie isn't the most lovable character all the time, but she sure has more than her share to deal with.

[Spike]

Maybe we need to say Wake Up Maggie.

[WaltersHair]

I was actually bored with this episode. It screamed filler. Will have to give a relook to do it justice.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

Maybe we need to say Wake Up Maggie.

and she just MAY.

[AttackTurtle]

By this point in the season, I expect things to start getting fun & crazy....so yeah a custody hearing was kind of a let down.  

[Bannon]

2 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

I was actually bored with this episode. It screamed filler. Will have to give a relook to do it justice.

It was filler. They had to dump the kid, and get the electrodes hooked up to Carrie's brain, to get the espionage story ready to go again. Mission Accomplished? Hey, if it means the rest of this season, and next season is good, it is worth it. I am not optimistic, however, as to how grabbing Simone inside Russia is going to be credibly portrayed. We will see.

[Son of Saul]

That is probably the worst episode I have seen. It went nowhere.

Most of it was either some LA Law garbage over her kid (including an obligatorycourt scene) or House of Cards political movements.

We don’t even get to see the traitor get killed. All that happens is they mention it. And then they mention it again in case it was missed it the first time  

The only good thing I can say is that next week (finally, for the second last episode of the season) we get back to what the show does well - spies and guns. I am really looking forward to it  

I can only hope Carrie is killed in the last show and next season it centres on Saul. In fact, I can say honestly that if it Saul wasn’t there I wouldn’t watch the show. Hell, I even went and sat through Mandy Patinkin singing opera because of the character.

6 hours ago, Jextella said:

I binged watched the entire series recently.  My major objection with this show is that it is non-committal.    None of the characters are developed deeply enough for me to care before they move on to the next thing.  Dante is a great example.  He's a character who could have been super interesting and long-term but his storyline came and went so fast that he/it felt like filler.

Same goes with the story lines.  It's like there is a new threat and shifting direction ever 3-5 episodes.   It's like a whack-a-mole game and it's disconcerting.  I would much rather have the writers develop an actual story and dig deeper rather than creating something new all the time.

100%

[lostmydamnmind]

On 4/16/2018 at 11:25 AM, slowpoked said:

Yeah, that's what bothered me this season. The domestic cyber-terrorism is a very interesting premise, but what was the point of all those? Franny, I get, because well, she's Carrie's daughter. But what was the point of O'Keefe and that hacker dude?! To prove there are some crazy wing nuts out there?! So pointless. I wish they hashed out Dante Allen and his connection to the Russian operation more instead of spending four episodes on O'Keefe and his bad accent. That trio of Dante, Yevgeny and Simone was key to this season's villain, and yet it took the 4th or 5th episode to get to that point.

Keane becoming unhinged sort of reminds me of what is actually going on right now in our real WH administration. And they say women are too emotional to lead. 

I think Wellington is truly on Keane's side. He makes a good point about the end game of Russia with Keane playing right into the constitutional crisis trap they set for her. But she's so far off in the deep end already to see it. IT will be interesting to see if she does indeed survive the presidency. 

I assumed the point of all that was to make the connection as to the people the Russians are manipulating through social media, though the storyline was way more drawn out than it should have been. It's like the season has been cut in half between Keefe and notOleg.

[nyyfangirl]

Is there any chance that Keane is actually colluding with the Russians?  And that she ordered McClendon's death?  Would be an interesting twist if she was really pulling the strings (without Wellington's knowledge)...