| Q&A | ||||
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| Written by: | Henry Bromell | |||
| Directed by: | Lesli Linka Glatter | |||
| Production number: | 2WAH05 | |||
| Running time: | 56 minutes | |||
| Original airdate: | October 28, 2012 | |||
| Viewers (millions): | 2.07 | |||
Q&A is the fiifth episode of Season 2 of Homeland. It aired on October 28, 2012.
Synopsis[]
Dana Brody and Finn Walden (Timothée Chalamet) cause a car accident and commit a hit-and-run. Meanwhile, Jessica Brody wonders about the whereabouts of her husband. After his arrest, he sits in an interrogation room and is questioned by Peter Quinn. After he hits a brick wall with Nicholas Brody, Carrie Mathison takes over the interrogation.
Episode guide[]
Brody sits alone at a table in a dark interrogation room with his hands and feet tied. Meanwhile, Carrie paces nervously in an adjacent room, waiting for David Estes. After his arrival, he asks Saul and Quinn to explain how the operation, originally planned as a surveillance operation, could have gone so wrong. Quinn explains that Carrie decided on her own to give up her cover. However, Saul defends her and tells Estes that Brody drove her to do it. To make the best of the situation, they decide to interrogate Brody to find out what useful information he might have about Abu Nazir. Estes gives Quinn and Saul 24 hours to do so - after that, it would be increasingly likely that Brody's disappearance would be noticed and arouse suspicion. He puts Quinn in charge of the interrogation and asks Carrie to stay in the background.
The interrogation initially goes according to plan. Quinn explains to Brody why he was taken into custody. Brody calmly denies all accusations and demands that he be given a lawyer, which Quinn refuses. Brody loses his composure and is then systematically pressured by Quinn with questions about Issa, Abu Nazir and Elizabeth Gaines. He accuses Brody of wanting to carry out an attack on Vice President Walden with a suicide vest. When Brody continues to deny everything, Quinn pulls out the ultimate proof and shows Brody the video with his confession. Quinn leaves the room to let Brody stew for a while. Through the cameras installed in the interrogation room, Quinn watches Brody, Carrie and Saul watching the video.
Unaware of where her husband is, Jessica drives Dana and Chris to school. They talk about Jessica and Brody's temporary separation, which Chris is concerned about. At school, Dana meets Finn and arranges their first real date with him.
Meanwhile, Estes visits Brody's colleague Greg Merriles, who has obviously tried to contact Brody several times. Estes explains to him that Brody is currently unavailable because he is helping the CIA with a national security matter for the next few days. This requires absolute secrecy and therefore Greg should now ensure that Brody's absence is not called into question. He should tell anyone who asks about Brody, even his family, that Brody has the flu and is staying in a hotel.
Jessica's attempts to reach Brody also fail. He is still in the interrogation room and, after watching the video, seems to realize that he can hardly talk his way out of this situation. He finally admits to Quinn that he knew Issa and adds contemptuously that he was killed in a drone attack ordered by the US Vice President. However, he still denies that he planned a bomb attack on the Vice President for this reason. After all, no bomb ever exploded. So there is no serious evidence that could convict him. Even when Quinn threatens to show the video to Brody's family, he remains relatively calm and does not allow himself to be provoked by Quinn. Brody then changes tactics and tries to put Brody under massive pressure by repeatedly asking him for information about the next terrorist attack planned by Abu Nazir. However, Brody only gives one answer to all these questions: He doesn't know. Quinn then loses his patience. He pulls out a knife and rams it into Brody's hand. Carrie and Saul immediately rush into the interrogation room with security officers to protect Brody from Quinn. When Brody is being treated, Carrie asks Saul if he can take over the interrogation. Saul agrees and leaves Carrie alone with Brody.
Since Jessica has since found out that her husband has the flu, she wants to visit him in the hotel. When she gets there, however, she quickly realizes that his room is empty. She asks Greg again about Brody's whereabouts. Under increasing pressure, Greg turns to Estes and demands to speak to Brody himself. Estes, however, is able to fob him off.
Meanwhile, Carrie has sat down with Brody in the interrogation room. When she tries to confront him about the attempted suicide attack, he continues to deny everything. Carrie then takes their conversation to a personal level and wants to know from Brody whether he ever had feelings for her. Brody claims that there was never anything serious between them, that they were both just pretending to get information. However, she replies that their relationship did mean something to her. Brody then replies that he knows exactly what she wants with such statements and that he would not get involved in it. Saul and Quinn watch the conversation in the next room. Saul asks Quinn about his outburst and realizes that Quinn only staged it.
Back in the interrogation room with Carrie and Brody, she suddenly turns off all the cameras and takes Brody's handcuffs off. This gives the impression that she and Brody are alone and that the others can no longer follow their conversation. What Brody probably doesn't know is that Saul and Quinn can no longer see what is happening in the interrogation room, but they can still hear it. Carrie takes up the conversation again and steers it in a direction where she shows him all his lies and asks him how he can actually cope with this pressure. She seems to have hit a sore spot with Brody and is slowly but surely getting through to him. She tells him all the terrorist attacks that Abu Nazir has already committed, makes it clear to him that Nazir kills innocent people and that he systematically manipulated Brody. She then brings Dana into play and tells him that she knows that it was Dana who stopped him from going through with the suicide attack. She knows that he would never be capable of something like that and that this is the Brody she fell in love with. Brody listens to her attentively the whole time. Her words seem to reach him and so she tries again to find out from him whether Abu Nazir is planning a terrorist attack on the USA. Now Brody tells her what he knows. Obviously exhausted from the interrogation, he collapses. A little later, Saul enters the room and asks Brody to call Jessica and tell her that he will be home that evening.
After her phone call with Brody, Jessica waits with Dana for Finn, who wants to pick her up for their meeting. During their conversation, the topic turns to Brody and they both realize that he has changed since he returned from being a prisoner of war.
Some time later, Carrie enters the interrogation room again to talk to Brody about his options. He could either go through a public trial and end up in prison for a long time. Or he could work with the CIA, become a mole for them in the Abu Nazir case and in return receive immunity so that no one ever has to find out about his planned assassination.
Meanwhile, Dana and Finn are out in their car, racing through Washington at night to have a little fun. However, they are careless for a moment and suddenly run over a woman who appears on the street out of nowhere. Apparently in shock, they don't know what to do. While Dana begs Finn to look after the woman, he is afraid of his father's reaction and, despite Dana's objections, drives off the scene.
Carrie drives Brody home. In order not to jeopardize Brody's cover with Roya Hammad, they agree that he should tell her that he and Carrie are having an affair again. And indeed, they seem to be getting a little closer again, as Brody reaches for her hand. From now on, she will be his alibi whenever he needs one. Since Brody fears that Abu Nazir might find out about him, Carrie assures him that the CIA will do everything to protect him and his family.
As soon as he gets to the house, he meets Jessica and asks her to be allowed to return to his family. She agrees, but first wants to hear a reasonable explanation for his behavior. One that is not based on lies again. He tells her that he works for the CIA, that he helps the agency with national security issues, but that he is not allowed to tell her any more details about it. Although she is skeptical at first, she ultimately seems to believe him. A little later, Chris and Dana also arrive. Chris asks if Brody would stay now. Brody says yes and hugs Chris, while Dana doesn't say a word about the accident and instead disappears into her room.
In contrast, Carrie comes home and sits alone in her living room at the end of a long day.
Trivia[]
- "Q&A" makes the list of Rolling Stone's best ever TV episodes - By Alan Sepinwall
Review[]
“Brainwashing is a way of making yourself God, for one person, in one tiny universe. The opposite of that, then: This is a sacrifice of self. Of acknowledging your own smallness in the universe. Inviting him to be less alone, with every truth; inviting him into a spell that heals you both. Not his ego down, but yours. Armor dropping to the floor.
‘I’m just happy to be talking to you again.’
How else would you define love?” [x]
Quotes[]
- "Every good cop needs a bad cop". - Quinn
- Carrie: ‘I’m just happy to be talking to you [Brody] again.’
- Mathison: No one survives intact.
- Nicholas: No.
- People always ask me about the war. You know... was it as bad as everyone says? I-I never know what to tell them. "My interpreter was burned alive and then hung from a bridge"? - Carrie
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison
- Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody
- Morena Baccarin as Jessica Brody
- David Harewood as David Estes
- Diego Klattenhoff as Mike Faber (Credit only)
- Jackson Pace as Chris Brody
- Morgan Saylor as Dana Brody
- Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson
- David Marciano as Virgil
- Navid Negahban as Abu Nazir (Credit only)
- Jamey Sheridan as William Walden (Credit only)
Guest Starring[]
Co-Starring[]
- Alexander Gemignani as Greg Merriles
- Debra Terry as Susan
- Rose Bianco as Lupe
- Robert Brubaker as Secret Service Passenger
- Paul O'Connor as Navy Seal 1
- Peter Allende as Navy Seal 2
- Cal Johnson as Finn Walden
- Jessica Morgan Ford as Dana Brody
- Jimmy Waitman as Stunt Secret Service Driver
Videos[]
| Season 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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