| Semper I | ||||
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| Written by: | Alex Gansa & Howard Gordon | |||
| Directed by: | Michael Cuesta | |||
| Production number: | #1WAH03 | |||
| Running time: | 50 min. | |||
| Original airdate: | October 23, 2011 | |||
"Semper I" is the fourth episode of the first season of the psychological thriller TV series Homeland. It originally aired on Showtime on October 23, 2011.
Carrie's surveillance warrant nears its expiration, making her more desperate. Brody increases his presence in the public eye, but finds more turmoil in his personal life.
Summary
Brody is in the midst of a string of public appearances which have made him an extremely popular figure. The Vice President's chief advisor Elizabeth Gaines talks to David Estes. She is interested in possibly recruiting Brody to run for public office but has questions about his mental stability. Brody gets a ride home from Mike after a speech to a graduating class of troops. The conversation turns to Brody and his family. Brody turns hostile and sarcastically thanks Mike for "being there" for his family and for his wife, strongly implying he knows about Mike's affair with Jessica. Brody later starts making veiled comments to Jessica implying the same.
Carrie has one day left before the FISA warrant expires, and she still has no solid evidence against Brody. She asks Saul for an extension on the warrant, but Saul says to focus on the money trail instead and that the surveillance equipment in Brody's house must be removed the first chance she gets. The next day while the Brodys are at church, Carrie, Virgil, and Max enter their house and remove all the cameras and microphones. Carrie takes the opportunity to search Brody's house, and the garage which had no cameras, but finds nothing suspicious.
At Langley, Carrie delivers a briefing where she explains that nine hours after Lynne's death, Latif Bin Walid was seen at a laundromat which is also a known front for a Hawala location. Since then, they have security camera footage of 51 customers entering the laundromat, any of whom could be the recipient of the money transfer via the sold necklace. Their job is to investigate those 51 people. Raqim Faisel, the man who bought the house near the airport along with Aileen Morgan, is on the list. Carrie eventually turns her attention to Raqim when it's learned that he made three recent trips to Pakistan. Carrie, along with analyst Danny Galvez (Hrach Titizian), start looking into his past and agree to surveil him the next day.
Carrie and Danny follow Raqim as he heads home from work. Aileen is home and receives a call from an unknown source, saying "tell him traffic is bad on the Beltway". Aileen immediately runs upstairs and posts an American flag in the window, which is a signal to Raqim to steer clear of the house. Raqim spots the flag and keeps driving. Carrie and Danny continue to follow him for a while, come up empty, and eventually take him off the list of suspects.
The Brodys are hosting a party at their house. Gunshots are heard in the backyard. Everyone runs outside to find that Brody has killed a deer that had wandered into their yard, much to everyone's shock, especially Chris (Jackson Pace) who previously had taken a liking to the deer. Jessica finally unloads all her frustrations on Brody, taking him to task for his carelessly using a weapon and terrifying their children, along with his sexual dysfunctions and overall disturbing behavior since his return. She demands that he seek some kind of counseling.
The next night, Brody tells a relieved Jessica that he's decided to go to a veteran's support group meeting. Carrie, after losing her camera feeds, has resorted to staking out Brody's house; she follows him there. She walks in to the meeting and pretends to bump into him. Brody recognizes her from the CIA debriefing. Carrie acts embarrassed and says she's not supposed to be there. She leaves, but Brody follows her outside. The two have a brief, flirtatious conversation. They form a connection over their mutual wartime experience in the Middle East, and lament how hard it is to talk about with people who weren't there.
Quotes
Abu Nazir David, remember him? Two horns, long tail, strong smell of sulfer... I think we found out how he's financing his attack.
Not because I was a POW for eight years, but because my face has been plastered all over T.V. for the last three weeks...—Nick Brody to Mike Faber about him being considered a rock star by the recruits.
Carrie: The guy hasn't broken the speed limit onceDanny: does that make more or less suspicious
Carrie: Makes him boring like shit...
—Carrie Mathison and Danny Glavez as they follow Raquim Faisel
Cast
Starring
- 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
- Jackson Pace as Chris Brody
- Morgan Saylor as Dana Brody
- Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson
Guest starring
Co-starring
Background information
Ratings
The original broadcast had 1.1 million viewers which exceeded the rating of the pilot episode.[1]
Reviews
Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A-, and praised the new story arcs and the fleshing out of some of the secondary characters.[2] Scott Collura of IGN gave an 8.5/10 rating, and said regarding the final scene "Claire Danes and Damian Lewis are great together onscreen, and the show has been building to this moment since the pilot".[3]
External links
- Episode page at Showtime
- Episode page at IMDb
- Episode page at TV.com
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