A lot of this uncharacteristic Dar / Saul bickering seems to be for Alisons benefit.

And on tv they never have to wait for the computer to install software for their USB stick!

Yeah, I agree. I remember Dar/Saul meeting in a room and talking jovially and reminiscing over the good ol' days, and then next Saul going into another room with Alison and letting rip at her. It could be that they suspect Alison but don't have concrete proof. Dar wanted Saul to sack her, but Saul refused. For instance, they may already be aware of a common person who seems to round when significant things go wrong - the hack and the plane bomb. Dar convieniently hones in on Saul being the one who blew up the plane and made no mention of the next senior CIA operative who standing next to Saul, Alison. But now that Saul is out in the cold, it leaves Alison to lower her defences somewhat, ripe to make a mistake. Also, Saul didn't look that comfortable kissing Alison in the taxi (at least to me anyway). Dar and Saul's heated argument with Alison listening at the door may be a ploy between them. It just seems inconceivable for Dar to take Alison's word over his long-standing frenemy, Saul. It's weird.

I don't know if this has been covered in this thread at all but I don't recall seeing an announcement that Homeland has been renewed for another season yet. In the past the renewal announcement has come after the first couple of episodes have aired but as far as I know there has been nothing so far.

Blimey that made me jump when Mossad 'kidnapped' Saul from the lift! I hope that dog will be alright.

Allison went in to meltdown at the thought of going to prison - well dear, if you can't do the time then don't do the crime.......

I too was worried about the dog - I never worry too much about the people

No. She had a panic attack when Saul told her that Carrie was still alive if that's the scene you were referring to.

Great episode last night. This season is so different from season 4 but i'm really enjoying it.

So Alishka really is the big bad this season, i like it, i like it. Nice to see a female villain on Homeland for once. She's so duplicitous and so intriguing i'm dying to find out more about her and exactly who the hell she is. That scene in Saul's bathroom when she discovered Carrie was really alive and had that panic attack - whatever way you look at it she is in DEEP and bad news!

So if i've got this right - Alison is Russian spy who's working for the Russians and infiltrated the CIA. She's been sleeping with Saul Berenson. She's the one responsible for putting Carrie on Quinn's kill list and the plane blowing up. To divert attention away from herself she's created a rift between Dar Adal and Saul making Dar Adal believe Saul is really responsible for the plane bombing therefore Saul being sent back to Langley and facing arrest? I think this is about right?

The lift scene with Saul gave me a shock! Totally unexpected, but great tv!

Quinn's a one-man show these days. Interesting to see what happens when he joins the terrorists on their plan to attack whatever it is they're planning on attacking. Another big risk he's taking. He seems to have gotten over being shot quite quickly too.

This Sunday's night ep. is called 'All About Alison'!

Same here! Poor little mite - kidnapped on his walkies.

I agree about the scene in the lift - frightened the life out of me! Especially as the episode had been fairly low key up until then. I don't really understand the significance of the guy in Amsterdam yet Either, I missed something (highly likely) or it will become clearer later.

I always watch the episodes with subtitles on to help me remember names and to understand them when they're mumbling. It's amazing how often "Carrie sighs".

Homeland's always been good at those sudden set pieces like Saul's kidnap from the lift!


Agree about Quinn, is he effectively just a freelancer with a line to the CIA now, or not even that once he saved Carrie's arse?
Interesting how the 3 main characters are effectively out on their own with the bad guy/girl in the establishment.

I was expecting something like the kidnapping from the lift since I was sure that Saul's phone call for his "laundry" was nothing to do with laundry.

Seems odd that the German police weren't watching the Syrians, although the one who had been released from prison thought they would be, and the CIA weren't watching them either until Peter Quinn told Dar about them.

She stated that she could not spend the rest of her life in prison.

I'm not sure about Amsterdam yet, either. I assume he knows something about Alison being a double agent. You can't help feeling sorry for the cab driver who had turned his life around. As soon as he said that you just knew he wouldn't be around long. Helping Carrie seems to be the kiss of death for most characters .....

RE: Amsterdam
As I followed it, he's a former asset of Carrie's during her time in Baghdad. He was thought to have been killed years before. Carrie spotted a file about a separate asset from Baghdad trying to get in touch with her 5 months previous after seeing the first guy alive and well but being rejected by the CIA. Presumably by Alison after having recruited/coerced the apparently dead asset into whatever she's up to.
Carrie went to Amsterdam looking for him after the hacker found his supposed widow was living there and assumed the former asset was there too.
Alison assuming Carrie was alive sent some heavies to clean up in Amsterdam.

Thanks for clearing that up. The finer details do sometimes go in one ear and out the other

The guy in Amsterdam (Ahmed Nazari) was either a CIA asset or, perhaps, someone they were watching as a 'person of interest' in Baghdad back when Allison was station chief there. He appears to have been spirited out of the country by the SVR (Russian foreign intelligence service, equivalent to CIA and MI-6) who faked his death for their own reasons (as yet unclear).

The implication is that Allison was instrumental in facilitating this in some way because she is a Russian sleeper/double agent, and the jeopardy is that now Carrie knows Nazari she/the CIA will be able to backtrace through the timeline and documentation and discover evidence of Allison's treason.

The knowledge that Carrie is still alive and has a copy of the 'hacked files' that contain the first threads that will unravel Allisons double life and send her to prison or even her death (I think treason is still a capital crime under US Federal Law?) is what sends her into a massive panic attack in Saul's hotel bathroom.

The Russian 'heavies' were actually sent to Amsterdam by Ivan, Allison's SVR handler and boss, evidently to retrieve something vital from Nazir's safe and, presumably, to kill Carrie when she showed up and thus prevent her from eventually exposing Allison.

I'm not convinced that the guys who grabbed up Ahmed Nazir while he was walking his dog (and presumably killed the poor cabbie) are Russian, they looked more Middle-Eastern in appearance to me which would suggest someone else has recently become aware of Nazir's non-dead status, perhaps the Iraqi security services who may have discovered this from watching/bugging Carrie's old asset the retired Baghdadi judge - he did imply he was out of favour with the current regime there.

At some point I expect all this to loop back to Quinn and the jihadis (or at least the 'big bad' ISIL commander that Quinn mentioned to Dar Adal) but I'm not sure how yet!

Yes, except at that point Allison had no idea what Carrie knew or whether Carrie would even investigate Nazari. Nor did she know about the Baghdad judge contacting Carrie who gave her vital information about this bloke, without which it's unlikely Carrie would even be investigating Nazari's 'death' or even visit Amsterdam.. So it is a bit of a leap that Allison and handler Ivan should panic and send Russian hitmen down to Amsterdam in waiting when for all they know Carrie doesn't even suspect anything awry about Nazari. It's only when Carrie rings Allison AFTER the trip to Amsterdam and asks to speak about her time in Baghdad that the panic waves should have ensued.

But she (Alison) did. When her and Ivan were talking she hypothesised that Carrie was still alive (Ivan not having seen a body) and that Saul took the copy of the hacked files for her. And that if she did, Nazari would spill everything. They sent the snatch team to cover their arses basically. Hence the panic attack after Saul told her she was alive.

Phil's rundown is a bit more comprehensive than mine of the way things went down while Carrie was stationed in Baghdad. So it seems information from Nazari would get Alison a dirt nap.

Why did Carrie have a different surname in 2005?

She was undercover so wouldn't be using her real name.

Undercover in her place of work?

She was there as a CIA spy but that wouldn't have been on her job description.

She'd have a fake job at the embassy and a fake name to go with the job.

Not a lot going on last night apart from us learning all about Allison ?

Amazing how a fringe can make you look ten years younger!