“Homeland,” Season 1, Episode 12, “Marine 1,” begins with Brody, resplendent in his Marine uniform, recording his terrorist suicide recording. It is a vile, horrible justification for the mass slaughter he intends to carry out.
Spoilers follow.
Carrie, in the meantime, is all but catatonic, in the depression phase of her bipolar episode. Her life appears to be over. She is gone from the Agency and has failed to prevent what she believes is about to occur. No one believes her. Even so, she manages to rise from her bed and try one more time to find out what is going on and to stop it.
The Vice President, who is obviously not a stand in for Joe Biden, but rather a Hollywood left version of Dick Cheney, is set to announce his candidacy for president, surrounded by his national security team and, of course, Brody, who unknown to everyone has on a bomb vest. Even his daughter catching him at Muslim prayer rituals has not deterred him.
Then a shot rings out. An aid to the Vice President crumbles down dead. Tom Walker is at work from his sniper’s nest. This sends everyone else running for cover, into a tight, closed off room underground. This is a perfect place for Brody to set off the bomb.
He consigns himself to Allah and hits the switch. Nothing happens. Brody retreats into the men’s room to try to fix the bomb vest.
In the meantime, Carrie, having guessed what is going on, with everyone’s hand against her, makes one last, desperate throw. She goes to Brody’s house and begs Dana, his daughter, to call her and talk him down. Carrie is hauled away by the police for her pains. But Dana begins to think. She calls her dad, just as he has fixed the bomb and is about to carry out his mission. She begs him to come home.
Something clicks, one last shard of humanity. Brody decides to abort his mission.
In the meantime, Saul has gotten evidence that the Vice President did indeed order a drone strike that killed dozens of children, including Abu Nazir’s son, in hopes of getting the terrorist mastermind himself. This is the most off-putting aspect of the series. The message is that we are terrorists too. Perhaps the enemy is justified in attacking us. One can almost hear Ron Paul’s whining voice declaring, “Maybe they wouldn’t attack us if we didn’t keep bombing them!” It is an obscene exercise in moral equivalency.
Brody explains to Abu Nazir that his bomb vest malfunctioned. But this presents an opportunity. He is now in the position to rise in power at the side of the next president of the United States. He will become Al Qaida’s own Manchurian candidate. This pleases Abu Nazir, but he requires a test of loyalty. It is with pleasure that Brody puts a bullet into Tom Walker’s brain.
At the very last, not knowing that she had prevented a terrorist tragedy, Carrie undergoes electroshock therapy to try to treat her bipolar condition. As she is going under, he remembers a name: Asa. Abu Nazir’s son. Brody knew him.
Until next season.
Source: Homeland, Marine 1, TV.Rage