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Homeland: Clarity recap

By Christopher Dodson

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In Clarity, the latest Homeland episode, Carrie and Keane show their true colors, reinforcing why fans show characters alike perceive them as we do.

Wellington and Saul are each trying to guide their ships through murky and turbulent waters doing the least amount of harm. Without some precise calculations, plenty will drown if the ship is overcome and sank.

What will one do for the love of country or family? What would someone do to protect their ground and to what lengths would they go to vindicate themselves from injustices, right or wrong? In Homeland season 7, those answers are becoming more clear for all the main characters.

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Carrie has chosen country — and that chose preserves her family. The Matheson sisters are civil once more. Saul has chosen Carrie — because he trusts her like family. Keane has chosen herself, and it has isolated her from the world she once ruled. How did it come to this?

Considering the options if everything does not go to plan is the mark of leadership and planning. How does one think and teach others to react when there is no time to think, in these stressful situations? Carrie failed the test when she went to get Frannie at school.

When there is time, she reacts much better. Keane is showing to have the opposite problem. Time to overthink a decision can be fatal. Being shocked into action is sometimes preferable, as we can later worry about changing our priorities and thoughts.

Dante is dead, and Yevgeny has disappeared. Just one of these happening is terrible for operations and without Simone Keane is still vulnerable for both Simone and the dead general. All the wrong people are seeing red over Keane’s actions, and the mood is about to turn blue.

Vice President Warner had promised not only to not cause problems but also pledged his allegiance to her administration. He would be the patriot Saul wished for in Paley. A resolute patriot can be a gift and a curse though.

Perhaps Saul picked the wrong patriot to play as a negotiating tactic to buy time. The 25th  amendment impeachment documents were hanging in the balance. The Vice President could have acted sooner if he merely wanted to assure Keane, but by waiting got her to expose her true colors. It was the last piece of the informational puzzle he needed to follow his Patriot heart.

Keane says that she is becoming what they always wanted her to be and what she feared she would become. Maybe we now see the end game to her approach is never positive. Even with her well-intentioned outward expressions, refusing to give ground on the small issues leads to big problems.

One must consider the merits of picking one’s battles and settling for incremental gains instead of complete victory. Senator Paley and Vice President Warner are both seeking influence and power. They have said as much, so their intentions are clear.

Warner tells Wellington that Keane never asked for input or advice in a quid pro quo. Let him be more involved. He will be a patriot but must believe in the leadership. That is easier to do if he is included in the inner circle. Paley is moving towards the same goal with a different angle, and perhaps different backers.

After the initial approach with Saul, Keane plays the angle above Paley and goes all in with Warner. Warner proves a patriot. He is going to help the country no matter what, but Keane must keep him in the loop for Warner to trust her. Even better if she listens to his advice.

LISTENING TO GOOD ADVICE

Saul has Sandy to research and sort information and serves as counsel to and wild ideas by Carrie. Carrie is learning to trust her family knows what is best. Keane is slowly coming to distrust everything and everyone and it is making her crazy.

While still recuperating from therapy, Carrie gets an offer that would keep things civil between her and her sister while providing Frannie with the best situation. Sign over custody and she will get to keep seeing Frannie. Go the easy way and do the right thing or cause a scene and fight for more territory in a battle that may be lost completely, and the fallout will be irreversible. Carrie is susceptible to the nuclear option, and this custody battle may be no different.

Keane is in a different battle and is tuning out good advice more frequently. With no other person except a lackey lawyer, Keane decided to take the first truly huge punch. She went with brute force, crude and blunt. She was firing the suspected traitors with no proof for reason not totally ground in logic to obtain a result that may stop the one thing it has to stop. With such risk of failure, why take the actions?  What has been accomplished?

The First 100 days were marred by nonsense.  The numbers now favor the mob with the VP one signature away from ascending to the big chair in the Oval Office.  Wellington had proven to be of little help in the big decisions, so who could Keane have asked for advice? No one without becoming more exposed. In trying to save face and to vindicate themselves the Keane power structure fell apart.

Keane and Carrie both start their fights bunkered and preparing for the worst. This is a fight both were unprepared to fight. Keane needed grace where she had yet to show any. Carrie needed to find her resilient approach; this is the same as any other operation. What can be exposed to make her sister vulnerable? Carrie goes straight to the livelihood, while Keane risks hers.

Saul is still on the hunt. He knows Keane is still more vulnerable than she even realizes. It is what happens when you try o do it all yourself. As Saul knows, one can start to feel responsible for things they were not even aware of and could have done almost nothing to prevent, as there were no warning signs. However, Saul goes to visit Carrie with more than just grief to offer. He has solutions and needs a workaround savior with an embattled Keane unable to sign off on decisions.

Carrie is no so far gone that she realizes this is not a social call. Saul is so far down a desperate rabbit hole that he still needs Carrie to build a team. Saul offers Carrie a job that would be perfect for any normal person. Carrie is trying to do better, this time. Saul is trying to as well.

With Keane on the ropes and Warner apparently on the fence, Paley threw his counter punch. Are these all coincidences, deaths and disappearances? Paley offered dignity, now he could only offer up a document to impeach. It could have been a crippling blow, but instead, Warner’s inaction led to Keane’s death knell.

Paley was really offering the VP a temporary chance at the throne but it might have just been bait. Is it bait from Paley, or is Paley himself the bait being used to entice bigger fish? Is this just really an extension of a deal too good to be true or was Paley making good on the proverbial make him an offer he can’t refuse?

THE LAST CARD DEALT

Keane is nailing down a deal with Saul to save her ass. She just needs clearance details to sign off on. While some may see Saul’s workaround to get Carrie on the job as a ploy, it actually makes perfect operational sense.

Carries condition was a point of weakness that had to be hidden since the beginning. It had to be kept secret. The cat is out of the bag now. Now, it could be her best strength. The Russians will not know what to do with her if exposed or captured. Without an intimate knowledge of Carrie, how could she be trusted? If captured, any information would be useless as she would be manic.

How important is the job at hand and who can do it? Saul knows Carrie is perfect, however it must be arranged. Carrie knows Frannie is best at her sisters, however that must be arranged. The job is more important. The collateral damage of the job on the family needs to stop though. From her dad to all Carries men friends it has been tragic, so Carrie finally cedes control.

There is safety in comfort. Franklin once said, “Those who would surrender security for freedom deserve neither.” Well, that comes in cycles. Maggie knows the cycle. Saul will come calling he already has. Saul knows the cycle of an operation, and Carrie is best at in this early stage.

In the end Keane has no one to hold on to. Keane shows her lack of trust in the VP and acted too soon. Keane is no Carrie. Also, she broke a deal and become exactly the person that must be impeached. Power without authority is tyranny after all.

Warner showed loyalty. Sure, this display could have been more public. Though then it could be a show of faith or a ruse but Keane’s distrust with everyone is disturbing. VP is making a move. Keane feels threatened. When threatened Carrie was able to walk back from the ledge. Keane went well past the point of no return. The patriot VP is doing exactly as just as he said he would. He is defending the country. Like Carrie, he is doing the right thing.

Carrie is keeping the family together while Keane is tearing the country apart. Carrie knows the value of information. Hold the shady treatment card. Negotiate for better so she can do both. Keane is getting emotional and showing her hand to the enemy.

Frannie is showing some of Carrie’s selective amnesia. Frannie also wonders if Carrie is coming back from the brink. From what growth Carrie has shown through the series, Carrie will be just fine. The country and Frannie are in good hands. Keane however, needs all hands on deck while most of her allies are throwing them up in disgust.

None of that matters if Saul can catch a good scent on the trail and he has. Yevgeny has been found. Love has a way of leaving artifacts and memoirs. Saul may be able to find proof the Russians have dealt some cards from a dirty deck. Might take a black bag job, but Simone can be an asset once more.

Shady dealings take many forms and one is needed to cover the Dante death. Something vague and perhaps Undiagnosed. Problems with the heart, as it ironically were. More collateral damage to be forgotten as time passes and the next operation gets intense. The Yevgeny romance left a few more breadcrumbs along the trail. Simeone has a professor that remembers her young handsome Russian boyfriend.

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In the last two episodes, we will see if Carrie can save us all and expose the Russians. Or will the nation and Keane get caught exposed while the intelligence community fights a new war while haggling with a red-a**ed POTUS?

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