Stripping (Homeland)

Roya Hammad ( Zuleika Robinson ) intercepts Brody ( Damien Lewis ) during his morning run. She tells him that they lost a man during the Gettysburg massacre , and that his role is more important now than ever. Brody is upset at keeping details from him, partly in favor of Carrie ( Claire Danes ), who is listening to them.

Later, the Brody family goes to a political fundraiser organized by Rex Henning ( John Finn ), a wealthy potential campaign sponsor for Vice President Walden ( Jamie Sheridan ). On the way, Jessica ( Morena Baccarin ) tells Brody about Mike's suspicions ( Diego Klattenhoff ) that he actually killed Tom Walker. Brody reluctantly admits that he was an accomplice in the murder, exposing this as a CIA mission that went awry. Upon arrival, Brody complains to Carrie about Mike's constant intervention. At the time of fundraising, Rex and Brody speak in private, where Rex reveals that he served in Vietnam and praises Brody for not “breaking” while in captivity. Rex later announces his full endorsement of the Walden / Brody presidential ticket. Earlier, however, Rex admitted to Brody that he did not like the egocentric Walden, and that he was really interested in Brody succeeding Walden as president. Brody protests, saying that he is not what Rex thinks he is.

Sol ( Mandy Patinkin ) is looking for a captured terrorist Eileen Morgan ( Marine Ireland ), who is in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison. Sol shows her a photograph of the man Roy Hammad met, and asks Eileen if she can identify him. Eileen describes her miserable daily existence in prison, and asks that she be transferred to an above-ground cell with a window in exchange for information that she owns. Sol, after resisting the jailer, was able to fulfill the request with the help of the attorney general. Eileen gives Sol the name and possible address of the person in the photograph.

At the time of fundraising, Dana (Morgan Sailor) and Finn ( Timothy Chalamet ) argue about when they confess to a clash that killed a woman a week earlier. The argument is noticed by Cynthia Walden ( Talia Bolsam ) and Jessica, who ask them what is happening. Dana explicitly announces: "We killed someone," and proceeds to retell the events of the accident. The immediate reaction of Walden and Cynthia is to hide the incident in order to protect their political reputation. The Walden insist that no report be filed with the police. But neither Brody nor Jessica are happy with this. Overwhelmed by Dan's shock, she was shocked that Finn was darkly indifferent, knowing that his parents would get out, no matter what.

Quinn ( Rupert Friend ), having discharged himself from the hospital to return to work, sees Brody as an important tip from the CIA and urges Carrie to somehow authorize him. By warning Mike to stay away, playing on his love for Jessica, Carrie meets with Brody in a clearing behind Rex's house. They talk about how Brody feels a lie behind the face of Rex's honest military heroism. Carrie tries to console him, leading to a lingering kiss. Brody admits that she knows that Carrie uses him and manipulates him, but continues to kiss her. He admits that it makes him “feel good,” which is not at all the way it should be. He pulls away and leaves.

Quinn and the FBI team are storming at the address Eileen indicated when she found only the man she had known since Saudi Arabia. When he becomes aware of the situation, Sol, who feels that he has been betrayed, cannot understand why Aileen has been deceiving them. Then he realizes and rushes to Aileen in the interrogation chamber, finding her in a pool of blood after she cut her throat with a splinter from reading glasses that Sol gave her. He cries uncontrollably when she dies, later admitting to Quinn that his emotions were what enabled her to play with him.

Brody takes Dana to the police station to report an accident, but they find Carrie waiting for them near the police station. Carrie tells Brody not to file a report, as this will cause Walden to fall out of favor, thereby jeopardizing her relationship with Abu Nazir. She threatens that their transaction will be canceled if he does so. Dana comes up and Brody apologizes to her that they cannot report the accident. Dana, believing that she is only worried about his campaign, is disgusted and runs away, while Brody pours her annoyance at Carrie: “This is very bad! This is hell knows what! "

Died

• Eileen Morgan : Suicide

The script for the episode was written by Meredith Steam , and John Dahl became the director.

Ratings

During the original show, the episode was watched by 1.91 million viewers, an increase over the previous episode ^[1] .

Critical Reaction

HitFix's Alan Sepinwall called it a “great, resonant, character-focused episode,” praising Mandy Patinkin's performance, and singled out the Carrie / Brody meeting as “a fantastic scene.” ^[2]

Todd Vanderwerff of The AV Club rated the episode “A-”, attributing the script to Meredith Steam and declaring the episode successful in bringing together several unrelated storylines. ^[3]

• Sweep on Showtime
• " Stripping " (English) on the Internet Movie Database
• Sweep on TV.com