"Oriole" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series ''
Homeland'', and the 55th episode overall. It premiered on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
on November 15, 2015.
Plot
As
Carrie
Carrie may refer to:
People
* Carrie (name), a female given name and occasionally a surname
Places in the United States
* Carrie, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
* Carrie, Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Carrie Glacier, Olympic Nati ...
(
Claire Danes
Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, ''Time'' named her one of the 100 most influentia ...
) reviews the hundreds of documents, she finds one outlining an incident where an informant named "Touchstone" attempted to contact "Oriole", which was a code name of Carrie's. Carrie phones "Touchstone" a.k.a. Samir Khalil (
Makram Khoury), an Iraqi national. Samir reports to her that he saw Ahmed Nazari (
Darwin Shaw), a corrupt Iraqi lawyer who was presumed dead, in Iraq five months prior. Carrie resolves to track down Nazari and find out what he knows. With the help of Numan (Atheer Adel), they discover that Nazari's supposed widow is living in Amsterdam.
Bibi (René Ifrah) asks Quinn (
Rupert Friend
Rupert William Anthony Friend (born 9 October 1981) is an English actor. He first gained recognition for his roles in '' The Libertine'' (2004) and '' Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont'' (2005), both of which won him awards for best newcomer. He port ...
) to guide his group to the Syrian border via Turkey. Bibi stresses that he can pay handsomely, as his uncle is Abu Al-qaduli, a deputy
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
. Quinn reaches out to Dar Adal (
F. Murray Abraham
F. Murray Abraham (born Murray Abraham; October 24, 1939) is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he came to prominence for his acclaimed leading role as Antonio Salieri in the drama film ''Amadeus (film), Amadeus'' (1984) ...
) and informs him of his opportunity to get close to Al-qaduli, a CIA kill target.
Saul (
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...
), having been caught taking a copy of the leaked documents out of the station, is subjected to a battery of interrogations by Dar Adal. Allison (
Miranda Otto
Miranda Otto (born 16 December 1967) is an Australian actress. She is the daughter of actors Barry and Lindsay Otto and the paternal half-sister of actress Gracie Otto. Otto began her acting career in 1986 at age 18 and appeared in a variety of ...
) offers to take Saul back to his hotel room to get him to confide. In the room, Saul admits to Allison that he delivered the documents to Carrie. Allison excuses herself and has a panic attack. She then reports back to Krupin (
Mark Ivanir) that Carrie is confirmed to be alive and likely headed to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, Carrie breaks into the house of Nazari, finding a safe she can't get into, and a laptop which she takes with her. Two men, sent by Krupin, enter the house and notice the broken window. Carrie watches as one of them takes something out of the safe; she then flees the house, managing to avoid their gunshots.
Jonas (
Alexander Fehling
Alexander Fehling (born 29 March 1981) is a German film and stage actor. He is best known for portraying Staff Sgt. Wilhelm in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino World War II film ''Inglourious Basterds'' and Jonas Hollander in the Showtime original ser ...
) visits Otto Düring's compound to look for Carrie. As they talk about her, Düring (
Sebastian Koch
Sebastian Koch (born 31 May 1962) is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ''The Lives of Others'', in Steven Spielberg's '' Bridge of Spies'', and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of ...
) reveals that he doesn't plan on renewing Carrie's contract at the foundation, due to her being "unbalanced".
Dar Adal orders that Saul be flown back to Langley. As Saul is monitored by guards in his room, he makes a phone call for his laundry, which turns out to be a coded distress call. As Saul is escorted out of the building, he is nabbed by a group of armed, masked men who drive away with him. They deliver Saul to Etai Luskin (
Allan Corduner), who greets Saul warmly and asks what they're doing next. Saul responds "I don't know. I've never defected before".
Carrie calls Allison, saying that she'd like to ask some questions about the latter's tenure in Baghdad. They agree to meet.
Production
The episode was directed by executive producer
Lesli Linka Glatter, and co-written by showrunner
Alex Gansa
Alex Gansa is a screenwriter and producer best known as the creator, executive producer and showrunner of the Showtime series ''Homeland'', based on the original Israeli series ''Prisoners of War'' created by Gideon Raff.
He produced and wrote a ...
and executive producer Patrick Harbinson.
Reception
Reviews
The episode received a rating of 92% on the review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, with the site's consensus stating "In the action-packed 'Oriole,' ''Homeland'' brings Carrie and Allison together with a surprising turn of events."
Price Peterson of ''
New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...
'' rated the episode 4 out of 5 stars, with the summation that it was "full of fascinating character moments and crackerjack suspense sequences, and on the whole brought together disparate elements in a highly satisfying way". ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
''s Shirley Li praised the Allison Carr character, stating "Miranda Otto has been knocking her performance out of the park, but Allison, as a character, has also proved a fascinating foil to Carrie."
Judith Warner
Judith Warner (born July 4, 1965) is an American writer.
Warner is a senior fellow at American Progress, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Time.com as well as the author of a range of nonfiction books, amon ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' highlighted the interplay between Allison and her handler Krupin as a particularly effective scene.
Ratings
The original broadcast was watched by 1.348 million viewers, a small decrease in viewership from the previous week of 1.35 million viewers.
References
External links
"Oriole"at Showtime
*
{{Homeland
2015 American television episodes
Homeland (season 5) episodes
Television episodes directed by Lesli Linka Glatter