"The Smile" is the second-season premiere episode of the American television drama series ''
Homeland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...
'', and the 13th episode overall. It originally aired 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 September 30, 2012.
The episode drew a series high rating of 1.73 million viewers, up 60% from its series premiere, and received a total of 2.07 million viewers with repeat viewing that same night.
Plot
Set roughly six months after the events of the
Season 1 finale, the episode opens with news of major unrest in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
as
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
has bombed nuclear facilities in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, with Iran vowing retaliation. The
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
is approached by a former
asset
In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can ...
, Fatima Ali (
Clara Khoury
Clara may refer to:
Organizations
* CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization
* Clara.Net, a European ISP
* Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium
People
* Clara (given name), a feminine giv ...
), who is a wife of a
Hezbollah district commander. She says she has information on an imminent attack on America. However, she refuses to talk to anyone but her former handler,
Carrie Mathison (
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 influenti ...
).
Carrie, now working as an
ESL
English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...
teacher, receives a surprise visit from Galvez (
Hrach Titizian
Hrach Titizian ( hy, Հրաչ Թիթիզեան; born May 26, 1979) is an American television, film and stage actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of CIA analyst Danny Galvez on the first two seasons of Showtime's ''Homeland' ...
) while she is teaching a class. Galvez is there on behalf of Estes (
David Harewood
David Harewood MBE (born 8 December 1965) is a British actor and presenter. He is best known for his roles as CIA Counterterrorism Director David Estes in ''Homeland'' (2011–2012), and as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw / ...
), who wants to talk with Carrie, but she refuses. The next plea comes from 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 ...
) on the phone that night. Unable to say no to Saul, she relents and listens to what Estes has to say. Estes explains to Carrie that one of her assets has resurfaced with vital information, and that he is asking Carrie to briefly go to
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
to find out what the asset knows. Carrie is still hostile towards Estes and bitter over how she was drummed out of the CIA, but nonetheless agrees to the trip.
Nicholas Brody (
Damian Lewis
Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is an English actor, presenter and producer. He is best known for portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'', which earned him a Golden Globe nomination ...
), settling into his new role as a
Congressman for
Virginia's 2nd congressional district
Virginia's second congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It currently encompasses all of Accomack, Northampton, and York Counties; all of the independent cities of Virginia Beach and Willia ...
, is approached by
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
Walden (
Jamey Sheridan
James Patrick Sheridan (born July 12, 1951) is an American actor known for playing a wide range of roles in theater, film, and television. He's best known for Randall Flagg in '' The Stand'' (1994), Captain James Deakins on '' Law & Order: Crimin ...
) who wants to float Brody's name as a potential running mate for his presidential run. Brody happily accepts the offer. Later on, he meets with Roya Hammad (
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson (born 29 June 1977) is a British actress. She first came to attention as Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief on the 2001 series ''The Lone Gunmen''. She has appeared in the films '' Hidalgo'' (2004), ''The Merchant of Venice ...
), a journalist who reveals herself to Brody as an ally of Abu Nazir. She relays an assignment that Nazir has passed along to him. Brody is to retrieve a list of potential attack targets from a safe in Estes' office. Brody correctly ascertains that
Al-Qaeda intends to hit one of these targets and refuses at first, reluctant to be responsible for deaths of civilians. Roya says that the world is at war and Brody needs to pick a side. If his allegiance is truly with Al-Qaeda, he will retrieve the list. Brody successfully procures the list the next day while Roya distracts Estes.
During a spirited political and religious debate at her school, Dana (
Morgan Saylor
Morgan Frances Saylor (born October 26, 1994) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Dana Brody in the Showtime series ''Homeland'', 2019's '' Blow the Man Down'' and for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Leah in the 2016 ...
) accidentally blurts out that her dad is a
Muslim. It gets laughed off as a joke, but word gets back to Jessica (
Morena Baccarin), who confronts Dana about it that night. As Dana struggles to explain herself, Brody admits to Jessica that he has converted to
Islam. Jessica is shocked and angered by the revelation, feeling she had been lied to by her husband. She also takes issue with Brody embracing the religion of the men that kept him captive and tortured him. In the ensuing argument, Jessica throws Brody's copy of the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
on the floor. Brody's panicked reaction upsets Jessica even more.
On her way to a rendezvous with Saul in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, Carrie - posing as a Canadian named Kate Morrissey - is followed by a
Lebanese intelligence agent
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
who had been
surveilling Saul. Speaking via cell phone, Saul advises Carrie to allow herself to be apprehended. Carrie refuses to do so, stating that it would compromise the mission. She attempts to evade her pursuer instead. Leading him into a crowded shop, she knees the man in the groin and successfully escapes into the crowd. Carrie cannot contain a euphoric smile as she flees the scene.
Dana finds her father in the backyard digging a hole. Brody explains that his Quran was desecrated by Jessica, so he is burying it out of respect. Dana helps with the burial.
Production
The episode was co-written by executive producers
Alex Gansa and
Howard Gordon
Howard Gordon (born March 31, 1961) is an American television writer and producer.
He is well known for his work on the Fox action series '' 24'' alongside the Showtime thriller ''Homeland'', which he co-developed with Alex Gansa and Gideon ...
, while executive producer
Michael Cuesta
Michael Cuesta (born July 8, 1963) is an American film and television director, best known for his independent films, specially for having co-written and directed the 2001 film, ''L.I.E. (film), L.I.E.'' He has directed and produced television se ...
directed.
Reception
Ratings
The original American broadcast received 1.73 million viewers, which became the highest rated episode up to that point.
Critical response
''
TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
''s
James Poniewozik
James "Jim" Poniewozik (; born July 12, 1968) is an American journalist and television critic. He is the chief TV critic for ''The New York Times''. Earlier in his career, he wrote ''Time'' magazine's ''Tuned In'' column for 16 years.
Early life
...
praised the premiere, saying "what made this such a strong season debut was that the internal drama of the characters was at least as compelling as the thriller stuff". He described all of the fallout from Jessica discovering Brody's conversion to Islam as "fantastic scenes".
HitFix
HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...
's
Alan Sepinwall
Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...
felt Damian Lewis' performance was particularly strong, and highlighted the confrontation between Brody and Jessica as the best scene of the episode. In regards to Carrie and Brody, he went on to say "these two scarred human beings are the heart of the show, and 'The Smile' was first and foremost about seeing how they're doing after all they went through a season ago. And on that level, it was terrific."
Emily VanDerWerff of
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
gave the episode a "B+". She felt that Roya Hammad was more of a plot device than a fully formed character, and questioned the plausibility of some of the plot developments, but said that "the rest of the episode is aces in how it deals with the fallout of last season’s finale". VanDerWerff had very high praise for Claire Danes, describing her smile as Carrie escaped as "one of the best moments of acting I’ve ever seen on TV."
References
External links
"The Smile"at Showtime
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smile, The
2012 American television episodes
Homeland (season 2) episodes
Television episodes directed by Michael Cuesta