New Car Smell (Homeland)
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"New Car Smell" is the fourth episode of the second season 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 ethni ...
'', and the 16th 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 October 21, 2012.


Plot

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 ...
) shows the video of Brody's confession to 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 / C ...
). Saul and Estes agree to spy on 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 ...
) for the time being, in hopes of getting information on what
al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
is plotting. They do not tell anyone else in the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
, other than analyst Peter 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 ...
), who is in charge of the operation at Estes's insistence. Cameras are set up to watch Brody at the
Rayburn House Office Building The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street. Rayburn is named after forme ...
and his phones are tapped. Virgil (
David Marciano David Marciano (born January 7, 1960, in Newark, New Jersey) is an American actor best known for his roles as Jeffery in ''Civil Wars'' (1991-1993), Detective Raymond Vecchio in the television series '' Due South'', Detective Steve Billings in th ...
) and Max (
Maury Sterling Charles Maury Wallace Sterling (born September 1, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Max Piotrowski in ''Homeland'', Rafferty in the comedy film '' Beverly Hills Chihuahua'' and Lester Tremor in the action film ''Smokin' Ace ...
) are tasked with following Brody when he is outside of the
surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...
areas. Carrie and Quinn clash at first; Carrie is surprised that an analyst that she had never even met is running things. Brody attempts to apologize to Jessica (
Morena Baccarin Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin (; born 2 June 1979) is a Brazilian actress known for portraying Inara Serra in the sci-fi series '' Firefly'' and its follow-up film '' Serenity'', Vanessa in the superhero comedy franchise ''Deadpool'', Jessi ...
) for his actions but Jessica demands an explanation. Brody says he wants to tell her, but he cannot. Jessica gives him an ultimatum: tell her "something true" about what he has been up to, or sleep somewhere else. Brody just walks away. Quinn's team is able to get a feed to the security cameras at the Ashford Hotel where Brody ends up staying. Quinn asks Carrie to run into Brody to make him paranoid and hopefully compel him to contact his handler. Carrie meets a surprised Brody outside of Langley. She hints that she is back with the CIA in some capacity. Brody is spooked after the encounter. He speaks 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'' ...
), and tells her that Carrie is back with the CIA and that it must have something to do with him. Roya is not so sure, suggesting that Carrie may have just been brought back in to pursue Abu Nazir. Lauder (
Marc Menchaca Marc Menchaca (born October 10, 1975) is an American actor, writer and director. He was co-director, co-writer, and lead actor of the 2013 Heartland Film Festival Award Winning movie ''This Is Where We Live'', and was awarded best actor at the ...
) shows up at the Brodys' house ranting about Brody and refusing to leave until Brody gets home. Jessica, wanting to get him out of the house, calls Brody, who does not answer. When Brody finally calls back an hour later, Jessica angrily tells him that she needed him an hour ago, and that Mike (
Diego Klattenhoff Diego Klattenhoff is a Canadian actor known for his portrayals of Mike Faber in the Showtime series ''Homeland'' and as FBI Special Agent Donald Ressler in ''The Blacklist''. He has also appeared as Derek in '' Whistler'', Ivan in ''Men in Tre ...
) is helping her out instead. Mike drives Lauder home and they discuss Brody. Both agree that Brody is clearly no longer the same guy since he came back. They speculate that Brody and Walker were always a team, and may have been working together for someone, possibly the CIA, on the day Walker shot Elizabeth Gaines. As he shows her some of the "perks" of being the Vice President's son, Finn (
Timothée Chalamet Timothée Hal Chalamet (; ; born December 27, 1995) is an American actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Timothée Chalamet, various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a ...
) takes 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 Su ...
) inside the
Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the ...
while it is closed for renovations. While they admire the view of DC, Dana and Finn start to kiss, but Dana cuts it short, saying she needs to talk to Xander before going any further. Brody, in the bar of the hotel, calls Carrie and invites her to have a drink and "bury the hatchet." Encouraged by Quinn, Carrie goes to the bar, and they have a pleasant conversation. Brody admits that he is on the outs with his wife. They discuss Carrie's road to recovery and about how she is now hot on the trail of Abu Nazir. They part ways, and Saul and Quinn congratulate Carrie on a job well done. However, Carrie is dissatisfied, certain that Brody is on to her due to a brief moment of anger she showed in the conversation. Quinn disagrees, and orders Carrie to come back to headquarters. Carrie instead goes up to Brody's hotel room. She immediately blows her cover, proudly telling Brody she knows who he is, running down everything he is guilty of, and finally calling him a
traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and a
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
. Quinn and Saul, watching in disbelief, immediately dispatch their men to apprehend Brody. Seemingly about to hurt her, Brody tells Carrie that he actually liked her to which she replies "I loved you," leaving him stunned, just before Saul's team enters the room and arrests Brody. Carrie struggles to hold back tears as she watches Brody get taken away.


Production

The episode was written by executive producer
Meredith Stiehm Meredith Stiehm (born 1968) is an American television producer and writer. She is the creator of the hit crime drama '' Cold Case'' and the FX thriller drama '' The Bridge''. She is President of the Writers Guild of America. Early life and ed ...
, and was directed by
David Semel David Semel is an American film and television director and producer. His television directing credits include ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'', ''Person of Interest (TV series), Person of Interest'', ''Ally McBeal'', ''Boston Public'', ''7th ...
.


Reception


Ratings

The original American broadcast received 1.75 million viewers, which increased in viewership and became the highest rated episode up to that point.


Critical response

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 ...
's Emily VanDerWerff gave the episode an "A−" on the strength of the scenes with Carrie and Brody together, saying "I didn’t realize how much I had missed watching Brody and Carrie bounce off of each other," and "something about the chemistry between Claire Danes and Damian Lewis heightens every scene they’re in." Michael Hogan of ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' praised ''Homeland's'' ability to stay way ahead of viewer expectations and not leave plotlines hanging endlessly. Hogan mentioned the chemistry between Carrie and Brody as well as between Dana and Finn as being noteworthy.
Andy Greenwald Andy Greenwald (born May 19, 1977) is an American author, critic, podcaster, screenwriter, and television producer. Life and career Greenwald grew up in Philadelphia and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Friends' C ...
of
Grantland.com ''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed e ...
described the plot developments as "thrilling," and also "risky," in that "The central dance between Carrie and Brody, her struggle to bring his dark secret out into the light: This defined Homeland, it was the addictive engine that motored the show from pay-cable obscurity to the Emmy stage. To remove it — or, more likely, to reconsider it — now puts Homeland’s popularity and momentum in jeopardy."
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
's Scott Collura highly praised the episode, rating it a 9.3 out of 10, citing the interplay between the two leads as a particular high point. Collura enjoyed the new character, Peter Quinn, saying he "brings a refreshing dose of humor to the show." ''
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 ...
'' ranked "New Car Smell" as their second best overall television episode in 2012.


References


External links


"New Car Smell"
at Showtime * {{Homeland 2012 American television episodes Homeland season 2 episodes