There is no baby (except for a brief glimpse in a photo on a bedside table). There is no Brody (he was hanged at the end of season three). But there is plenty of Claire Danes doing what she’s done so well for the past three seasons – running, scowling, getting injured, and generally teetering on the fine line that separates heroism from insanity, while kicking some serious terrorist butt.
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Well, that’s what we can tell from the first trailer for season four of Homeland after intensively poring over it like some lowly paid analyst at Langley. Pause, Rewind. Play. Quick, zoom in on that map, there. It’s a port somewhere. But where?
OK, so here’s what we know so far, Saul.
Though she ended season three as the Agency’s youngest-ever bureau chief, with a plum placement in Istanbul, CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Danes) appears to have been drawn back into the field (well, who could have seen that coming?) for the forthcoming season, which debuts in the US in October and will be fast tracked to Australian free-to-air screens on Ten soon after.
Saul (Mandy Patinkin) – who moved to the private sector at the end of the last season after being squeezed out of the Agency – also seems to be back in the game. “Happy hunting,” he tells Carrie, who gives him one of those “I’ve-skipped-my-lithium-and-I’m-loving-it” grins.
Saul is on his home computer, though, which suggests that (a) he’s still on the outer at the Agency and is chipping in as a freelancer, or (b) the Agency budget cuts are so severe they’ve had to do away with offices entirely. Or (c) that he’s become just as crazily meddling as Carrie. Whatever, we’re glad to see him back. It just wouldn’t be the same without him.
The plot seems to involve US drone strikes, and the deaths of civilians. Yes, we’ve been here before, but then so have the US drones, so fair enough.
Protesters outside an American Embassy hold placards (helpfully written in English and facing the camera rather than the embassy) saying “stop drone attacks”. It’s not obvious where this is happening, but Pakistan seems a fair bet since there’s a well-spoken chap of subcontinental appearance saying to Carrie, “We’re all hoping you’ll be on your best behaviour here in Pakistan”. And with intelligence gathering like that, we’re expecting an offer from ASIO any second.
There’s the hint of a cover-up, too, which, this being a spy drama, you’d kind of expect. “The tyranny of secrets,” Saul says, apropos of something he’s keeping secret from us. “The tyranny of keeping secrets,” Carrie retorts. Thanks for nothing, you two.
All will be revealed soon enough, though. Of course, whether we’ll understand it all when the dust has settled is another matter entirely.
