review of Homeland 4.8 

Homeland 4.8 tonight was about as good as an hour of espionage on cable TV gets these days, which is good indeed - as good or better than what we\'ve come to expect in the best espionage movies.

There were two central stories tonight, somewhat separate but always intertwining as is the case with Homeland.

One is Saul.  He escapes his capture in a great series of sequences, only to find himself on the verge of recapture at the rendezvous point.  He tells Carrie he wants to die rather being recaptured and used as a pawn.   And Carrie lies to him, tells him she\'s guiding him to safety, when she\'s really guiding him to recapture, because there\'s no hope of his escaping, and she\'d rather have him alive and captive than dead.

Now, television being what it is, it seemed highly unlikely that Saul would die and Mandy Patinkin leave another series.   But the story was done so well that I was close to thinking maybe we would see Saul\'s death, anyway.  And, for all we know, we may see it yet.   That\'s a measure of how good the episode was tonight.

But was Carrie right to save Saul\'s life?  She feels guilty about it, but Quinn and I have no doubt that she was right.   Had she forsaken Saul in the bombing of Haqqani, at least Haqqani would have been dead, too.  But letting Saul die tonight served no greater purpose, other than robbing the terrorists of their negotiating card, which could lead to the release of other terrorists.   But Saul is also a great asset on our side, and Carrie and Quinn might yet figure out a way to get Saul back without giving Haqqani everything that he wants.   So, yeah, Carrie was right to do what she did tonight.

The other big story also concerns Carrie - and Kahn.  Turns out he\'s not a bad guy at all.  Not only did he have nothing to do with Carrie\'s drugging, but he helped her, and at the end of the episode gives our side the best break it\'s gotten in a good while: identification of the American ambassador\'s treacherous husband.   It was good to see Carrie, back in good form after her drugging, use Kahn\'s attraction to her to make the political alliance with him.

This is a game changer, and it will be fun to see how it plays out in the remaining episodes.   If I had to bet, I\'d say at least Saul (and of course Carrie) will survive.

ee also Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie\'s State of Mind ... Homeland 4.3: Quinn and Carrie ... Homeland 4.4: Carrie\'s Counterpart ... Homeland 4.5: Righteous Seduction ... Homeland 4.6: The Biggest Reveal ... Homeland 4.7: The Manifestation

And see also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal

And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality

And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

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Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren\'s fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom

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Paul Levinson appears on "The O\'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News," "Nightline" (ABC), the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS), "The Dylan Ratigan Show" (MSNBC) and frequently on NPR and all-news radio...