Two years have passed since the end of Season Four and protagonist has left the CIA. She is now working as head of security for a wealthy philanthropist Otto Düring; head of the Düring Foundation who wants her to organise a trip to a refugee camp in Lebanon; something she strongly advises against. Meanwhile a couple of hackers manage to steal a large number of CIA files, some of which detail a covert arrangement where the CIA carried out spying operations in Germany for the Germans to bypass laws preventing German Intelligence from doing so; if these become public it could have serious implications for relations between the two countries. These hackers pass the files onto a journalist working for the Düring Foundation who expects Carrie to verify them. She refuses and finds herself in a difficult position; her new colleague thinks she is a CIA apologist and her old mentor, Saul Berenson, thinks she is working for the enemy. This isn't her biggest worry though; getting guarantees of safety for the trip to Lebanon will mean contacting a Hezbollah chief who has reason to hate her. She isn't the only one whose life has changed since the last season Peter Quinn has been working in Syria to find targets for assassination and now he too is in Germany to eliminate certain targets.
This might not be the most action packed of episodes but it does a great job establishing the various changes that have happened in the last two years. It was nice to see that Carrie seems to have genuinely sorted her life out and now appears to be a good mother, have a safe job and be in a relationship of course how long this will last when the series really gets going remains to be seen. Likewise it was interesting to see Quinn's life had gone in almost the opposite direction; he is seen as a lone-wolf assassin who is taking part in operations he knows the CIA will disavow if he is caught. There is some tension; when Carrie is grabbed off the street and taken to see the Hezbollah chief the danger feels real even though it is a meeting she requested. The cast does a fine job making the story believable; a task helped by a story that features so many details that could have been taken straight from the morning paper; ISIS, refugee camps and Edward Snowdon to name just three. It is impossible to guess what way the story will go from just this episode but I have a feeling that we are in for quite an adventure; I certainly hope we are!
This might not be the most action packed of episodes but it does a great job establishing the various changes that have happened in the last two years. It was nice to see that Carrie seems to have genuinely sorted her life out and now appears to be a good mother, have a safe job and be in a relationship of course how long this will last when the series really gets going remains to be seen. Likewise it was interesting to see Quinn's life had gone in almost the opposite direction; he is seen as a lone-wolf assassin who is taking part in operations he knows the CIA will disavow if he is caught. There is some tension; when Carrie is grabbed off the street and taken to see the Hezbollah chief the danger feels real even though it is a meeting she requested. The cast does a fine job making the story believable; a task helped by a story that features so many details that could have been taken straight from the morning paper; ISIS, refugee camps and Edward Snowdon to name just three. It is impossible to guess what way the story will go from just this episode but I have a feeling that we are in for quite an adventure; I certainly hope we are!