'Homeland' Recap: "The Covenant"

Cameron Lee ’20 / Emertainment Monthly contributor
Spoiler Alert: This recap contains spoilers for the 3rd episode of the sixth season of Homeland.
After last week’s momentum-building episode, Homeland has slowed down into a predictable third episode which moved the plot along but didn’t introduce anything new to this season.
Due to Carrie’s (Claire Danes) interaction with Sadd, Sekou’s plea deal from the government has been terminated. Carrie visits Sekou to apologize for her actions, but Sekou does not take Carrie’s apology well. Facing an unwinnable case, Carrie does what she’s good at- pleading for help from former contacts. Carrie goes to Roger who was a former contact of her’s and asks him to find a conversation between Saad and Agent Colin. He says no at first but then, a day later, he sends the call to Carrie. Carrie then visits Agent Colin and threatens to release the evidence to the Attorney General unless Agent Colin drops all charges against Sekou.

Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, Saul (Mandy Patinkin) arrives to interrogate Farhad Nafisi (Bernard White) on Iran’s activities. Nafisi claims he has nothing to do with North Korea possibly having an underground nuclear program. He explains to Saul that his recent travels were due to buying long-range missiles from Russia which are legal under UN sanction laws. Saul has no reason to hold Nafisi, so he lets him go- much to the dismay of Mossad. Saul calls up Dar (F. Murray Abraham) and tells him that he is very suspicious of Nafisi’s claims, but there is no evidence to back up their suspicion. Luckily for Dar, he was on his way to a meeting with the President Elect (Elizabeth Marvel) when Saul happened to call. Dar briefs the President Elect about the interrogation and falsely claims that Saul was able to confirm that Iran has a secret nuclear program. Carrie later meets with the President-Elect and highly doubts Dar’s claims. Unfortunately for Carrie, it’s revealed that Dar is listening in on their conversation (what a surprise).

Quinn (Rupert Friend) is getting increasingly paranoid and thinks that someone is sneaking into Carrie’s house. Quinn calls the prostitute that helped him escape from the hospital and asks her to take him to Tommy who was the drug dealer that stole Quinn’s money and knocked him unconscious in the premiere. He goes up to Tommy’s apartment and, like the badass he once was, bashes Tommy in the head with an improvised weapon. He steals his gun and calls it even for mugging him. He then returns back to Carrie’s house and watches her walk into the house. He hides under Carrie’s house and keeps armed watch over the house as the episode comes to an end.
While not a great episode, this episode did move the plot forward. Character interactions were as sharp as always and it was well directed by long time Homeland director, Lesli Linka Glatter.  What this season is really about still remains a mystery, but, hopefully, the plot will reveal itself in the coming weeks.
Episode Grade: B