Senator Paley visits Dar Adal in prison, asking for help in discerning what Saul is doing in Russia. Dar looks at the flight manifest and quickly recognizes that Saul and Carrie are organizing a covert operation. Dar then gives him advice on how to track down Saul's task force stateside, which leads them to Clint. Janet, the Chief of Staff to Senator Paley, threatens Clint with legal action. Clint confesses that Saul and Carrie are in Russia to exfiltrate Simone, who is indeed alive. Janet urges Paley to relay this information to the Russian ambassador to sabotage the mission, thereby ending Keane's hopes to salvage her administration. Paley, visibly conflicted, does nothing while Janet is seen talking to the ambassador herself. Saul and Carrie sit down for a diplomatic meeting with representatives from the SVR and the GRU. Saul insists on the presence of Yevgeny Gromov before proceeding — a pretense to lure Gromov away from Simone. When Gromov shows up at the meeting, a team led by Anson storms the safehouse where Simone is being kept, but are forced to retreat after being ambushed by guards. Saul declares the mission a failure, but Carrie is determined to devise a new plan before leaving. She observes dissension between the SVR's General Yakushin and the GRU's Colonel Mirov during the meeting, and wonders how her team can exploit the tense relationship. Sandy discovers that General Yakushin of the SVR is hiding $300M in various U.S. banking institutions. President Keane gets the news that the Supreme Court has rejected the dismissal of four of her Cabinet secretaries. With that, the Cabinet has the sufficient votes to invoke the 25th Amendment. Vice President Warner arrives at the Oval Office to personally relieve a stunned Keane of her command. General Yakushin meets with Saul, livid that his bank accounts have been emptied of funds. Saul tells Yakushin that he will return the money in exchange for Simone Martin. When approached by Yakushin, Mirov falsely denies any knowledge of Simone or her whereabouts. Yakushin responds by sending 30 heavily armed, masked men to GRU headquarters where Simone is being held in an upstairs suite. Chaos and violence ensues as the SVR starts forcefully clearing out the building en masse; Carrie and Anson gain entry clothed like the masked men from the SVR. Carrie accesses the balcony of Simone's suite via a ledge from a nearby window. Simone holds Carrie at gunpoint but Carrie convinces Simone to come with her, making her understand she is now a massive liability to the Russians who will consider her expendable. Yevgeny sees "Simone" taken away by Anson and orders the car to be followed, but is actually duped by Carrie wearing Simone's scarf and a black wig. The real Simone, wearing a blonde wig, safely escapes in another car with Bennet.
Production
The episode was directed by Alex Graves and co-written by executive producers Patrick Harbinson and Chip Johannessen.
Reception
Reviews
The episode received an approval rating of 100% on the review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes based on 9 reviews. The A.V. Clubs Scott Von Doviak rated the episode "A-", citing the "heart-pounding action". Shirley Li of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a "B+" grade, calling it "thrilling" and "an hour of Homeland that felt capital-B BIG".
Ratings
The original broadcast was watched by 1.39 million viewers.
