HOMELAND Season 8 || Ending Explained || Showtime || 2020

The epic finale of the epic series is here and we try to explain its ending.

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[Okkara-qb]

0:19 The show ends with a defiant, satisfied and genuinely happy Carrie, bathed in blue light while jazz music plays - its source behind her knows nothing. We will never know if this was Carrie's final game from the start, or if she took a turn when it became clear that she would not be welcome in America. I would like to think it was the first option, and I’ll go further. I will be most reassured to believe that Carrie engineered this plot in the moments of season 8, when the danger of suspicion about Carrie with Yevgeny Gromov, GRU and Russia became clear. It is the longest of the long cons, and it gives all of that meaning: his seven months of torture without medication in the Russian prison, his time in Kabul, his apparent betrayals from Saul to Yevgeny along the way.

Viewers and Saul probably did not realize that this plan would result in Carrie's exile in Moscow, and if we are all honest with ourselves, it is the only plausible version of an ending. As a prisoner of this war, Carrie would never have the kind of happy family life that we would all like to attribute to her (Carrie in the USA with Franny, Saul and Maggie) - and I think Homeland's writers gave us a gift, showing her not only in peace, as she is alive with the excitement of her new venture within the Russian espionage of Vladimir Putin. We all know that it is better to put her at a safe distance from her loved ones, free to use her questionable morals in a world where there are no victims. Or prisoners.

We can say that Carrie/Saul was one of the best-built characters in history - alongside Brody, Quinn, Max, Dar Adal (and Astrid, Fara, Maggie, Virgil)... It would be possible to clarify the following doubts:

- I would like to see Homeland reveal how the CIA explained Brody in Iran and his death to the American press. Clearly, Javadi being able to take credit for capturing Brody helped his cause in Iran, but did the US government reveal Brody's role in Akbari's murder? Was his name cleared for the CIA attack? I'd love to know what you thought.

- Another loose thread: Paul Franklin and the murder of the "real" CIA bomber. You just did that ... why ??

Carrie was publicly humiliated, beaten, doped, shot and put her life on the line countless times without hesitation, just to make others see Brody as she saw him ... and succeeded. Abu Nazir, the CIA, Jessica and the show's own audience, no one came close to seeing Brody with the clarity Carrie has always seen. Carrie has always read Brody like no one else.

Ah, Carrie's dialogue with Javadi was awesome, it will be one of the most memorable moments of the series, without a doubt!
"And what you wanted, which was for everyone to see in him what you see. That has happened. Everyone sees him through your eyes now ..."

- How did Carrie see Brody? and how did the US come to see it? It's the world?

[Okkara-qb]

Fitting Ending: Yevgeny Gromov

Yevgeny Gromov got exactly what he deserved by the end of Homeland’s finale. In the titillating S8 finale, fans watched as Carrie battled over loyalty to Saul, her country, and Gromov. Though it seemed like Yevgeny had persuaded Carrie to move over to his side, we find out that Carrie had actually outsmarted both he and the Russian intelligence.

Carrie becomes a secret informant to the US government within the Russian government, giving an unaware Gromov a blind taste of his own medicine. In that sense, this character got exactly what he not only deserved, as well as what he practiced throughout the show.

"Saul: Why? You like bad boys?
Carrie: That sounds funny coming from you. You know why girls like bad boys, Saul? Because it gives us an excuse to be bad all the while convincing ourselves we’re saving them.” - Saul's Game: A Homeland Novel(2014) / Andrew Kaplan(Author); Page 228

Carrie and her addiction to danger remain in evidence.

Perhaps one of the most important questions about Homeland is the controversial nature of its protagonist. Carrie has won many awards for Claire Danes not only because she is a woman who suffers from a mental disorder, but also because this disorder does not directly affect one of the greatest truths about her personality: Carrie likes to be in danger. Tension, fear, despair are her real comfort zone; and little by little, it sabotages any alternative of ordinary life.

I don't buy the premise of the finale -spoiler ALERT
I absolutely didn't buy Carrie as a mole, and her "redemption" for the things she has done.

Carrie establishes herself as the new top asset for USA in Russia, being a girlfriend to a high-ranking GRU officer.Supposedly, the viewer should also keep in mind that she has proven herself again and again to Russians as a loyal asset/tool, hence it should be plausible that Carrie would have some space to work with in Russia, replacing the loss of a previous mole - GRU translator.

Why I think it is absolutely not the case:

Yevgeny demonstrated time and time again that although charming, he is a cold, calculating and extremely professional spy, expert at manipulation. I don't think Yevgeny will ever as much as mutter a word of really valuable information in front of Carrie, let alone he will not have any valuable documents lying around the apartment.

Russians at this level of the government are notoriously paranoid, and Carrie is not visiting GRU or other important facilities or people in her lifetime, at the very best, she will be under constant surveillance for the rest of her life.

The contents of her book are not revealed, but it would be naive to presume that it didn't go through Russian censorship, with her in Moscow there is not a chance in hell that they would let her publish something damaging to Russia and not damaging to USA/CIA.

As I see it, at the very best, they could leak/feed her fake information to cause damage to USA or simply waste resources at the very best.

She already went through hell in a Russian prison-asylum, if she did not reveal everything then, she is certain to be squeezed for the remaining important information on CIA using other, perhaps, soft measures over the course of her life in Moscow.

That's why the note she passed to Saul about S400 military equipment does not make any sense to me whatsoever. The previous mole, the translator, was a unique case.She was Russian herself, she "ran herself" from the beginning, she was working with top GRU officials on the daily basis, she worked in GRU building and was accompanying GRU officers on their missions. Plenty of opportunities to gather intel.

In contrast, Carrie sits at home with Yevgeny as her handler/torturer and writes a book, supposedly with the contents of which are pre-censored by the the Kremlin.

She wasn’t getting info from Yevgeny nor is she visiting the GRU. We aren't supposed to believe she's got access to anything (Yvgeny documents or internal info), she's just running things herself, secretly, dangerously. Whether she'd be able to do that under Yvgeny's nose for long...

She got the info from the woman at the opera house, that’s what the purse switch was about. And it took her 2 years to get to that point. And she still had to covertly organize that operation with the woman at the opera house. She had 2 years to figure it out - Well, that’s why she recruited assets for the CIA for some 20 years and you didn’t 🤷🏽‍♀️

Double agent is just a bonus and would indeed be extremely hazardous but thats Carrie’s MO - livin on the edge

I loved almost all seasons of Homeland, the finale was beautiful and emotional, but from a rational perspective it does not make any sense to me whatsoever.

[Okkara-qb]

0:19 This scene reminds me of the incredible, too incredible to be coincidental in fact, symmetry of Homeland’s first two seasons .

In season one, Carrie is on the verge of a severe mental breakdown. In season two, it’s Brody. At the end of season one, Carrie is the only one who believes Brody is guilty. At the end of season two, she’s the only who believes he’s innocent. At the end of season one, Carrie is on the outs at the CIA; in season two, Brody is excommunicated and Carrie returns to the agency. Season one’s “big attack” was mostly thwarted but season two’s was effective.

In the first season, the powers that be question Brody’s mental and psychological state as he returns from a tortured captivity. In the second season, Saul, Estes, and Quinn question Carrie’s mental and psychological state as she returns to the operation after her own tortured absence, complete with ECT, from the agency.

In the first season, we learn that Brody was turned after Walden and the US lied about their role in a drone strike. In the second season, we learn that the US has turned on Brody after Al Qaeda lies (presumably) about Brody’s role in the CIA attack.

Episode to episode, there are also great parallels.

In the fourth episode (“Semper I”/“New Car Smell”) Carrie and Brody cross paths in a major way.

In episode five (“Blind Spot”/“Q&A”) a gutting interrogation takes place (with the 13th guard and Brody, respectively). After Brody’s interrogation, Carrie becomes a Nazir-like figure to Brody, disassembling him and putting him back into something she wants him to be. In season one, we are shown flashbacks of Nazir offering Brody water; Carrie does the same in her interrogation, and Brody declares in his interrogation that he is “off the grid” just as he was in captivity.

In episode seven (“The Weekend”/“The Clearing”) Saul seeks help from Aileen in uncovering the plans for the next terrorist attack. In “The Weekend” her information leads to the realization that Tom Walker is still alive; this season she gives false information. And Brody again finds himself running away with/to Carrie, into the woods, for some manipulation and “is this real or not?” mind games. And in both instances, Brody walks away and leaves Carrie alone in the woods. To a lesser extent, in season one you have Dana giving Mike the lay of the land (“stay away from us, there’s no room for my dad when you’re here”); in season two, Carrie gives Mike the lay of the land (“stop talking to Jessica about Brody”, etc.).

In episode eight (“Achilles Heel”/“I’ll Fly Away”) Brody doubts his mission and claims he’s out to his respective “handlers.” (I also like the parallel that both these episodes have sequences of Carrie helplessly and crazily barking orders/play-by-play into a telephone, in the Tom Walker manhunt and the “THEY’RE JUST GONE!” helicopter fiasco.)

In episode nine (“Crossfire”/“Two Hats”) Nazir reaches out to Brody personally to reaffirm him to the cause. In season one his loyalty to the cause is reaffirmed, and in season two it seems to have been broken. Both episodes also feature flashbacks from Brody about time spent with Nazir.

In episode ten (“Representative Brody”/“Broken Hearts”), Brody makes a major decision about his position in Congress. In season one he decides to run for Congress; in season two he decides to resign from Congress. Both episodes also feature events that rattle Carrie’s mind and put her in grave danger (suitcase bomb/abduction by Nazir).

In the eleventh episode (“The Vest”/“In Memoriam”) Brody says goodbye to his family. In “The Vest” he takes them on a final family trip and says his goodbyes subtly, trying to assure they’ll be fine when he’s gone. In season two he accepts that his marriage is over. In season one, Brody tells Carrie he’ll come to her home to discuss Nazir with her personally. He doesn’t show up, but in “In Memoriam” he finally comes to her door once Nazir is dead. Carrie’s mental state in the first season is manic and out-of-control and she is frenzied at the activity of Nazir. In the second season, her mental state is subdued and rather dejected after Nazir dies. Both episodes also feature great tirades over seemingly nothing: Carrie’s green pen in “The Vest” and Dana’s spilled milk in “In Memoriam.”

In the finales (“Marine One”/“The Choice”) Brody and Dana have a loaded conversation in the bedroom as Brody dresses. In season one Dana doubts her father’s innocence and calls him to talk him back from the ledge; in season one Dana doubts her father’s guilt in his role in the CIA explosion. And of course in “Marine One” you have the introduction of Brody’s tape, and in “The Choice, ” its resurface after many weeks of not hearing about it. Carrie and Brody also part indefinitely at the end of both seasons.

[Okkara-qb]

3:34 "If you play with me, you lose everything, if i play with you, you fall."
Once ready, Carrie runs into her office to get her purse. It’s… about what you’d expect her office to look like. There are stacks of books everywhere, documents printed out and tacked to the wall, sticky notes all over the window. The picture of Franny in the yellow rain coat is still there. She turns to the wall and takes it in. It’s pages and pages of news articles about the CIA’s drone program, Abu Ghraib, the black sites, torture. Familiar figures— in real life and in-show —are visible. Snowden, Brody, Quinn, Keane, etc. It’s her professional career—her entire life—arrayed in one final collage for us to take in. The familiar closing score from “The Star” it season 3 begins playing as she shuts off the lights.

[Okkara-qb]

Carrie comes closer, standing over him now. And she leans forward, a narrow-eyed glare burning holes in his face.

“You think I blame you?” She snorts. “Don’t… flatter yourself. Because blaming you would imply that what you did to me was personal. But it wasn’t, was it? I was a captured enemy agent. And what you did… withdrawing my medication, stripping me of my last shreds of humanity, watching me claw my nails bloody at those white tiles at night, flinging my waste at your people…” She shakes her head. “You systematically pulled me apart. For months. And then you swung in at the most opportune moment. You ‘saved my life’, and you ‘managed to put me back on my meds for a couple of weeks there’. A ‘couple of weeks’, ” she spits. “...out of seven months I was there. You show me some kindness, take me for long walks in the birch forest, have me bare my soul to you…”

For the first time since the day they left for Ramallah her face wobbles, and her voice breaks.

“You think I don’t know what it’s called, Yevgeny?” She leans closer. “You think I’ve never recruited an asset?” And closer still. “You don’t think I know what it feels like? The guilt, when they finally break? The look in their eyes when they finally trust you?”

He uses every ounce of his will power to steady his voice, holding her teary, fluttering stare. “Carrie, you’re wrong, ” he says, measuring every word. “I know you think this. And I know it makes sense. But that wasn’t what happened.”

Her face is a wobbling mess now, every muscle twitching. “Like hell it wasn’t, ” she mouths. “You knew what withdrawing my medication would do to me. And you fucking did it anyway. You broke me. You put me back together again. And you used me. And now you’ve got me here, in your house, day after day, a walking, breathing reminder of what you did. And it hurts. I know it does, believe me. I’ve been there.”

There’s barely an inch separating their faces when she breathes her last words for the night.

“Damn you to hell, ” she hisses. “Damn you to fucking hell, Yevgeny. Because here I am. And whatever you think you feel, whatever you think happened between us, I hope it hurts. And I hope it hurts for a long, long time.”

[harrymonk]

PLEASE explain how "Israeli counter intelligence" was the turning point for Yevgeny and Carrie and how she was then accepted by Russia?

[garlandremingtoniii]

The writing / writers on HOMELAND, was absolutely unbelievably, PERFECT!! From Season 1 to Season 8. So flawless. They definitely did there homework on how CIA operations actually work...

[Okkara-qb]

“Homeland” ends with Carrie working as a secret spy -- shades of Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) in the first season -- and taking the place of Saul’s Russian asset, whose death Carrie helped cause.

This ending raises all sorts of questions. We know Carrie has resigned herself to not seeing her daughter, who’s in the U.S. But how will affect both Carrie, and her daughter? How much does Yevgeny know? How long can Carrie get away with her spying? Will Saul forgive Carrie -- yet again -- because of her attempt to make amends by taking the place of the asset she helped expose?

[Okkara-qb]

“The big idea for when we were filming [the final scenes] both for Carrie and Saul was that there were these amazing flares of light in the background of Saul’s shot and in the background of Carrie’s shot. It’s another chapter opening up. It came out of incredible discussions since it is the last image. I love that there’s just something about the incredible, ecstatic look on both of their faces for very different reasons.” –Lesli Linka Glatter



Carrie “burned down a really bleak future and built a better one". How Can describe the bleak future?

The alternative is what we saw in the entirety of the series. An endless cycle of Saul pushing her away and pulling her back. Breaking the toxic and codependent cycle of her relationship with Saul was the best thing about that finale.
Trying to save the world was actually killing Carrie. She managed to escape while still salvaging that girl playing chicken with the train on the tracks. No one could ever beat me, not even the boys.

[freespeech]

Just finished all the seasons last night, Wow what an amazing show,
Thank you so much Homeland

[TrumpFanNetwork]

I watched the show, I did not need a play by play of every freaking scene. Who did you make this synopsis for? This video is not what I thought it was going to be.. try explaining the episode, why this or that happened. Nobody wants a recap.

[Okkara-qb]

I was curious if you guys had the chance to watch Costa Ronin's InstaLive last weekend (April 5th, 2020). A fan asked him if Yevgeny was in love with Carrie. Surprisingly, he said NO. He stated that they are very respectful of each other, and that it was NOT LOVE. I found it interesting that he went straight to the point very quickly about it.

[Okkara-qb]

4:08 If Gromov discovered her betrayal, would he protect her or turn her in?

I don't think there's any question that, that he would, he would be, he would feel betrayed too, is very cool. And then probably would just curse and beat himself up that he didn't realize that this was what she was up to all along.

1:20 So we had long discussions about what exactly her motivations were, for doing this, and then ultimately at the end, also, what is her relationship with Yevgeny? How much genuine feeling is there, and how does it feel for her to be betraying him at the same time as making a life with him? You know, these were all really tricky, delicate questions that had to be answered between writer and actor, before they could play the scenes and make them work.

Certainly after Carrie playing Yevgeny’s pawn and going after Saul’s longtime Russian asset and then the man himself, seeing Carrie in Moscow at Yevgeny’s side living a life of luxury only to be sending info to Saul, that was a very long-game reveal right at the end …

Toward the end of the episode, we saw that Carrie had made a new cork board collage. Until now, it was not interwoven with its manic red string - but it still featured an impressive mural of interconnected conspiracy and crime. Only this time, his wall of evidence seemed to point to a nefarious cabal: his once beloved CIA. We also learned that Carrie had written something like a book that says it all, called Tyranny of Secrets: Why I had to betray my country.

As the series moved away from the plot of the '' Manchurian Candidate '' that dominated its first three seasons (with Nicholas Brody), and fortunately it was not lost, it became more interior, turning to Carrie, the fanatic Cassandra, lost in a haze of information, but year, bumping into a conspiracy against America. His fears were generally proved correct, an indulgent license taken on by the program. But I don't think we should really see Carrie as something ennobled by that correction. The more she identified conspiracies and illicit arrangements, the more she created them, digging deeper as the sky disappeared above her.

In the closing scenes of the episode, Carrie sneaked a hand towards Saul two years after breaking a seemingly impregnable rift between them - Carrie drugged Saul and almost caused Russian agents to kill him to extract the name of Saul's mole in the Kremlin. This turnaround curiously brought to mind the end of the breathtaking French novel "Portrait of a Lady on Fire", in which a coded message is discovered, with melancholy joy, after years of painful and irreducible distance.

In their final moments on the screen, the two characters were bathed in light, Saul in the warm sun of an empty home office (he was moving; where we really weren't told) and Carrie in the bright blue light of the theater. It almost looked like they were in the afterlife, continuing their pas de deux in some other realm ...

[Okkara-qb]

Two things: Great ending and true to an essential Carrie Mathison characteristic: Bravery. Carrie always made the brave choices. In Season 2 Brody (by killing the VP), when Abu Nazir and freed her from Nazir's captivity in the warehouse, any normal person would run away and stay away. Not Carrie. She went back INTO the tunnels to find Nazir. And kept going back in when everyone had given up. Typical brilliant Carrie.

In Germany, when everyone was fleeing the train station and there were only minutes to a dirty bomb exploding, any normal person would have run as fast and as far away as they could. Not Carrie. She ran into the train tunnel to see what she could do to stop the explosion, risking her very probable death. Brave.

So the series finale—with Carrie thoroughly burning her USA bridges, irrevocably leaving her daughter, and becoming the new Russian CIA spy, was both a brave choice and integrous. She'd blown the former agent's cover, causing her death, and took up her place. One hopes Saul stays in the game and ''runs'' her, instead of taking his well-deserved retirement.

The second thing is this: Claire Danes' portrayal of a bi-polar person was flawless. Absolutely stellar. Especially the last two episodes of Season 1. People is bi-polar and I've never seen an actor depict mania so perfectly. Over the years, in the comments, people would write, "I can't stand crazy Carrie." Well, that's exactly how it feels when a bi-polar person is in a manic phase. You can't stand it.

I bid farewell to this excellent series with enormous respect for Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damian Lewis and Rupert Friend especially, for superb, unforgettable performances, and to all the marvelous actors, designers, writers, etc. Well done. Bravo. Can't wait to see your next projects.

She looks sad in the cover photo. His fear of being unfairly labeled a traitor, like his beloved Brody, has come true.

And as usual, things are not as they appear. Saul finds a piece of paper in the book binding on how to neutralize the missile defense system Russia sold to Iran and Turkey.

Carrie, back with Yevgeny, looks 'happy' with her reconfigured life. Did the chameleon agent change form from Saul's protections to his heritage ... even though Russian intelligence shouldn't be with her?

Saul cracks a faint smile. He has a new Anna. He's back in the spy game.

And although the episode took a lot of questionable turns getting there, Carrie and Saul end up where they belong: arm in arm in espionage.

[NM-hqio]

Amazing show but only one plot hole: how on earth did Carrie & yergovnny suddenly become best friends in S9 after everything he done to her in the gulag?

[Maggie-hb]

I hate them for ending it. But the ending was magnificent, I could not imagine how they would tie it all together. But they did, it was brilliant
And intelligent. It was magical watching the actors bring the end of the
The story and characters we loved and they loved. I was proud, and happy with writers and actors as well as all the others who brought this
Incredible story to us. Thank you, you will be so missed.
Proudly, Mags13

[ReneContrerasMarzol]

Best TV Show ever ❤❤❤❤❤❤ I can't get enough, brilliant my favorite of all times

[alexandrebeaudry]

I believe she just started a new network of Intelligence with Evgeny and now Saul.
She discussed it with Saul before the final how she wanted to have a network free of incompetent leaders and corrupt politiciens.
The starting point was when they wonder if Israeli knew about the last event of the movie.
I can imagine Evgeny having some financial liberty by the gouvernement of Russia. Carrie using her old network and the one of Saul. Saul and her doing international collaboration. And Evgeny's planning skills with Carrie's instinct being the dream team.

[yashojha]

I haven't seen the show for some time. Thanks for explaining this season ending

[pinkybeasts]

I never wanted a man character to die so bad