Homeland, Better Call Saul
“Parabiosis”, noun — anatomical and physiological union of two organisms; often completed for experimental purposes; can share common circulation of blood. The title of Homeland’s sixth episode calls to mind the joining of several unconnected pieces of Season 5 plot, along with the shaky reunion of Carrie and Saul — not much by way of physical proximity, or professional like-mindedness. Rather, a reunion driven by the one thread that wasn’t snipped between these two tense, former colleagues: belief in one another.
After swooping Saul via cab outside his hotel, Carrie downloads him on recent events (and why she’s wearing that dubious brown wig) — the Russians have been trying to kill her ever since the CIA docs were hacked and leaked, and their first attempt was at the Syrian refugee camp. Carrie has gathered that the Russians don’t want her to see what’s in those CIA documents, and if they can’t stop her from accessing the docs, they’ll extinguish her instead.
Carrie asks Saul for help: She needs access to the hacked information from the CIA servers. Saul is skeptical at best regarding this info-dump, and ultimately refuses to help Carrie. During the convo, though, Carrie points out that Saul’s kill-box was infiltrated, and his own agency has been surveilling him — she mentions it as an aside, unimportant in the grander scheme of things. But after departing their seemingly fruitless meeting, Saul can’t get Carrie’s words about being followed out of his head — and soon, he spots his tail.
Meanwhile, Laura is witnessing the ramification of leaking the CIA docs in the press: dozens of Muslim extremists are released from prison, since the docs call into question the evidence gathered and used against them in their case. One particularly intense-looking extremist — Hajik — is already prepared to exact revenge following the “humiliating” treatment he received in prison. He heads back into Germany with a serious ax to grind.
Saul falls into a paranoid spiral, now aware he’s being followed by his own. Carrie’s fateful word — “Russians” — is all he can think about, and he’s worried that the CIA building and even his own residence are bugged. He orders a sweep at the station, but this only pisses off Dar Adal, who’s already suspicious as hell of his colleague. Saul confides in Allison, trying to get to the bottom of the botched (and bombed) Youssef plan, still completely unaware that she is the epicenter of all of this deception and destruction.
Quinn is alive, all thanks to the kindness of a Good Samaritan (who also happens to be a doctor). He awakes in the man’s apartment hooked up to IVs, receiving much-needed blood and fluid — blood of his Good Samaritan, another nod to the episode title. The Good Samaritan, however, also happens to be the building manager where our recently freed extremist Hajik holes up with his co-conspirators.
It feels a bit Deus ex Machina when it comes to Quinn’s lost purpose and suicidal tailspin, placing him just one air vent away from terrorists plotting an attack in Germany. Or, perhaps it’s indicative of Quinn being a magnet for this kind of madness — not unlike his ex, Carrie.
Speaking of exes, Jonas is soon to be Carrie’s next one. He’s had it with the insanity, and perceives Carrie’s actions as her willfully diving into a life she said she left behind. Jonas’s reactions, though, reek of naivety to Carrie’s world and line of work — he asks her simply to walk away from the madness, to accept a simple life with him. Carrie, however, knows that she’s wanted dead — what kind of “normal” life could she ever have now?
And so, Carrie decides to disappear. She needs to. It’s for her own safety, and the safety of her loved ones. She meets up with Otto to ask him for a favor — she needs a plane to get her out of Germany and to a location she won’t even disclose to Otto. Always supportive, Otto agrees, and Carrie explains why she needs to go off the radar for good: “I bring down everyone around me,” she says. “And I have this opportunity now to just go away, and take the problems with me.”
Saul is slowly shut out of the CIA, losing his security clearance to view the hacked docs. It’s Dar’s way of tightening his grip on Saul (they two hash it the hell out in one scene), and ultimately exactly what Allison wanted.
But it’s too simple to say that Saul is driven by paranoia this episode, and that’s why he manages to steal the CIA docs off the server. What it perhaps is more a testament to is the aforementioned concept of belief. Despite the tension and the long-term fallout, Saul’s relationship with Carrie has always been defined by trusting Carrie’s instincts. His belief in her words — about the tail, about the Russians, about the docs — motivates him to protect himself and dig deeper for explanations. Saul is proof that you don’t have to like or even respect someone to still believe them at the end of the day — you just have to listen and react.
By the end of “Parabiosis,” Quinn has managed to convince Hajik that he isn’t a spy, yet that doesn’t prevent the two of them from engaging in a knife fight that ultimately ends Hajik’s life and leaves Quinn in a strange position with Hajik’s men. Carrie continues to strip herself of her life in Germany, deleting stored photos of Franny from her phone, and lingering outside Jonas’s home one last time, unable to go inside and say goodbye.
And Saul has completely violated orders, stealing and handing the CIA docs to Otto, unsure of who he can trust at the station. He wants Otto to get them to Carrie ASAP. Before Carrie boards her private jet to nowhere-land, someone stops her, handing her the coveted CIA information — Carrie lights up, not just because she finally has documents she’s been digging for, but because Saul, despite everything, still believes her when she speaks.