Of course, shady American politics play a role in that too, and Homeland has never been afraid to point a finger in that direction. And, as Homeland has made clear, there are certain people interested in maintaining the endless wars that have plagued the world in this century. One of the show’s best lines is delivered to Haqqani’s son when he says, “We are just strong enough never to lose and just weak enough never to win.” This is what leads to endless wars: a sense that victory for either side is never going to happen. This gray area of existence is also reflected in Haqqani’s view of the Taliban’s weakening power. In this world, even when you trust someone, you’re unsure.
A double agent doesn’t reveal itself until it’s too late. Is he trying to defect to the Americans by helping Carrie? Is he using her? The episode’s best scene may be the one between Carrie and Jenna on the roof, in which Carrie explains how you can never really know if someone is just trying to sow dissent and chaos or genuinely coming to your side. It plays out not only in how Haqqani’s son Jamal (Elham Ehsas) betrayed him by working with the Pakistani government to destroy the peace process and take leadership, but in how Carrie is uncertain how much she can trust Yevgeny, or what he’s even really doing in Kabul. As Saul Berenson and Haissam Haqqani stare out over the horizon and dream of a day when there’s peace in the region, there’s a sense that it’s the show’s writers, too, longing for some sort of satisfying end point.Īccordingly, “False Friends” leans into a recurring theme of Homeland: double agents and the inability to ever really trust someone in the world of espionage. So what’s most interesting so far about the final season of Homeland is its melancholy recognition of the show’s staying power embedded in a commentary on how the world has gone through cycles of violence since the tragedy of 9/11. Some final seasons are merely greatest hits of what came before or fan service to tie up loose ends, designed in a way that feels too desperate to please.
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