I meant David, just didn’t know his name. Carrie’s higher up boss.
Are we psyched? I’m just hoping the dog won’t have to potty. I can turn off the phone, but I can’t turn off the dog.
Very! I have no clue how this is going to go, and I can’t wait to find out.
Absolutely fantastic season finale! How long before we can talk about it without spoilers?
I’d say now. It’s unlikely that anyone will come to the thread until they’ve seen the finale.
Did you see Sepinwall’s headline for this episode? “Wait till your father gets home.” 
I’m still digesting, but this was probably the best season finale I’ve ever seen.
I fell asleep about halfway through. What happened?
Too much to describe. You just have to rewatch.
I googled a recap. Thanks.
Oh dear, where to start. This is a mishmash but it hits the main points, I think.
Brody records himself talking about what he plans to do. He hides the tape.
Walker shoots several people – but not the Vice President – outside the building where everyone was gathering. This allowed Brody (wearing the vest) and everyone else inside the building without any security checks. All of them went to a bunker-type room and Brody hit the switch on the vest, but it malfunctioned.
In the meantime, Carrie and Virgil had driven to the site and witnessed the shooting. Carrie felt that the situation wasn’t gonna be just a sniper but something bigger. When Carrie saw that the VP wasn’t hit, she told Virgil that Walker missed him deliberately, and that the real action was gonna go down inside, with many more victims, including the VP, joint chiefs, Secretary of Defense. She reached Saul by phone and told him this, and Saul called security to restrain Carrie. Carrie got away, and went to Brody’s house, where she convinced Brody’s daughter to call Brody and talk him down. Brody’s wife calls the police and Carrie’s arrested.
While this was happening, Brody was in the bathroom in the bunker fixing his vest. As he’s about to hit the switch a second time, his daughter reaches him on the phone, asks him to come home, says she needs him. (Earlier, the daughter had caught Brody praying in the garage and Brody admitted to her that he’d converted to Islam. She suspects something’s wrong.)
So Brody doesn’t hit the switch. Everyone leaves the bunker.
Later, Brody goes to where he hid the tape and finds it gone. He meets Walker, tells Walker the vest malfunctioned. Walker doesn’t believe him. They get Nazir on the phone, Brody tells Nazir he’ll soon be in a position to influence policy. Nazir says fine, but there’s a loose end and will Brody take care of it. Brody kills Walker.
Brody tells Carrie he won’t press charges if she’ll agree to leave him alone. She seems convinced (again) that he’s not a terrorist.
Carrie decides to get electroshock therapy to help cure her condition. It will affect her short-term memory. Saul goes to see her in the hospital. He had found out that the VP ordered the drone strike that killed 82 children, including Nazir’s son, and he tells Carrie. As Carrie is being sedated she remembers the name that Brody called out in his sleep was the name of Nazir’s son, and she realizes that Brody also knew the boy. She mumbles “Don’t let me forget this” as she goes to sleep and the electroshock therapy starts.
ETA: I see you found the recap. I type too slow.
Thank you.
When Saul called security on Carrie, I thought here we go, Saul’s the mole. I’m still not sure why he did that. Maybe to protect her? She’s acting irrationally and the area’s full of antsy people carrying weapons.
I really like that Brody’s daughter is so sharp. It’d be unrealistic for her not to suspect something. That will make for some uncomfortable drama in S2.
I’m sorta hoping that something will happen to make Brody change his mind, become a double agent. If the writers don’t do that, what will they do in S2? More of the same? We’ll have Carrie trying to recover her memory, Brody getting elected to Congress, the daughter worrying whether she can trust her dad, Saul deciding what to do about the drone strike. What else?
I think the finale was excellent, but at the same time I think I would have liked it better if they had completely wrapped the major storyline and had a new one develop for season two. It still could have relied on Nazir as the protagonist but with a new main plot. They could change my mind if they keep the quality in season two, but I am worried they’re going to milk the same storyline for too long.
I wonder how long ago they wrote the bulk of the final episode for the season? It seems they could have easily altered a few pieces to have the series end completely if they hadn’t been renewed for season two.
Whereas I am hoping they don’t do that.
Having him suddenly become a double agent would ruin the premise of the show and be lazy writing. The whole reason I thought this season was interesting is that they didn’t have him become the super patriot hero, again.
Besides, the VP needs his comeuppance. A better ending of season 4 or 5 would be to have Brody become President, and still be a terrorist. Now that could be VERY interesting.
DMark, that’s true. Dammit.
I didn’t start watching until the season was almost finished, and I didn’t get enough of Brody’s background to justify (in my mind) his turnabout. Maybe when I rewatch, I’ll be able to get into his head. I like the character so I need to find a way to sympathize with him. It’s juvenile, but I can’t help it.
I was pissed that they didn’t have him go through with it, but I do think the way they stopped it was believable.
the Big Question for me: how the hell can they manage to keep Carrie in the story? I cannot fathom any believable way that she is permitted back into the spy-fold, even when they finally learn that her mania had nothing to do with her thoughts about Brody and Nazir: she’s still manic-depressive, which still represents an unacceptable degree of risk - it’s going to be very interesting to see if they can come up with a believable way to keep her involved. The only possibility, and I think its weak, is for Saul to decide to keep her involved on the sly.
stoid, in another show (one not as well-written), Saul would use the report involving the drone attack to blackmail a higher-up. But the way he’s written, Saul would never do that. He seems too honorable.
Heck, is Carrie in a protected class? Discrimination because of her disability? Does that even apply in high security jobs? Maybe she’ll get another CIA job but with lower clearance.
I think next year will be a lot less action and a lot more strategic positioning of the characters. Carrie will go though some kind of rehab process. Perhaps, near the end of the season, she will have some kind of brilliant insight and pass it on to Saul, that will get her back into her job. Saul will try us use her as a sounding board for ideas while struggling not to violate security protocols.
Brody will develop as a candidate, and will have conversations with Nazir over policy questions.
I’m hoping Walker did not have the memory card with Brody’s confession on it with him when he got whacked. Having that out there will be a nice tension builder.
Something else that could happen is the VP changing his mind about Brody. His comment “You look like shit” was contemptuous.
Nazir must not know much about US politics if he thinks a freshman congressman has influence.
Are we all suspicious of the VP? Did he want Saul to find that report? What does it matter who ordered the strike? Had the CIA been saying it was an accident?
I’m anxious to watch the whole season. At TWOP there’s a recap of the best/worst scenes of the season, and I didn’t see half of them.
What if the CIA decides she knows too much, so she goes off the grid to survive. Connecting up with Brody could happen if she’s isolated enough, and perhaps even teaming with him.