Recap: 'Homeland,' Season 1, Episode 11, 'The Vest'

"Homeland," Season 1, Episode 11, "The Vest" mostly concerns a Brody family trip to Gettysburg, the iconic Civil War battle field. The trip is heavy with rather offensive moral equivalency and menace.

Spoilers follow.

Brody, standing with his family at the position where the Army of Northern Virginia held for most of the battle, ruminates about the Battle of the Little Round Top. With his musings about religious faith and fighting for what one believes, one actually gets the impression that he is drawing a comparison between Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Abu Nazir. For this alone, he needs to go to Gitmo forever. Clearly his years as a captive of Al Qaida have unhinged him.

More proof of that occurs when he makes a secret stop at a shop where a man hands him a bomb vest. The stalwart United States Marine, the candidate for political office who is honored by strangers for his service, proposes to make the greatest atrocity since 9/11-apparently. One can only hope a final twist ending is in the offing.

Meanwhile, Carrie has gone completely manic due to the explosion. She is scribbling on pieces of paper at an alarming rate, thoughts running through her head faster than anyone can comprehend. Her sister appears with her meds and she is put to bed. But, in the meantime, Saul notices something about the color coded scribbling. He soon realizes that it is a timeline of Abu Nazir's activities. There is an event that none of them know about that is the trigger for the attack to come. We know it to be the death of his son, either by an American drone strike or an Al Qaida bombing made to look like it, we as of yet do not know.

Unwisely, Carrie calls Brody, asking for help. Instead Brody confesses about their relationship to the CIA. A delegation from the Agency appears at Carrie's door and, alas, notices her manic mood. Carrie's career seems to be in ruins and Brody, now a soulless killing machine, seems to have free rein to blow himself up, taking a lot of people with him. But that will be for the final episode.

Source: Homeland, The Vest, TV.Rage