'Homeland' Season 8 Episode 12 Preview: Will Carrie Mathison do the unimaginable by killing Saul?
Eight epic seasons and 'Homeland' will have its final episode airing on Sunday.
Developed by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, the political thriller debuted in 2011 and has been one of Showtime's long-running series. Accolades have poured in richly for the series over the years.
At the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, 'Homeland' received nine nominations winning six awards— Outstanding Drama Series, Claire Danes for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Damian Lewis for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode.
In addition, it also bagged awards for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series.
At the 69th Golden Globe Awards, it grabbed the award for Best Television Series – Drama while Danes won for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. Lewis received a nomination for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.
The following year, at the 70th Golden Globe Awards, the series won its second consecutive award for Best Television Series – Drama, while Danes did a two-peat for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and Lewis won this time for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, after being nominated the previous year.
Awards apart, 'Homeland' made waves for its riveting content and over the years, built a loyal fan base.
After seven seasons of gripping drama, the eighth season left no stone unturned for the series to go out with a bang. It's also fair to call this final installment as 'Homeland's most audacious season yet.
It starts off with Carrie Mathison (Danes) on a mission to Kabul to help facilitate the peace deal between the Taliban and Afghanistan. And she preps for a mission despite being on rehabilitation after her grueling time in the Russian gulag.
The mission though goes completely south resulting in the deaths of multiple characters — Max Piotrowski (Maury Sterling), Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar, The Taliban leader, and most devastatingly, the deaths of the US and Afghan presidents.
Now Carrie has one final mission: Kill Saul (Mandy Patinkin). A quick recap: Yevgeny Gromov (Costa Ronin) manages to get hold of the Black Box from the chopper crash that killed the presidents. The only way Carrie gets it back is if she helps Russia know who Saul's asset in the Kremlin is.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and America are a trigger away from launching a catastrophic war after Haissam's son, Jalal Haqqani (Elham Ehsas) claims responsibility for the attack on the presidents' chopper.
Even though the actual cause of the crash was revealed to be mechanical failure. The US, after an anonymous tip on Jalal's location, bombs the hideout effectively signaling the end of the young Taliban leader. Now, all that stands between the war is the Black Box in Russia's possession.
But will Carrie kill to retrieve it? Most importantly, can she? The promo of the final trailer gives a glimpse of the intense action that is set to unfold.
It opens with Carrie's VO saying, "I missed something before, I can't let it happen again." The promo also sees her explain about the deal she made with Yevgeny to Saul. His asset identity for the Black Box.
The clip also sees her confront Yevgeny while Pakistan and US are shown to be on war footing. It ends with Carrie saying, "Only you can stop this now"
Leading to questions: Did Carrie kill Saul? Or did she kill Yevgeny and somehow retrieved the Black Box? To add to the air of mystery, Showtime has not released the synopsis of the final episode, 'Prisoners of War' on their website either.
Only time will tell how the show brings Carrie and Saul's journey to an end. 'Homeland' Season 8 Episode 12' will air 9 pm ET only on Showtime. While you're waiting for the episode to air, you can read our review of Episode 11: 'The English Teacher' here.
