1/2 Did Gansa ever said anything about why in s5 finale Carrie turned down Saul offer to get back in the agency? It was odd, given how she just literally saved the day but she kept saying “I’m not that person anymore” like yeah not that person anymore but still jumped in headfirst into danger. She probably just convinced herself of that, clearly Saul and Jonas didn’t see that. Idk, if they didn’t want her back in the cia, at least write better reason.
I remember though, in s6 she did said to Saul she left because of all the “bullshit” in her office, when he asked if she’s advising the president. Saul left the cia for like a season. Carrie went through 4. Granted in s6 it was intelligence community vs the president. S7 was vs Russia. S8 she finally got in sort of unofficially
I couldn’t remember if AG commented on the season five finale in the immediate aftermath, and then went back and read this interview from just before the finale aired where he said this:
You’re not giving post-finale interviews [this year]. Should we be braced for something particularly dramatic?
No, not at all. After five years, I just want the finale to speak for itself.
So season five was one of those LeT tHe FiNaLe SpEaK fOr ItSeLf years.
(And actually I’m not sure how I forgot that since we were all literally arguing about whether Quinn had died... FOR WEEKS.)
All of that aside, I am of two minds on this:
Season five is not an effectively realized story for Carrie. The finale doesn’t “fit” with much that came after it, so it’s hard to watch seasons five and six together and think there was some sort of greater plan. A season where Carrie is out of the CIA is likely warranted. Two seasons, perhaps. Three seasons, they’re spinning their wheels waiting for the final season. In conclusion: toss season six out. You could literally ERASE it from Homeland canon and almost nothing would change.
Season five does a good job of showing how in denial Carrie is. The finale especially. She foolishly thinks she and Jonas can just erase the last few weeks like nothing ever happened when the writing had been on the wall since “Super Powers,” at least. And, as you say, she’s in complete denial about the fact that she is of course that person. I think season five has a really interesting undercurrent of tragedy for Carrie. Carrie goes to Berlin to get away from all this shit and try to fulfill her responsibilities as a mother and ... integrated citizen ... and she still can’t help herself. She can’t help herself to go off her meds, she can’t help herself to become enmeshed in this conspiracy, she can’t help herself to run down an ISIS cell in a Berlin train station, and--I’d say probably most tragically of all--she can’t help herself from waking Quinn. In conclusion: you can take the girl out of the CIA, but you can’t take the CIA out of the girl.
