5x04 Why Is This Night Different?

7/10. Perfectly acceptable Homeland. The highlight was the reunion of Carrie and Quinn, which not only successfully mined threads that had lain dormant since Season 1, but moved the ball forward on the emotional strain of Carrie being unable to run away from her old life, and what she's losing in the process. Her video to Frannie had a lot in common in terms of tone with Brody's video, and the scene was just as well acted and potent.

The Syrian General storyline was pretty middle-of-the-road. Getting to see the CIA do legitimate operations is always a treat on this show, but we've seen multiple takes on this same type of "attempt to turn someone in the muck" story throughout this series that we're hitting diminishing returns. It's perfectly fine, and establishes Allison as capable and competent a bit, but didn't do much for me otherwise.

And then, as has been the case so far this season, the journalist storyline dragged things down. Mixing her up with some punk hackers only added to the fact that this plot and the performances involved feel ripped from some misaimed, quippy late-90s conspiracy thriller. The story with Newman's friend getting roughed up by the Russians was predictable and not much better, but the Russian agent gave a quality, frightening performance, and the plot development itself has promise.

As for the reveal, I'll withold judgment, but at first blush I'm exhausted by the mole/turncoat/"they were a double agent the whole time" type of twist, particularly on this show. I've liked the performer so far, and it could create an interesting dynamic going forward, but I'm a bit skeptical.