[This is a review of Homeland season 3, episode 6. There will be SPOILERS.]
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Prior to watching ‘Still Positive,’ one might assume the title of the episode had something to do with Carrie and Saul and their gritty pursuit of Majid Javadi, and, likely, the belief that such a pursuit will yield something positive with regard to who carried out the bombing on Langley at the end of last season. While all of that sounds like a distinct possibility – and still makes a little sense even after having seen the episode – Homeland has other uses for the title; namely, trying to maintain some kind of emotional connection between Carrie Mathison and Nicholas Brody.
Last we saw of Brody, he was down in Venezuela, preparing to waste away in the Tower of David with a complimentary Junkie Starter Kit and a pedophilic doctor peering into his soul. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., his family is wasting away, too. Jessica is struggling to keep their head above water, while also dealing with the ramifications of her husband’s supposed involvement in the aforementioned Langley bombing – though there hasn’t been too much indication that the neighborhood is coming after them with pitchforks and torches, so apparently some of the fervor over what transpired has died down somewhat.
Naturally, that’s not the case with Dana, who’s been dealing with what her father has become by doing everything in her power to get out of being Dana Brody. The season began in the aftermath of her suicide attempt, which was promptly followed by a dramatically inert interlude between her and Leo Carras – played by Dexter‘s former protégé Sam Underwood. Following her return home from that excursion, Dana’s next move became to change her name and leave the house, as she simply can’t handle being Dana Brody anymore. Once she leaves, the Brody clan is, for all intents and purposes, now numbering two.
![‘Homeland’: A Drawer Full of Complications](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Mandy-Patinkin-Claire-Danes-and-Rupert-Friend-in-Homeland-Still-Positive.jpg)
But what surprise is lingering in an episode that sees yet another highly-sought after enemy of the United States running around inside the country with near impunity? Why the revelation that Carrie is hiding a drawer full of pregnancy tests (all of which are reading positive), of course. Because, you know, she’s still positive.
On one hand, perhaps this helps explain why Carrie has been off her meds for so long. But then again it strains the credulity of the already maxed-out suggestion that she and Saul had been planning her visit to the mental institution since the day after the bombing, as that would imply that her time there was free of people doing anything remotely related to medical science on her – let alone putting her back on medication.
The implication, then, could be that Homeland is again deliberately leading the audience down the wrong path, and that this pregnancy has nothing to do with Brody – the writers only want viewers to briefly think it does. Of course, Brody’s kid or not, all of this is an attempt to make the former Sgt. relevant in the minds of those watching, and, apparently to pile more emotional weight onto a character that has handled far more than her fair share. It’s still possible that Carrie’s pregnancy could yield some kind of positive result for this season’s storyline, but after all that’s happened, it smacks too much of the writers trying too hard to pull another fast one on the viewers.
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Homeland continues next Sunday with ‘Gerontion’ @9pm on Showtime. Check out a preview below: