Your new post is loading...
A highly exciting episode closes with a genuine shocker of a twist.
That was pretty awesome, no?
I mean, if I want to nitpick, I can. It feels just a little too coincidental that Carrie just happens to grab the bag that has the item she’s been hoping for all along in it. I can certainly buy that Abu Nazir is in possession of said item, and I can buy that Saul is the one to find it, almost accidentally. I can even buy that Abu Nazir would give it to a trusted lieutenant for safekeeping! But that particular item being in that particular place and being grabbed by that particular person at that particular time strings way too many coincidences together in a way that sort of falls apart if you start to think about it too hard. Yes, coincidence is the thing that drives drama, but there comes a point where it just becomes too much, and “Beirut Is Back” nudges up against that point.
But it doesn’t matter because it was still awesome. Now that we’ve hopefully warded off anyone who’s reading this without having watched the episode, let’s talk more fully. Saul plugging the data chip into his computer, then frowning to see an image of Nicholas Brody would be one thing. Saul plugging it in to reveal the tape that Brody made in last season’s finale, the one where he confessed to the suicide bombing that never happened, is quite another. The second that tape started to play, I wasn’t thinking about coincidence or plot convenience (since this is pretty much the only way to get Carrie back in the CIA’s good graces) or anything like that. I was giddy. This was a show I loved revealing that it wasn’t going to play safe this season. It was going to blow up one of its biggest plot bombs in episode two, and it wasn’t going to be Carrie remembering the name “Issa.” It was going to be the Brody tape.
That was pretty awesome, no?
I mean, if I want to nitpick, I can. It feels just a little too coincidental that Carrie just happens to grab the bag that has the item she’s been hoping for all along in it. I can certainly buy that Abu Nazir is in possession of said item, and I can buy that Saul is the one to find it, almost accidentally. I can even buy that Abu Nazir would give it to a trusted lieutenant for safekeeping! But that particular item being in that particular place and being grabbed by that particular person at that particular time strings way too many coincidences together in a way that sort of falls apart if you start to think about it too hard. Yes, coincidence is the thing that drives drama, but there comes a point where it just becomes too much, and “Beirut Is Back” nudges up against that point.
But it doesn’t matter because it was still awesome. Now that we’ve hopefully warded off anyone who’s reading this without having watched the episode, let’s talk more fully. Saul plugging the data chip into his computer, then frowning to see an image of Nicholas Brody would be one thing. Saul plugging it in to reveal the tape that Brody made in last season’s finale, the one where he confessed to the suicide bombing that never happened, is quite another. The second that tape started to play, I wasn’t thinking about coincidence or plot convenience (since this is pretty much the only way to get Carrie back in the CIA’s good graces) or anything like that. I was giddy. This was a show I loved revealing that it wasn’t going to play safe this season. It was going to blow up one of its biggest plot bombs in episode two, and it wasn’t going to be Carrie remembering the name “Issa.” It was going to be the Brody tape.
