Homeland Character Paper

Homeland, created by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, is a premium serial drama that premiered 2011. It is a psychological thriller mystery staring Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, a determined and passionate CIA agent with bipolar disorder, and Damian Lewis as Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody, a recently discovered prisoner of war, whom Carrie has come to believe has been "turned" into an al-Qaeda operative. The shows focuses on the partnership between its two main characters, Carrie and Brody. Although they don't have much interaction in the first few episodes, their relationship develops significantly throughout the series.

The pilot episode sets the story in motion opening with a flashback which shows Carrie in Iraq, where she is working as a CIA case officer. She bribes her way into a prison so that she can speak to one of her informants. Just as soon as she sneaks in, she is spotted by the guards and as she is being dragged away, the informant whispers something into her ear. Back in present day, Carrie arrives at the CIA to find out that a raid was carried out on an al-Qaeda compound, where an American POW missing for eight years, Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody, was rescued. Carrie later confides in her mentor, Saul Berenson, what her informant in Iraq told her about an American POW being "turned". She concludes that that POW must have been Brody, but Saul rejects the idea. Meanwhile, Brody is able to call his wife, Jessica, to inform her that he has been rescued. She goes to the airport with their two children, Dana and Chris, to welcome him home, all the while concealing her relationship with his best friend Mike. While the Brody's are away, Carrie takes it upon herself to enlist her friend Virgil to install hidden cameras and microphones throughout the Brody home so Carrie can secretly monitor his every move. The next day Brody arrives at the CIA to being a debriefing, where Carrie, David Estes (director of the CIA), and others are present to question Brody about his experiences as an al-Qaeda prisoner. Carries asks Brody if he ever had any contact with Abu Nazir, the leader of al-Qaeda. He says no, but a flashback shows Brody with Abu Nazir. Later on Brody goes to meet someone in a park. Believing he is meeting with an al-Qaeda contact, Carrie and Virgil follow him but they are disappointed to find that he is meeting with Helen Walker, the wife of Tom Walker, Brody's partner who was also captured. Helen wants to know what happened to her husband and Brody tells her that he was beaten to death while in captivity. Helen wants to know if he was there when he died, Brody says he wasn't, but a flashback again shows that he was lying. Meanwhile Carrie arrives back at her house to find that Saul has discovered her covert operation. Saul is furious and tells her to shut it down immediately. Carrie, seemingly on the edge of a breakdown, heads out to a bar where she is watching