‘Homeland’ – ‘A Gettysburg Address’ recap: Is Brody to blame for another terrorist attack?

“Homeland’s” intelligence agencies suffered terrible casualties on tonight’s (Nov. 4) episode, “A Gettysburg Address,” which saw the famous Pennsylvania town again become a battlefield — in America’s war on terrorism.

This time, the consecrated ground was the shop of Bassel the tailor, the bomb maker whom Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) killed. So was the traitor turned informant also to blame for the deaths of Carrie Mathison’s (Claire Danes) comrades?

Let’s review:

The trouble tonight begins at the Brody home. Brody lies to Jess (Morena Baccarin) about working with Carrie, which seems like a huge mistake — the truth will out and all that. But his daughter Dana (Morgan Saylor) is also caught in a web of deceit, harboring the terrible secret about Finn’s hit and run.

Ignoring her boyfriend (hopefully that status will soon change to “ex”) Finn’s pleas with her to forget about the accident, she ditches school to check on their victim in the hospital. Dana sneaks into the ICU and learns from the victim’s daughter that the woman is dying.

Unwittingly, Dana is in the unique position of saving Vice President Walden again. First she persuaded her father not to murder him, and now she controls his political life. If Brody finds out, could Walden’s ruin satisfy his need for vengeance?

Speaking of deception, Mike Faber (Diego Klattenhoff) is finally convinced that Brody is suspect No. 1 in Tom Walker’s death. After his investigations raise a red flag with the CIA, Mike meets with Saul and Estes, who tell him to back off. Instead, he searches the Brodys’ garage and, finding a bullet missing from a box of ammo that matches the type used to kill Walker, shares his suspicions with Jess. Unfortunately, she shuts him down too, revealing that Brody is working for the CIA.

As Klattenhoff explained to Zap2it, “Certain things are coming up that are undeniable — things Faber didn’t want to look into, just some stuff that subconsciously has come up that could’ve been passed off as the fact that Brody spent eight years in a hole being tortured. But once I start talking to Jessica and talking to Lauder, certain things — when you put it all together — don’t add up.”

Too bad Faber can’t be enlisted to help with Carrie’s task force. Not only did their surveillance team fail to capture audio of Roya’s meeting with a “mystery man” — likely a key Hezbollah agent involved in the attack on America — but they quickly lose him in the crowd afterward.

So Carrie summons Brody back to Langley to help out, where he admits to killing Bassel the tailor. While a forensics team plans to search his shop, the CIA orders Brody to meet with Roya. This time the task force manages to listen to the entire conversation … or so it seems.

When Roya bristles at Brody initiating contact, he tells her that he’s sleeping with Carrie, at her suggestion, and overheard Carrie mentioning Hezbollah during a phone call. Roya tells Brody she knows about Gettysburg (the mole strikes again?) and hints that they might find something in the tailor’s shop. The task force is unnerved by an extended period of silence between the two — ostensibly because of a bystander. But could they be communicating via other signals? Remember, this is the guy whom Carrie caught tapping out code on national TV “when everyone else was calling him the patriot of the century.”

While Carrie stays in Washington, Quinn (Rupert Friend) joins the Gettysburg group. He’s just about to discover Bassel’s secret hiding place behind a wall when Hezbollah agents brazenly storm the shop, open fire on the agents, tear down the wall and walk out with a giant crate of no good.

In her grief and rage, Carrie confronts Rep. Brody at his office — who of course denies any involvement in a setup. In the end, the anguished CIA agent ends up sobbing in his arms — consoled by the man who not only murdered the Gettysburg tailor and almost detonated one of his suicide vests, but may have played a role in the latest attack.

What do you believe? Is Brody fully committed to the CIA? How much allegiance does he still have to Abu Nazir?

Photo/Video credit: Showtime