HomeTVHomeland 8x10 Designated Driver recap

Homeland 8×10 Designated Driver recap

The tenth episode of Homeland season 8, saw Carrie (Claire Danes) and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) trying to recover the flight recorder from the Russians.

If you want to avoid spoilers for Homeland season 8, we suggest you stop reading now. If you don’t mind then please keep reading.

Following being drugged by Yevgeny (Costa Ronin) last episode, this episode opened up with Carrie rushing through the streets to meet with her friend Arman (Mohammad Amiri). As soon as she jumped into his truck, Carrie grabbed some paper and scribbled down as much as she could remember from what she heard on the flight recorder. She then asked Arman to drive her to Bagram Airport.

Meanwhile, at the White House, President Hayes (Sam Trammell), Wellington (Linus Roache) and Zabel (Hugh Dancy) had a heated meeting with the Pakistani ambassador (Samrat Chakrabarti). They wanted to know why Pakistan hadn’t given up Jalal (Elham Ehsas) yet. They confronted him over the movement of nuclear missiles towards the border and he told them if they crossed the border then they would use them to defend themselves. Wellington tried to help defuse the situation be negotiating for the release of their captured special ops team.

Carrie and Arman made it to Bagram and somehow Carrie managed to sneak into the hangar. She took her scribbled notes to show the helicopter mechanic. Knowing she was wanted he tried to raise the alarm but backed down when she started reading her notes. He went through them with her and explained that the helicopter had been forced to make an emergency landing.

Carrie made a call to Saul to explain that the President’s helicopter hadn’t been shot down. Saul wanted her and the flight recorder back as soon as possible but was annoyed to hear the Russians had taken it. Carrie suggested he reach out to the Russians to try and get it back. He told her it was time to turn herself in.

Saul met with the Russian ambassador who denied all knowledge of the flight recorder. Saul brought him up to speed, explaining that Carrie had been working with Yevgeny and that the crash was an accident. They needed the flight recorder back to avoid war and the ambassador agreed to look into it. He got back to Saul quickly and denied Russia’s knowledge of the flight recorder. He said Saul was “Barking up the wrong tree” and that he’d done what he could. Saul pushed to find out what Moscow said which was “We had what we want”, meaning they had it and were keeping it.

Carrie and Arman’s next stop was the apartment where Yegeny had been staying. Inside she found that the place had been completely cleared out. They set off again but got stuck in traffic. Carrie was grabbed at gunpoint and dragged to a nearby building. Inside was Yevgeny who apologised for the ambush. She asked how to get the flight recorder back and Yevgeny said there was a way. He claimed that Saul had a double agent inside the Kremlin and they wanted her to find out who it was. She denied it and said she couldn’t betray Saul.

Carrie called Saul and said she was going to turn herself in. She asked if he had any joy with the Russians and he said they were denying it. He knew they were lying and was racking his brains as to why. He begged Carrie to see if she knew anything else but she didn’t tell him of Yevgeny’s request.

At the CIA station, Mike (Cliff Chamberlain) announced that the special ops team were being released. Jenna (Andrea Deck) requested to go and meet them but kept it quiet that it was her fault that they were captured in the first place. Carrie arrived at the gate and handed herself in. She was marched through the office and immediately taken to interrogation.

Jenna came to speak to Carrie and told her that the special ops team were being freed. Carrie said she wouldn’t tell anyone about Jenna’s role in helping her. Carrie was next interviewed by the FBI and said she was under protection of Saul and wanted a lawyer. This gave them no choice but to arrest her and take her back to the US. Jenna was watching with Mike and commented that it seemed that Carrie wanted to be sent back. In the US, Wellington updated Saul on Carrie’s situation and told him to distance himself from her. Saul updated Wellington on the actual events of what Carrie had been up to and said he wouldn’t turn his back on her.

Elsewhere in the episode, in Pakistan, Jalal was getting his fighters ready and was celebrating that Pakistan were standing up to the US. Jalal was frustrated by the attitude of Balach (Seear Kohi) who still wanted peace. He tasked him with finding an American target to attack.

With seemingly no choice, Balach did as he was ordered. When he returned Jalal tasked him with rigging a car with explosives and said he would find a driver. Turns out he’d decided that Balach would drive the car on a suicide mission. Balach didn’t want to but he was told his family would be killed if he didn’t agree.

At the end of the episode, Carrie was escorted to a plane that would take her back to the US. Meanwhile, at the Afghan/Pakistan border, Jenna arrived to oversee the special ops team release. As the truck bringing them back pulled up, Balach’s car sped towards them. Soldiers opened fire but they had no chance at stopping him and it looks like he probably killed most of those present.

Can’t wait for the next episode? Read our Homeland season 8 episode 11 preview.

UK viewers can watch the next episode of Homeland season 8 on Channel 4 on Sundays at 9pm.

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Greg Ellwood
Greg is the Deputy Editor of Entertainment Focus. He writes about Games, Tech and TV. You can find him on Xbox/PSN/Steam as Tahllian.

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