Homeland

Previously on Homeland...

Death.

G'ulom had a one-on-one with Hayes yesterday.

First thing this morning,

Hayes demands new voices on Afghanistan.

Guess who's in the Oval Office right now.

John Zabel.

Get in there before Zabel gets his feet under the table.

Make the case.

Haqqani dies, Afghanistan goes up in flames.

It took ten years to get Osama Bin Laden,

but he avenged Ralph Warner's murder in, what, three days.

Well, I can hardly claim credit.

I think that you can, sir.

It's what that part of the world understands.

An eye for an eye,

a punch in the fucking nose.

I had it.

The black box.

He sold it to some other guy.

They took it somewhere, it was Koa or Kowa...

- Kohat. - Yeah.

Yeah.

It's Jalal Haqqani, I'm sure of it.

G'ulom has his father, he has Max.

This is a bad situation.

Where the hell is the extraction team?

They can't put together an operation

in a matter of hours.

I need a gun.

You get into trouble, I'm leaving you.

No.

No.

- - Get back, get back!

The World Trade Center,

Tower Number One is on fire!

I missed something once before. I won't...

I can't let that happen again!

An American prisoner of war has been turned.

You're a disgrace to your nation, Sergeant Nicholas Brody.

You're a traitor and a terrorist,

and now it's time to pay for that.

Are you accusing me of something?

You really do not remember?

Remember what?

We may be dealing with a compromised officer here.

You had a relationship complicated enough to lie about.

Yeah, it's complicated.

I lost seven months of my life.

To my Russian handler?

Is our strategy working?

And you will become the focus of an investigation

that will define the rest of your life.

That not every problem in the Middle East

deserves a military solution.

Because this whole country went stupid crazy after 9/11.

Carrie, you're not yourself.

I'm still putting the pieces together.

Please, God, tell me you have it.

Is there no fucking line?

I believe you.

No one else will.

Mr. President, Ben Hayes here.

I need your help.

I've got a, uh, situation,

a video of an American held hostage

by Haissam Haqqani's son.

Now, the second you execute Haqqani, my guy dies.

Abdul, you there?

Yes.

Well, as we discussed, nerves are quite raw

in this country right now.

People are confused,

and I don't want to add to that confusion

by having even a single additional American death.

General, we're asking you to hold off on Haqqani's execution

until this hostage situation is resolved.

Haqqani was tried and convicted.

No one is disputing that.

A delay now will make me look weak.

Not to your partners, sir.

I'm meeting with my military advisors as soon as we hang up.

We will devise a course of action to resolve this,

but until then, we need some time.

Fine.

Thank you.

I can give you 24 hours.

When's Special Ops getting here?

That's still in flux.

No... what's that mean? Soon? Never?

I'm about to go into a meeting to discuss just that.

How are things there?

Quiet, to be honest.

Quiet but fucked.

Well, I want you to know there's some good news.

President Hayes just got a stay of execution for Haqqani.

- For how long? - Bought us some time,

which is what we need.

So stay put and let me see what I can come up with, okay?

Carrie?

Max situation is stable.

He's on the radar at the highest level of government.

Tell me we've got a plan.

- - Beginnings of one.

A lot of question marks.

How's the situation at the compound?

Quiet, she said.

She still with the Russian?

I didn't ask.

Do they see us?

Hello.

Kabul, you there?

Yes, we're here, Mr. President.

Good, good.

If you haven't heard, I bought us some time.

We have a window.

So how do we resolve this situation?

Sir, if I may, this is Scott Ryan

for CIA Special Operations in Kabul.

We're marshalling resources in Jalalabad.

Good. When do we move?

Well, sir, uh,

this is the compound where Max Piotrowski

is being held hostage.

It's isolated and exposed,

which means any approach is easily spotted.

Uh, according to a source on the ground,

our target is held hostage by 11, possibly 12 Taliban

in this building here.

According to this same source,

he's partially incapacitated by a gunshot wound,

also restrained and heavily guarded.

His captors need only a second to defeat our mission

by putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

What does that mean?

It means we travel by night, sir, and by ground.

Even baffled helicopters are audible for several miles

in this landscape.

Last distance will have to be on foot.

What are the odds?

You must have thought about that already.

What are the odds?

Candidly, sir, at best 50/50.

Fifty-fifty?

It's not terrible.

The United States versus a dozen punks, yeah, it is.

Sir...

Bin Laden himself was 80 percent.

Sir, I wonder if we're looking at this all wrong.

What do you mean?

Ha, I mean, a return to first principles.

The United States does not negotiate with terrorists.

- Period. - Okay.

The American people have to accept that.

Also, frankly, sir, who is this Max Piotrowski anyway?

- He's not-not a soldier. - No.

The US government can't be expected

to come to the rescue of every adventurer

who gets himself in trouble overseas.

A failed rescue can sink a presidency.

Yeah, Jimmy Carter.

Exactly.

And as for upside, I'm sorry but...

some guy named Max

is not the same as Osama Bin Laden.

Yeah.

Excuse me.

May I help you, Mr. Wellington?

No, thank you.

John said he left a document for me,

but I found it.

Open the door.

I was about to be shot. They stopped my execution.

Yes.

They won't tell me why.

Your son Jalal, he's taken an American hostage,

someone who was working for me,