pension333: Homeland recap: season three, episode five ? The Yoga Play

A dodgy subplot creates a diversion from the increasingly vague main storyline and Saul delivers a dignified tongue-lashing

SPOILER ALERT: This blog is for people watching the third series of Homeland at UK broadcast pace. Don't read on if you haven't seen episode four ? and if you've seen later episodes, please do not leave spoilers.

Catch up with Rebecca Nicholson's previous episode blogposts

'She's always been on her own'

Not another teen movie! The extended recap of Dana's Runaway Love Story didn't bode well, but hopefully, it will be over for a while, at least until the sexting pics come back into play. I thought it was a decent enough week ? not dreadful, not great, but functional. And with Carrie now in the hands of Javadi, that should be enough to kick it into life.

Saul fills Quinn in on Carrie's new role as a double agent. As Quinn registers the true extent of the deception, Saul looks pleased with himself, explaining: "We dangled her to let the Iranians in." Neither look particularly concerned about Carrie's welfare, which is either careless or cold ? she's still off her meds, no matter how much she had to emphasise parts of her illness during her stay in the psychiatric hospital.

Is this why she recklessly risks the entire operation to make sure Dana gets home? I found this subplot to be an unnecessary diversion from whatever the increasingly nebulous main storyline is supposed to be. It was fun to find out what the yoga play really was and I loved seeing Virgil, but it was hard to believe Carrie would jeopardise a meeting with Javadi to do right by the Brody family by telling the FBI to pull its socks up. She got herself sectioned for the love of her country, for crying out loud.

Naturally, Saul is furious, but he has more on his plate: he's about to become director of the CIA for good, and must go duck-hunting to prove to all the other old white men that he's manly enough to do the job. Or at least that's what he thinks he's doing: actually, they just get him there so Senator Lockhart, of committee fame, can tell him that he, not Saul, is the president's chosen man. He takes this opportunity to tell Saul how he feels about espionage, which is, essentially, that using people to spy is old hat. Saul delivers one big public fuck-you with a dignified speech about the men and women on the ground and the phony nature of political appointments, then heads home ? to find Meera having dinner with another man. He's had better nights.

And so, it seems, has Carrie. No sooner has she told Quinn that she thinks she was "made", Javadi's men drop by for an unfriendly late-night visit, force her to strip, take her sim card and whisk her off into the night. Quinn is furious that they've lost her, but Saul is convinced it's still going to plan: "We're back in business." But what exactly does Javadi know? And how will Carrie get out of this one?

Notes and observations

? Still no Brody, and I still don't mind.

? Claire Danes has clearly been giving Morgan Saylor, who plays Dana, lessons in the art of cryface.

? We hardly ever see Carrie with Jessica Brody; I thought it was a nice interaction, though unusual to see Carrie being the calm one in a slightly hysterical situation.

? There was a bit of humour this week, as Quinn clocked Saul's duck-hunting outfit. "Saul's just getting dressed." "What as?" Also, Javadi is sassy: "Must be all that yoga."

? Are they lining up a possible Quinn/Carrie romance?

? Sesame Street spoofed Homeland with "Homelamb". (It reminded me that we haven't had any jazz on the actual show for a very long time.)

? I'm on holiday next week, so I'm leaving the blog in the capable hands of James Donaghy. See you in a fortnight.