One of Sgt. Brody’s flashbacks is the opening scene. He is digging a grave in a desert-like area. His captives carry a dead POW to the hole Brody is in and throw the body in. Brody is then put on his knees with a gun at his head until the trigger is pulled and he is woken up from his nightmare; subsequently waking up Carrie who is watching via surveillance. Jessica is doing her morning routine with the kids (making sure they eat breakfast, getting ready for school on time) when Brody enters. She tells him that he grabbed her while they were sleeping and started speaking in Arabic. She has the bruises to prove it. Jessica offers to stay home with Nick but he says that he was “alone for eight years” so one more day won’t hurt. But as soon as his family leaves he spends the whole day sitting in the corner of his room.
Saul manages to get a warrant from a judge that he has some dirt on. It gives Carrie four weeks to find some substantial evidence that there is reason to keep an eye on Sgt. Brody. Carrie tells Saul that Brody has been acting weird by sitting in the corner all day and that he is struggling with what he has to do since he has been “turned”. Saul says that if he had been turned he would be in front of the cameras playing the “hero card”.
We then are introduced to Lynne Reed. She is giving women some…uh…thorough interviews to become part of Prince Farid’s harem. After telling a girl that she needs to wax her lady parts for the Prince, Lynne calls to set up an appointment for herself. Instead she calls a CIA operator to arrange a meeting with her handler Carrie.
Estes and another military official await Mike in his office and tell him to convince Sgt. Brody to reenlist. They say that Brody will get a promotion and more money to help his family. I think that Estes knows about Mike’s relationship with Jessica while Nick was assumed dead and he is using that as his advantage against Mike.
Carrie and Lynne meet up and Lynne shows Carrie a video on her phone; it’s a meeting between Prince Farid and Abu Nazir. Nazir hasn’t been seen in seven years. This is a huge breakthrough for Carrie but Lynne is terrified of what will happen to her if they find out she is a spy. She says they “stone women like her” when they are caught. Carrie tells her the she will get her some protection. When Estes gets hold of the information he congratulates Carrie but is not going to give Lynne any protection. He tells Carrie that Lynne is her responsibility. Saul tells Carrie that Estes isn’t going to be too happy that Carrie is trying to prove Brody is a terrorist.
Nick punches a reporter in the throat, in front of his son, when he sees him on his property taking pictures. After that Nick leaves through a wooded area in the back of his house. Carrie demands that Max follow him. He ends up in a hardware store inside of a shopping mall looking at a variety of tools. When he returns home Mike is there for dinner and to convince him to reenlist. Brody is furious about that notion and says that he won’t fight anyone’s war. Brody apologizes to his son for hitting the reporter in front of him and Jessica tries to convince Nick to talk to the media as well. It didn’t seem as though he paid too much attention to her.
As Lynne is about to meet up with Prince Farid Virgil spills tea on her. She doesn’t know who he is though. When she goes to the restroom to clean up Carrie is there. Carrie gives Lynne a device to download information from Farid’s phone. She assures her that she has a team watching her at all times.
Brody has another flashback of captivity and then he goes to the garage – a blind spot from Carrie’s surveillance – and begins a Muslim prayer. He then comes back inside and gets in uniform then heads outside to address the media. Carrie calls Saul and tells him to “turn on (his) TV” because Brody is doing exactly what Saul said he would do by “playing the hero card”.