Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson, now the head of the CIA, makes the most of the story's shift away from Claire Danes (Carrie Mathison) and Damian Lewis (Nicholas Brody).
You know a team is good when it can take its two most important players off the field and still win the game.
CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) spent the first two seasons of “Homeland” alternately chasing and falling in love with turncoat Marine Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis).
At the end of season two, a bomb planted in Brody’s car blew up the CIA, killing its director and 218 other Americans.
With Carrie’s help, Brody fled to Canada. Now, 58 days later, he is the most wanted man in the world.
That also temporarily takes him out of “Homeland.” Then, as one of the dominoes from the bombing, the producers also shuffle Carrie aside.
She gets plenty of screen time. But while the CIA looks for Brody, she’s doing a sideline dance that essentially marks time.
The gamble is that other characters can hold our interest and move the ball forward while we wait for Carrie and Brody.
Mission accomplished.
The underappreciated Mandy Patinkin, whose Saul Berenson now reluctantly runs the CIA, sparkles as a man almost consumed by his conflicts.
F. Murray Abraham steps in beautifully as Saul’s darkly realistic aide Dar Adal, and Nazanin Boniadi is riveting as Fara, a rookie analyst with a constitution of steel.
She withstands a dagger-like monologue from the frustrated Saul that may be the sharpest, most vicious verbal assault on any TV show this year, including “Breaking Bad.”
Morena Baccarin remains pitch-perfect as Brody’s wife, Jessica, and maybe the best performance of all comes from Morgan Saylor as Brody’s daughter, Dana. Her story line is 40 miles of bad road, and she navigates it brilliantly.
It will be good when we get Carrie and Brody back in the lineup. Till then, the game is going just fine.
dhinckley@nydailynews.com
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