Homeland: Who, exactly, is Enemy of the State?

The Oath of Allegiance is spoken by military personnel and immigrants, and Homeland steers from foreign to domestic in Enemy of the State.

More from Showtime

• The Curse season 1 episode schedule: Don’t miss a single minute of the mystery-comedy!
• What time is The Curse on Showtime tonight? (November 10)
• How many episodes are in Fellow Travelers on Showtime?
• Fellow Travelers release schedule: When do new episodes come out?
• Fellow Travelers cast: Who’s in the new Showtime series?

When season 7 of Homeland left off, Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham) appeared to be leading an attempted military coup and Presidential assassination attempt. A link to Adal’s special ops, homegrown terrorists, led by General Jamie McClendon (Robert Knepper), was erased when a booby-trap at their safe-house was detonated.

Meanwhile, Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) scrambled to protect President Elect Elizabeth Keane (Elizabeth Marvel), an amalgamation of real world Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. When the attack began to unfold, Carrie became the savior from within the Presidential hotel. Subsequently, Quinn paid the ultimate sacrifice – let’s be real, nobody wanted him to be the disgruntled vet, fall guy for the assassination attempt – in order to save P.E. Keane.

What was the aftermath?

Imagine you’re Keane. Who do you trust? Carrie. That’s it. Everyone else prepare to feel the full wrath of a Gold Star Mom willing to unleash POTUS power and an amended Patriot Act. Multiple high ranking officials were consequently imprisoned, including Dar and Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin). Meanwhile, Carrie became a senior advisor to the President only to be on the outs after a disagreement with the plague of arrests.

How is America shaping up under the new regime?

Carrie and Maggie are living with her sister’s family, and Maggie is tragically looking more and more like Nicholas Brady (Damian Lewis). The entire family is in turmoil because Carrie openly calls the President a fascist, it’s been months and 200 people are still in jail, and Brett O’Keefe (Jake Weber), perhaps the lamest representation of radio hosts everywhere, is on the run like a fugitive.

Indeed, O’Keefe is stirring the pot something serious. He’s galvanizing support from every psychotic doomsday prepper and David Koresh wannabe via daily conspiracy podcasts. In some cases, O’Keefe is forced to broadcast from random locations, like supportive mattress stores, to keep the streak alive.

You can take the girl out of the agency…

One thing we know about Carrie is that she’ll always be a spy. She could work at a daycare and she’d set up cameras in the teddy bears and hot microphones on the back of milk cartons. Her mission as an outcast is to submarine White House Chief of Staff David Wellington (Linus Roache). To do so, she’s attempting to enlists the aid of a former spook colleague Dante Allen (Morgan Spector), who has dirt on Wellington .

Coupled with her Dante efforts, her old buddy Max (Maury Sterling) is up to his old games. Under Carrie’s direction, he has infiltrated a government IT team tasked with sweeping for bugs in in top ranking officials’ homes. In reality, however, he’s doing the opposite. He sets Carrie up with her own multiple-room peep show.

Fun at the prison.

Wellington goes to a federal prison to meet Saul. To Saul’s surprise, the National Security Advisor spot is offered up. Saul shuts that down immediately when Wellington won’t agree to Saul’s list of mandatory capitulations (i.e. release all other prisoners in the 2nd wave of arrests).

Elsewhere, General McClendon is sent to prison for life. Dishonorable discharge. The President is pissed the death penalty was passed over. When McClendon gets to prison, he’s stripped of all medals, and soon stripped of all clothes. His experience is not quite as funny as when the warden on Let’s Go to Prison gave a hilarious speech about where inmates could stick their suggestions and complaints. Conversely, it’s almost a straight replication of the jarring “The First Day of School” intro from Ice Cube’s seminal “The Predator” album.

The episode ends with McClendon grasping at his chest, seemingly dying of a heart attack. Something smells fishy. The smell is confirmed when the guard who conducted the investigation is shown meticulously removing his gloves in another room as he watches the General die.

Coincidentally, O’Keefe has a source inside and tells people about the President’s firing squad desires. It smells even fishier now, and the smell leads to the White House. However, is it all a setup?

Next: Can Homeland survive without Peter Quinn?

What will happen next on Homeland? It appears a domestic showdown is shaping up. Indeed, uncovering the General’s murderer, and potential Presidential implication, will no doubt be Carrie’s first priority. If Saul takes the NSA position, will it help or hinder Carrie’s investigation?

Homeland airs Sundays on Showtime.