Violet recaps Season 3 Episode 3 of Homeland, titled Tower of David, where we finally get to see what has become of Brody! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts on the episode.
Don’t need the Homeland episode recap for Tower of David? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s Homeland episode, Tower of David, click here to get directly there!
Homeland Episode 3: Tower of David Recap Overview
Need a quick Homeland episode recap of Episode 3 titled Tower of David? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed Homeland episode recap for Tower of David if you need more information!
- Brody has been shot. El Nino brings Brody to the “doctor” to remove bullets from him. Brody settles into his new home in Caracas, Venezuela.
- Brody goes for a walk with Esme. The doctor tells him about the Tower of David.
- El Nino finds the guy that stole Brody’s passport and shoves him off the building to his death, despite Brody‘s protests. Brody tries to leave, but El Nino stops him.
- Carrie meets with her psychiatrist. She’s back on her meds, but doesn’t seem to be doing much better. Brody asks Esme to help him escape to the mosque
- Carrie bangs her head into a mirror. Abby tells her a man came asking about her. Carrie thinks it was Saul, and asks Abby to let her know next time he comes.
- Esme helps Brody sneak out to the mosque, where the imam welcomes him inside.
- A visitor arrives to see Carrie. Despite her lack of visiting privileges, Abby sneaks Carrie out to see her visitor.
- The imam calls the police on Brody, but El Nino‘s guys show up at the mosque, shoot everyone, and take Brody back to the Tower of David.
- Carrie‘s visitor is a lawyer named Paul Franklin. He claims his partner wants to help her get out, but Carrie is suspicious of his true intentions.
- Brody‘s new home is a small dark cell. He shoots up with heroin. Meanwhile, Carrie sits in a dark corner.
Homeland Episode Recap: Tower of David, the Details
Brody Has a New Home: Caracas, Venezuela
This episode starts off in Venezuela, where we finally get to see what’s become of Brody, whose head is completely shaved. He has been shot, and is taken to a group of guys with guns. They put him in the bed of their truck and bring him to the basement parking structure of a tall building, where a guy removes the bullets from him. Apparently he was shot crossing the border. The “doctor” asks the head gangster, El Nino, why he is going through the trouble of saving the American fugitive when he has a $10 million bounty on him, dead or alive. El Nino says, “Maybe someone did you a favor once.” While Brody is drugged up in the middle of the night, someone comes in and steals his wallet and his watch.
The next day, Brody wakes up wearing only boxers, and tries to get out of bed, but the young woman, Esme, who helped the “doctor” during the “surgery” and speaks very little English, stops him. However, he insists, and she helps him up. The room is unfinished, and does not have an outside wall. Meanwhile, he hears the sounds of Islamic singing, walks to the edge of the room, which is in a high rise building, and sees a mosque off in the distance. He asks where he is, and El Nino, who is Esme’s father, comes in and tells him he’s in Caracas, his new home. Brody brings up that someone took his wallet and passport, and El Nino tells him not to worry about that, but he’ll look into it. Brody asks why he’s helping him, and he says that they both know Carrie Mathison. He tells Brody to stay in the room.
Esme shaves Brody’s head for him. He then walks to the edge of the room to see the view. The shot zooms out, and we see that this entire side of the high rise building is incomplete, and does not have any outside walls.
The Doctor Tells Brody about the Tower of David
Later, Brody and Esme go on a walk around the building, as he uses a makeshift cane and tries to teach her a little bit of English. But he gets tired and has to sit down. We see that his wound has started bleeding again. Esme brings him to the “doctor” and he scolds him for walking around so much when he prescribed rest. When the “doctor” tries to inject him with drugs for the pain, Brody stops him. The “doctor” asks Brody what he thought of what he saw of the building, which he explains that they call the “Tower of David” for the egomaniacal banker who commissioned it, but died before it could be completed. The economy died soon thereafter, and when construction stopped, the squatters moved in. Brody asks why the doctor is there, and he says that leads to the question of why Brody’s there. The doctor says they’re there because the world outside can be judgmental and cruel, because it’s the place that accepts them, and because they belong there. However, Brody says he’s not staying, he just needs to get his strength back.
Brody Wants to Leave
What we are to assume is some time later, we see Brody running up the stairs, exercising. He hears the Islamic singing and stops to listen to it. Esme finds him and brings him to El Nino, who has found Brody’s passport, and gives it back to him. His guys have a man with them, and El Nino asks Brody if that’s the man that robbed him, and that the guy says he did it. Brody says, “Yeah, okay, but…” and the gangsters take this as a signal to push the guy off the building, as Brody tries in vain to stop them. He freaks out about them killing the guy.
Back in his room, Brody is collecting his things to leave. Esme asks where he will go, and he says, “Somewhere else.” He asks her for money, but she doesn’t have any. She asks him not to go, but he says he can’t say there. However, as he tries to leave the premises, he is stopped by guys with guns. El Nino comes outside and explains that there is no “next place” for Brody to go, that Carrie doesn’t know nor want to know where he is, and that this is the end of the line for him.
Later, as Brody is sitting on his bed, depressed, the doctor comes to visit, and tells Brody that this is his home now. The doctor prepares to inject Brody with heroin, but Brody tells him to get out.
Carrie’s Back on Her Meds, Brody Wants to go to the Mosque
Meanwhile, Carrie is at a meeting with her psychiatrist, and we learn she’s back on her meds. She asks the doctor to tell Saul how she’s doing, and that she’s sorry, though he denies that he’s in communication with the CIA. She has a bit of a meltdown and sort of insults the doctor, as he writes notes in her file. He warns her that she won’t be earning visiting privileges anytime soon with that behavior. She apologizes and asks the doctor to tell Saul that she’s better, but he just stares at her.
Back to Brody, he wraps up the body of the thief who was killed for stealing his passport. He tells Esme he can’t stay there, but she says there’s no place to go. However, he realizes there is somewhere to go, and asks Esme’s help in getting to the mosque.
Carrie Has a Bad Moment
Over in the psych ward, a patronizing nurse compliments the house that Carrie is building out of popsicle sticks. She goes to the restroom and repeatedly bangs her head against the mirror. A nice nurse named Abby comes in and sees that Carrie’s head is bleeding, but Carrie says she just had a bad moment, and asks her not to tell. Abby doctors her cut, and makes her promise this won’t happen again. She mentions that someone came by to ask about her, though she doesn’t know who it was. Carrie, believing it must have been Saul, demands that Abby let her know next time the man comes, even though she doesn’t have visiting privileges.
Esme Helps Brody Escape to the Mosque
Esme helps sneak a hoodie-wearing Brody out of the building, and walks with him to the mosque. As he is about to go inside, she asks him to take her with him. However, he says he can’t, and says he’s sorry. Brody walks up to the mosque and speaks to the imam in Arabic, and the imam offers his hand and leads Brody inside.
Carrie Has a Visitor
Carrie stares out the window and sees a black SUV park in the parking lot. Carrie rushes out to tell the patronizing nurse that she has a visitor, but the nurse reminds her that she doesn’t have visiting privileges. Carrie starts to freak out, when Abby arrives and says she’ll handle this.
Brody’s Escape is Short Lived
While Brody is taking a shower at the mosque, he is suddenly attacked and dragged out by the police. The imam tells Brody, “You’re not a Muslim. You’re a terrorist.” However, when they open the front door, and El Nino’s guys are standing there waiting. They shoot everyone except for Brody, and give him some clothes to put on.
Carrie’s Visitor is Not Saul
Abby brings Carrie to meet her visitor, but it’s not Saul, it’s a lawyer named Paul Franklin. He reports that one of the partners at his firm wants to meet with her about getting her out. However, he doesn’t have much more information than that, though he claims to be on her side. This statement causes Carrie to realize his true intentions: to take advantage of her while she’s vulnerable, and get her to turn against the people who put her there. She walks away in anger. Once inside, she asks Abby for her meds.
Brody Accepts His Fate
El Nino puts Brody in a small cell and tells him this is his new home. He also tells him to stay away from his daughter. The doctor comes to visit. Brody says he can’t stay, because it’s like Iraq all over again. The doctor says he’s sure he’ll find a way, and that Brody belongs there. He leaves Brody alone with heroin, and Brody decides to shoot up.
Meanwhile, Carrie is sitting alone in a dark corner.
Violet’s Thoughts: Homeland Episode 3: Tower of David
You wanted Brody? You got Brody! I’m sure viewers noticed the obvious absence of Brody in the first two episodes this season, and have been wondering where he is. Tower of David sure made up for that, considering that the entire first half of the episode featured only Brody, and then the second half of the episode alternated only between him and Carrie, with no other storylines interrupting.
Now we know that Brody is drugged up on heroin in a dark hole in Venezuela, with seemingly no hope of escape — much like the time he spent captive in Iraq. My question is, how did he get from Canada to Venezuela? Are we ever going to see what happened to him from the time he and Carrie parted to the time he arrived in Venezuela, or will it be left only to our imaginations? Why do they keep giving him heroin for the pain anyway? Is there nothing else they could possibly give him? Or they just want to get him addicted to heroin and dependent on them? Who is this El Nino guy, and how exactly does he know Carrie? What “favor” did Carrie do for him? I feel bad for Brody because his situation seems so hopeless. I’m not sure how he’s going to get out of the Tower of David, especially now that they’ll be keeping a much closer eye on him, considering all the trouble he’s caused.
Poor Carrie. She thinks that she’s better, but she’s obviously not. She’s lucky that she has Abby on her side, risking her job to help her, because she recognizes that Carrie is different from the other patients. The other nurse, however, treats Carrie like she’s just another one of the crazies, so I can understand Carrie’s frustration when that nurse praises her popsicle stick house.
I really liked the parallels that this episode made between Brody and Carrie. They’re both stuck in a dark place, both literally and figuratively, full of despair, in what appear to be hopeless situations at the moment. The only thing they can turn to is drugs, even though they don’t want to — Brody with the heroin, and Carrie with her meds. In the end, they both accept that that’s what they have to do. However, the drugs will have opposite effects on them. If Carrie takes her meds, she’ll get better, and will eventually be able to get out of the psych ward, while Brody will just get worse from taking heroin.
Anyway, it looks like Carrie gets a temporary reprieve from the pysch ward next episode, and we get to see what that lawyer really wants from her. As for Brody, I have no idea what comes next for him. Looking forward to finding out!
Josh’s Thoughts on Episode 3 of Homeland: Tower of David
Finally we get to see Brody! And he sure isn’t in the best situation he would hope to be in. I have a feeling. From what I have figured out from the episode, the Venezuelan seems to be in debt to Carrie, which seems to be the only reason why Brody is alive. What I wonder about, is why the guy bothers keeping Brody alive, since Carrie isn’t supposed to know about him ever anyway.
It has to be hard on Brody not being able to control his own life. He tries to resist the heroin, but in the end, he gives in, which is very sad. I can’t see how he is going to get out of this situation without help. Perhaps Carrie will come to the rescue? She has to work out her own issues first though.
I am curious as to at what point does Brody give up and die? Right now, there seems to be no reason to keep him alive from the Venezuelan’s point of view. If he stays in his hole long enough, you would think he might just give up.
I hope we see more Brody, as I thought this episode was the best of the season so far for Homeland. What I really want to know is how Brody was found out. Did the girl rat Brody out? Or did the gangsters just search until they found him? I wonder because I am curious how that girl’s story will progress. Well the next episode is about to begin, so time to wrap this up!
Scenes from Homeland, Episode 4: Game On
Here are scenes from next week’s Homeland episode titled Game On:
