Homeland' episode 10 recap: A good night to be an efficient marine

[This post contains spoilers about the tenth episode of 'Homeland' season three.]

(Photo via Showtime / Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)Nicholas Brody went back to the beginning in the 10th episode of "Homeland" season three, titled "Good Night." When we first met Brody, he was a hero marine returning to America after years as a prisoner of war. He then went through the unique cycle of marine to terrorist to congressman to terrorist to CIA operative to fugitive and back to marine.

If it seems implausible, well, of course it is. But so were the best parts of "Breaking Bad," and it didn't diminish that show in the slightest. If it seems like it might be boring that we've come 34 episodes to come back to where we started, it's decidedly not. In fact, tonight's episode may be the most fun of the season.

Quinn began the episode by revealing he had looked at Carrie's medical records, and knows she's 15 weeks pregnant. The timeline doesn't make perfect sense, but now more people know about her secret with Brody (which she denied to Quinn, but unconvincingly).

Brody and the team are waiting to cross over to Iran, and are camped out in Iraq while they wait. Dar Adal is monitoring the operation with the White House Chief of Staff while Saul mans the ship. "All he has to do tonight is walk across the border and ask for asylum," Dar says.

Easier said then done. Some suspicious locals around the car transporting Brody cause the marines to kill the inspectors - and kill the plan to get this done without bloodshed. Brody doesn't handle it well, running away from the car and screaming, "I can't do it!"

But he comes around, and continues the mission, bonding with the marine in charge before they encounter an IED. Carrie, listening back home, starts with the usual tearing and lip quivering, as Brody's condition remains unknown. With a drone in the area, the White House Chief of Staff suggests firing on the car for smuggling a wanted terrorist into Iran, whether the marine and Brody are dead or alive. But Saul knocks down that plan: "I will not order a strike on our own men."

Both Brody and the other marine are still alive - in fact, Brody, who just weeks earlier was addicted to heroin to the point of being practically catatonic, is the more alive one, barking orders to the other marines as they move in for a rescue. Carrie, back in the U.S., beams like a proud spouse.

With the firefight that ensues, Saul has to abandon the intelligence operation, but Brody isn't budging. And despite the protests of Carrie, he puts his faith in her ("You're going to get me home"). Brody is surrounded along with his companion in the mission, and makes his case that he's ready to seek asylum in Iran. And he's in - the Iranian intel the CIA is hearing says two prisoners have been taken.

Carrie talks with Fara about bringing her back in the mission, using her uncle in Iran, a member of a moderate opposition group, to provide a de facto safe house. She resists, but seems to reluctantly agree. And then it's Mr. Efficient, Nicholas Brody. He's not in Iran for more than a few minutes before the golden connection occurs - Brody face-to-face with Javadi. "Are you ready?" Javadi asks Brody. Javadi puts a bullet in Brody's companion, and we're on to the meat of the final adventure in Tehran.

One side story of the episode was Sen. Andrew Lockhart's involvement. The Head of the CIA-in-waiting gets in the room during operations by making the case to Saul that, good or bad, what happens with this mission will be a part of the CIA he's "destined to inherit." And thus, he has "no choice but to wish it every success."

He has an uncomfortable moment with Carrie, but if Lockhart really will be running the show in season four, he made some valid points, and certainly didn't take anything away from the mission. In fact, the dynamic between Saul and Lockhart has vastly improved, as the current CIA chief gained some much-needed leverage last week, and the evolution of Lockhart as a character makes it seem both plausible and welcome to see his face as part of the "Homeland" advertising next season.