It's been twelve hours since Brody was whisked away in a helicopter by the time he gets back in touch with Carrie, telling her to get his family to safety immediately. We never really see what went down between Nick and Nazir, but from what he says it was pretty tense. They threatened him with torture, he drank some tea, they left him in Baltimore without a phone. From Nick's story, it would seem he reassured Nazir of his loyalty, and that was enough.
Enough to give him details on the Big Thing that was going down this week, anyway: A Special Ops homecoming from Afghanistan, 300 soldiers to be reunited with their families under the caring, watchful eye of Roya Hammad. Of course, her news van will be full of El Mysterioso's explosives, and the only people to survive will be him, Roya and Nick. David Estes arranges a "debrief" at which Nick Brody does his impression of "stoic surprise" and Walden does his usual impression of a "blustering idiot," and everybody settles in for the big show in the morning.
Of course, a lot can happen overnight. Much to Brody's rueful grin, Carrie has installed Sergeant Grace and Mike Faber at the safehouse. Jessica lasts about ten minutes before diving into Mike's bed, but honestly I think they both deserve it at this point. And back at the Shop... Hoo boy. Well, Virgil and Max have been digging into Peter Quinn's background, and once they find his apartment they are given pause. He lives like you'd expect a black-bag operator would -- sniper supplies, humble sleeping bag, freakshow paranoid precautions, scarily empty apartment -- which is weird, considering he's just an analyst. Clues lead Saul to a snippy police officer, the mother of Quinn's illegitimate baby and possibly part of another cover story entirely. The boys follow Quinn to a meeting with F. Murray Abraham, a FBI superspook named Dar Adal that scares even Saul.
As Carrie's leading a team takedown of the entire Roya plot -- and believing them to have bagged Abu Nazir in the process -- we learn what the "two hats" Peter Quinn really wears are about: Mighty CIA Analyst and goddamn angel by night... Future assassin of Nick Brody by day. But since Nazir's still out there and Brody's now his, like, only terrorist, Estes calls off the hit. So Nick has to go to the stupid ceremony after all, where he'll most likely be announced as the presumptive Vice President of the US.
A stunner of an ending, not only because it answers the question of how could Peter Quinn be more awesome? Wearing a limo driver suit and a silencer on his Glock, apparently, is the answer. The fact that he has a four-year-old son with, one assumes, an even more scrunched-up little face. All of those things being true at the same time. This show is gonna kill me.
So what's left for the three episodes? One thing I know won't happen is Roya Hammad letting these motherfuckers see her sweat. I don't think we know the whole story with Nick's Nazir time yet. Saul and Dar Adal will be working together in some way, I guess since now Quinn's secret is out, and Walden I think will announce his run, with or without Nick Brody. Somehow Dana is going to psychically figure out her mom fucked Mike Faber, which might turn her into a terrorist since she literally has nobody left at this point. There's more going on with Quinn than just him being awesome all the time -- or double awesome, as it turns out -- and I doubt Carrie's going to buddy up now that we know his main job is killing her boyfriend. I just hope everything works out for everybody.