It's been like an hour since we took down the Roya offensive, with only Nazir left out in the cold, so of course he immediately manages to crash into Carrie's car and abduct her. Saul, already downhearted after an unhelpful breakfast meeting with Dar Adal and a mean little screaming fight with David Estes, spends the day running around wondering if Carrie's finally gotten herself killed and trying to figure out Quinn's angle. (Quinn, for his part, spends the day with his shirt unbuttoned down to here.)
Jessica and Mike giggle about how they're adulterers, while Finn tries to reconnect with Dana (who is on fire this week) and Nick chills with son Chris. At least, until Abu Nazir invites him to Facetime with tied-up damsel Carrie, and offers him his assignment. Turns out VP Walden has a Pacemaker installed, and one of Nazir's guys can kill him with it if Nick just sneaks into his home office and gets the serial number.
Carrie and Nazir spend the hour chatting about terrorism, philosophy, mental illness, and which one of them loves Nick Brody more. (Not a joke. This is actually a conversation they have.) It's intriguing to see a show actually try and explain terrorism, and I'd say they do a good job, but what do I know. Nazir reiterates that he's intending to die this season, on which whole concept Carrie calls bullshit in a pretty compelling way.
But the really intense part is that Abu Nazir has no idea he's looking at his archenemy, so instead of treating her like a James Bond villain should, he treats her like just some random hot girl that Nick would commit terrorism for. Which is basically the opposite of who Carrie and Nick actually are to each other -- or who she and Nazir are to each other, for that matter -- which means his sexist assumptions are just this one time probably a good thing. The last thing you want is for Nazir to realize that Carrie is about a thousand times more capable, and infinity times more crazy, than the Brody he's already got.
Thanks to Saul, we're reminded of the fact that Estes and Walden are both implicated in the drone attack that killed Issa -- which Saul thinks is reason enough to have Quinn on the team, ready to take out Nick when it's time so they won't be embarrassed -- and this (plus the thing about the defense contracts for Israel's bunkerbuster) comes back into play when Brody swears to help Nazir if he lets Carrie go. So he does, and he does, and the bottom line is that poor old Brody at least gets to stare into Walden's eyes as he kills him. It's maybe the worst thing Brody's done so far, but for sure it is also the best thing he has done so far.
For whatever reason, somebody high up has the balls to take Saul into custody in the episode's final moments, which means the only person who could even pretend to talk sense into Carrie is gone by the time she... Abruptly ceases her escape, picks up a lead pipe, and heads back into the warehouse she just escaped so she can beat Abu Nazir's ass.
Oh, Carrie. Cheers on underscoring that you are nobody's damsel, and cheers for your sticktoitiveness now that your most hugest quarry is within reach? But jeers for once again also underscoring that you are an insane person. We all agree you have supernatural powers, you don't have to actually engage in fisticuffs with Abu Nazir to prove it.
Week: Team Quinn interrogates Roya Hammad, Carrie survives somehow but loses Nazir, and everybody remembers there's been a mole this entire time. Two episodes left, with Nazir at large as usual. I predict by this time week, he will be standing in the lobby of the CIA itself chatting up the security guards and flashing gang signs as Estes and Saul tear around in circles with their eyes closed, screaming "Marco! Marco!"