“The Other One” Review – The Red, Red Hand of Terror
“The Other One” is the second episode of Homeland’s fourth season. This is a great episode, as it focuses on our beloved and dark side, and how she changes as she grows and changes over the years. We see how terrorists who can’t stand each other and see each other as weakness actually work together to destroy the United States of America.
It’s interesting how the two main characters of the show (Shaw, al-Al, Abu Nazir) came to be at the same time in the end of season three (Harry’s Revolution). They’re both incredibly different people with vastly different points of view on the way the world should be run, but they are pulled together by their admiration for Harry’s vision. It’s a fascinating conflict for the character of Shaw, and it’s one that causes a great deal of friction between her and Harry. It’s interesting that they come to a point where they are so desperate to make things work with each other.
Al-Qaeda is using a dirty bomb to destroy New York City, but while his plans work out, they’re disastrously wrong. Meanwhile, the United States government allows Shaw and Harry to take hostages to be returned to them. This is an especially important point, as while the writers are trying to provide clues about their characters’ inner conflicts, their willingness to take the chance that the U.S. government won’t notice them stealing from them is just a little too open and personal.
With the destruction of the United States as the series has been building up to, everything changes for the final sequence. We find out just how messed up Khalid and Shaw’s relationship is, which seems to be increasingly fraught with insecurity for both characters.
This is a special guest appearance from the superhero, the Red Skull. The story is very, very well done. Much of the back story for himis told here, as he tries to get in on the attack on the United States of America, and while he can’t get past the security, he does find one of the nukes and detonates it, giving us a preview of what could happen in the future of the series.
While this is a great security system, it also doesn’t seem to have any range. We do see Al-Qaeda using cell phones to call in their strikes, but since the United States of America doesn’t have cell phone towers to protect them, they are defenseless against the terrorists. Unfortunately, they are unable to stop the attack on the United States of America, and their systems cannot hold them back.
In addition to being unimpressed with how Al-Qaeda responds to the attack, as well as how Shaw deals with the aftermath of the attack, as the story continues, we learn that she’s already started getting into trouble with her own former teammates. Shaw knows that Harry’s foreign policy and his relationship with bin Laden will spell doom for the United States of America, but she still tries to turn him to her side against his more senior colleagues. We know that this is dangerous ground for her, as the sooner she gets Harry to see the light, the sooner they can be rid of him.
In this episode, we learn a lot about the relationship between Shaw and al-Qaeda, and also about the hard drive that she needs to get to with the help of the Red Skull. We also get to see the new status quo of the situation, as the United States of America is locked down and nobody but people in the security are allowed to go in and out of the place. As we’ve learned throughout the series, terrorist organizations can wreak a lot of havoc, but they will be hunted down and destroyed eventually.
