# Homeland season 5

The fifth season of the American television drama series Homeland premiered on October 4, 2015, and concluded on December 20, 2015, on Showtime, consisting of 12 episodes. The series started as a loosely based variation of the two-season run of the Israeli television series Hatufim (English: Prisoners of War) created by Gideon Raff and is developed for American television by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. The fifth season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 10, 2017.
Set two years after the previous season, Season 5 finds Carrie no longer working for the CIA, but for a philanthropic foundation in Berlin, the Düring Foundation, co-operating with her former colleagues to stop a terror attack on Berlin as well as locate a CIA mole. The season includes several real world subjects in its storylines, including ISIS, Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, the Charlie Hebdo shooting, Edward Snowden and the European migrant crisis.

## Cast and characters
### Main

* Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, an ex-CIA intelligence officer with bipolar disorder, now working for a philanthropic foundation in Berlin
* Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn, a CIA SAD/SOG (black ops) operative
* Sebastian Koch as Otto Düring, a German philanthropist and Carrie's boss
* Miranda Otto as Allison Carr, the current Berlin CIA Chief of Station, working directly under Saul
* Alexander Fehling as Jonas Hollander, legal counsel for the Düring Foundation and Carrie's boyfriend
* Sarah Sokolovic as Laura Sutton, an American journalist in Berlin who works for the Düring Foundation
* F. Murray Abraham as Dar Adal, a retired black ops specialist, currently head of the CIA
* Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson, the head of the CIA's European operations and Carrie's mentor

### Recurring

* Nina Hoss as Astrid, Quinn's former lover who works for the German intelligence service, BND
* Darwin Shaw as Ahmed Nazari, an asset used as a honey-trap for Alison.
* Atheer Adel [de] as Numan (alias "gabehcuod"), a computer hacker who downloads classified CIA files
* Sven Schelker [de] as Armand Korzenik, a friend of Numan's
* Micah Hauptman as Mills, a CIA tech working in the Berlin Station
* Allan Corduner as Etai Luskin, Israeli ambassador to Germany
* Mark Ivanir as Ivan Krupin, a Russian intelligence agent
* Alireza Bayram as Qasim, member of a jihadist group in Berlin
* René Ifrah as Bibi Hamed, leader of a group of jihadists in Berlin
* Morocco Omari as Conrad Fuller, a CIA agent working at the Berlin Station

### Guest

* John Getz as Joe Crocker, a CIA officer working in Langley
* Luna and Lotta Pfitzer as Frances "Franny" Mathison, Carrie's daughter
* Alex Lanipekun as Hank Wonham, a CIA officer
* Max Beesley as Mike Brown
* Mousa Kraish as Behruz, an associate of Al Amin
* Suraj Sharma as Aayan Ibrahim, who appears to Carrie in a hallucination
* William R. Moses as Scott
* Steve Nicolson [de] as Boris, Russian ambassador to Germany
* Yigal Naor as General Youssef
* Janina Blohm Sievers as Sabine, a computer hacker
* Reymond Amsalem as Mrs. Luskin
* Darina Al Joundi as Mrs. Youssef
* Emily Cox as Claudia, friend of Sabine
* Jarreth Merz as Hajik Zayd, leader of a jihadist group
* Ori Yaniv [de] as Esam, Carrie's former informant
* Makram Khoury as Samir Khalil, an Iraqi national who helps Carrie
* Oshri Cohen as Igal
* Assaad Bouab as Waleed
* Rainer Bock as BND Officer Keller
* Hadar Ratzon Rotem as Tova Rivlin
* Rachid Sabitri as Dr. Aman Aziz, a professor who helps Bibi
* Rus Blackwell as Dr. Emory, a surgical doctor
* Stefanie Mueller [de] as Erna Richter, working for the German Foreign Office

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 49 | 1 | "Separation Anxiety" | Lesli Linka Glatter | Chip Johannessen & Ted Mann | October 4, 2015 (2015-10-04) | 5WAH01 | 1.66 |
| Two years after the events of season 4, Carrie has left the CIA and works as a security consultant for the Düring Foundation in Berlin, where she lives with her daughter Frannie and her boyfriend and coworker Jonas. The foundation's head, Otto Düring, makes plans to travel to a Syrian refugee camp in Beirut to secure relief funds, against Carrie's warnings. Carrie secures safe passage to the camp for Otto after requesting help from a Hezbollah commander. Two hackers in Berlin obtain classified CIA documents revealing that the CIA and German intelligence are illegally spying on German citizens for counterterrorism purposes; they leak one of the documents to Laura Sutton, a journalist at the Düring Foundation. Saul, who has fallen out with Carrie after she derailed his bid for CIA Director, arrives in Berlin, where the BND orders him and Berlin station chief Allison Carr to end the surveillance program immediately. Saul independently continues the program, enlisting Quinn to assassinate confirmed targets. ||||||||
| 50 | 2 | "The Tradition of Hospitality" | Lesli Linka Glatter | Patrick Harbinson | October 11, 2015 (2015-10-11) | 5WAH02 | 1.40 |
| On the way back from the humanitarian event in Lebanon, Carrie and Otto are almost killed by an IED explosion. Carrie stays behind to find out who was behind the attack, and soon learns that she was the target, not Otto. Laura goes public with the leaked document revealing the CIA's illegal surveillance program. Under demand for repercussions from the German chancellor, Saul informs Allison that she is being recalled from her position as station chief, but Allison reaches out to Dar Adal in an attempt to have Saul recalled instead. Quinn receives the name of his next assigned kill: Carrie Mathison. ||||||||
| 51 | 3 | "Super Powers" | Keith Gordon | Alex Gansa & Meredith Stiehm | October 18, 2015 (2015-10-18) | 5WAH03 | 1.11 |
| Carrie sends her daughter to the U.S. for safety and takes refuge in a secluded cabin with Jonas while trying to find out who is after her. She decides to temporarily go off her bipolar medication, feeling her intellect is sharper without it. Saul confronts Allison over her attempt to get him recalled, and informs her he has negotiated with the BND to allow both of them to keep their postings in Berlin. The two are later shown to be in a sexual relationship following Saul's recent divorce from Mira. Numan, one of the hackers who leaked the classified documents, contacts Laura in an attempt to give her the remainder, but learns his partner Korzenik has stolen them and plans to sell them to Russian intelligence. Quinn kidnaps Jonas' son to draw him away from Carrie; he arrives at the cabin that night and incapacitates Carrie. ||||||||
| 52 | 4 | "Why Is This Night Different?" | John Coles | Ron Nyswaner | October 25, 2015 (2015-10-25) | 5WAH04 | 1.63 |
| Quinn keeps Carrie in a warehouse and informs her of his orders to kill her; they take photos staging her death. She and Quinn scout the post office where Quinn receives his assignments to confirm whether Saul gave the kill order; they are ambushed by a hitman who wounds Quinn before being killed in a gunfight. Korzenik, expecting to sell the CIA documents to a Russian diplomat, is instead taken to meet with SVR agent Ivan Krupin, who tortures Korzenik for the location of additional copies of the documents before killing him. Saul and Allison lure General Youssef of Syria to Switzerland and persuade him to take over for president Bashar al-Assad after a planned coup. As he boards the plane, Carrie calls a contact number on the hitman's phone, and Allison answers in Russian. Youssef's plane explodes seconds later. ||||||||
| 53 | 5 | "Better Call Saul" | Michael Offer | Benjamin Cavell & Alex Gansa | November 1, 2015 (2015-11-01) | 5WAH05 | 1.30 |
| Allison is shown to be working for Ivan, who shows her Quinn's staged photo "confirming" Carrie's death. Allison suggests to the CIA that Israel is behind the bombing of General Youssef's plane; she manipulates Saul into suspecting Etai Luskin, his friend and Israel's ambassador to Germany, while leading Dar Adal to wonder whether Saul and Etai conspired the attack. Dar orders surveillance on Saul. Carrie learns from Astrid, Quinn's former lover who works for the BND, that the hitman who shot Quinn works for the SVR. Laura tells Carrie that the leaked documents are in Russia's possession, meaning the CIA is their only route to recovering them. Quinn's condition due to his injuries worsens; Jonas tries to take him to the hospital, but Quinn, fearing capture, escapes and later attempts to kill himself to protect Carrie. However, he is stopped by a passerby before falling unconscious. ||||||||
| 54 | 6 | "Parabiosis" | Alex Graves | Chip Johannessen & Ted Mann | November 8, 2015 (2015-11-08) | 5WAH06 | 1.35 |
| Quinn is nursed to health by Hussein, the passerby, who turns out to be a doctor residing with a group of Syrian jihadists in Berlin. Quinn convinces them he is a mercenary and kills the group's leader in self-defense. Carrie tells Saul about her theory that the Russians want her dead; Saul refuses to believe her, but becomes suspicious when he realizes he is being followed, and learns that Allison and Dar Adal ordered the surveillance. Jonas tells Carrie that Quinn escaped and leaves her when she opts to continue her operation. Carrie then goes to Otto and requests a private plane to help her disappear. Saul covertly makes copies of the leaked documents and gives them to Otto before being detained by the CIA; Otto presents Carrie with the documents. ||||||||
| 55 | 7 | "Oriole" | Lesli Linka Glatter | Alex Gansa & Patrick Harbinson | November 15, 2015 (2015-11-15) | 5WAH07 | 1.35 |
| Carrie reviews the documents and finds one linking her to one of her Iraqi informants. She calls the informant, who reports that he saw corrupt Iraqi lawyer Ahmed Nazari resurface after being presumed dead. Carrie tracks down Nazari to Amsterdam. Saul admits to Allison that he delivered his copy of the leaked documents to Carrie; Allison reports this to Ivan. While searching Nazari's house, Carrie is ambushed by Ivan's men and narrowly escapes. She later calls Allison and requests a meet. Dar Adal orders Saul to be taken back to Langley, but Saul has Etai's men extract him. Quinn learns that Bibi, the group's leader, is the nephew of a high-priority CIA kill target; seeing an opportunity, Quinn agrees to accompany the jihadists to the Syrian border after receiving Dar Adal's authorization. ||||||||
| 56 | 8 | "All About Allison" | Dan Attias | Ron Nyswaner | November 22, 2015 (2015-11-22) | 5WAH08 | 1.47 |
| In flashbacks to 2005, Carrie arrives in Baghdad for the first time to replace Allison as a case officer. Allison introduces Carrie to Ahmed Nazari, one of Allison's high-value assets. Nazari is shown to be working for Ivan, who blackmails Allison into becoming a double agent for the SVR in exchange for millions that Nazari stole from the government, as well as information that will help her rise the ranks of the CIA. In the present, Etai helps Saul escape to a secure location after Mossad and the CIA reach a deal for Saul's return. The jihadists load a delivery of chemical weapons onto their truck, restrain Quinn, and head back to Berlin. Carrie meets with Allison and asks her to review the case fields pertaining to Nazari. Carrie and Numan hack into Nazari's computer and find a photo taken at a beachside bar that Carrie recalls Allison mentioning in 2005, leading Carrie to realize that Allison is working with the SVR. ||||||||
| 57 | 9 | "The Litvinov Ruse" | Tucker Gates | Story by : Howard Gordon & Patrick Harbinson Teleplay by : Alex Gansa | November 29, 2015 (2015-11-29) | 5WAH09 | 1.42 |
| Carrie and Saul enlist the BND's aid in helping them prove Allison's allegiance to the SVR. Saul plants a bug and microphone in Allison's belongings while she is asleep. The BND discloses to Allison that a top Russian agent plans to defect to Germany, triggering a panicked Allison to go to a Russian safehouse and meet with Ivan while under drone surveillance from the CIA. Allison and Ivan are arrested, but Allison claims to Dar Adal that Ivan was her asset and not vice versa. Quinn is held captive by Bibi's jihadist group, who are planning a sarin gas attack on Berlin. Quinn attempts to convince Qasim, a young and inexperienced member of the group, to prevent the attack. Quinn is brought to the jihadists' gas chamber as a test subject, but Qasim covertly injects him with atropine shortly before he is placed inside. The gas is released, and Quinn begins convulsing. ||||||||
| 58 | 10 | "New Normal" | Dan Attias | Meredith Stiehm & Charlotte Stoudt | December 6, 2015 (2015-12-06) | 5WAH10 | 1.74 |
| Ivan admits that the SVR engineered the plane bombing. Dar Adal demands further evidence of Allison's guilt and elects to resolve the situation quietly in order to avoid a political scandal. The BND arrest Faisal Marwan, a suspected jihadist who the Düring Foundation learns may have information about an attack on Berlin. Bibi releases a video demanding that the UN recognize the Islamic State lest a chemical attack is unleashed on Europe within 24 hours; footage of Quinn suffering the effects of the sarin gas is included to legitimize the threat. Carrie and Astrid scan the video for clues as to where it was filmed. Bibi executes one of his group members as punishment for saving Quinn's life, aware that Qasim – his cousin – was responsible, but unwilling to kill a family member. While investigating one of several suspected locations of Bibi's hideout, Carrie and Astrid find Quinn alive and take him to the hospital, where he is placed in intensive care. ||||||||
| 59 | 11 | "Our Man in Damascus" | Seith Mann | David Fury | December 13, 2015 (2015-12-13) | 5WAH11 | 1.84 |
| Carrie and Saul convince the doctors to revive Quinn to find out what he knows about the impending terrorist attack, but he goes into respiratory arrest and is placed back in a coma. Carrie finds clues in Qasim's apartment suggesting that the attack will occur at the Hauptbahnhof train station. Saul attempts to get information from Faisal Marwan; Laura goes on air and threatens to leak the remaining CIA documents unless Faisal is released. Faisal, however, commits suicide while left alone. Allison receives her final assignment from the SVR: to ensure the chemical attack succeeds. She tracks down the professor who designed the jihadists' sarin chamber, kills him as well her CIA escort after receiving the time and location of the attack. She then misdirects the BND by claiming the attack will occur at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Carrie spots Qasim at Hauptbahnhof station and pursues him alone, texting Saul that Allison misled them; Saul receives the text and finds that Allison has escaped her hospital room. ||||||||
| 60 | 12 | "A False Glimmer" | Lesli Linka Glatter | Liz Flahive & Alex Gansa & Ron Nyswaner | December 20, 2015 (2015-12-20) | 5WAH12 | 2.07 |
| Carrie convinces Qasim to stop the attack in the subway tunnel. Qasim confronts Bibi, who shoots him. Carrie intervenes, shooting Bibi dead and thus stopping the attack. Ivan tells Saul the SVR's plan to extract Allison in exchange for witness protection in the U.S.; Saul and his team intercept the car carrying Allison out of Germany and kill everyone inside. Numan is arrested by the BND; Astrid threatens to have him deported to coerce Laura into making a public statement denouncing Faisal as a terrorist, thereby avoiding another scandal. Carrie attempts to rekindle her relationship with Jonas, but he declines out of concern for his family's safety. Saul attempts to convince Carrie to rejoin the CIA, but she rebuffs him. Quinn suffers a possibly fatal brain hemorrhage. Dar Adal gives Carrie the letter Quinn wrote her before departing for Syria. Carrie continues watching over Quinn at the hospital even after several days of no recovery. ||||||||

## Production

The series was renewed for a 12-episode fifth season on November 10, 2014. In April 2015, it was confirmed the entire season would be filmed in Potsdam, Germany, at Studio Babelsberg (with the exception of on-location shooting), making it the first American TV series to film an entire season there. In June 2015, four new series regular roles were announced, including Sebastian Koch, Miranda Otto, Alexander Fehling and Sarah Sokolovic. Production began in Berlin on June 2, 2015. Executive producers for the fifth season are Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff, Alexander Cary, Chip Johannessen, Meredith Stiehm, Patrick Harbinson, Lesli Linka Glatter, Avi Nir, and Ran Telem.

## Reception
### Critical reception

The fifth season received positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, it has a score of 76 out of 100 based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the season received an 88% rating based on 171 reviews with an average rating of 8/10. The critical consensus reads "Homeland re-energizes itself in season five by setting up a twisty Berlin-set spy thriller that spotlights Carrie's questionable ethics more than ever." Verne Gay of Newsday gave it an "A" grade and wrote that it's "Smart, taut, engaging and propulsive. The fifth looks terrific." Ben Travers of Indiewire gave it an "A−" grade and wrote that "If last season was the redux, then Season 5 is peak Homeland."

### Accolades

For the 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards, the cast was nominated for Best Drama Ensemble, Claire Danes was nominated for Best Drama Actress, and the series was nominated for Best Stunt Team. For the 42nd People's Choice Awards, Homeland won for Favorite Premium Cable Show. The American Film Institute named it on their list of the best television programs of 2015. For the 68th Directors Guild of America Awards, Lesli Linka Glatter was nominated for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series for "The Tradition of Hospitality". For the 20th Satellite Awards, Claire Danes won for Best Actress in a Drama Series. For the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, the series received four nominations: Outstanding Drama Series, Claire Danes for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Lesli Linka Glatter for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for "The Tradition of Hospitality", and David Klein for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series for "The Tradition of Hospitality".