But Is Carrie *Really* In Love With Brody?

"I was in love with you!" screamed Carrie (Claire Danes) to Brody (Damian Lewis), in last week's episode, as he was in the process of getting arrested. There's so much to unravel in such a short statement: "was" reminds us that, when she and Brody were getting closer, she might not have been entirely in her right mind; certainly, she ended the season getting treated for bipolar disorder, after we'd seen her cycle through a manic phase. But the thing is, even when she seemed to be raving incomprehensibly, we learned (thanks to the beautiful colour-coded wall) that all her suspicions about Brody were correct -- and everything that's happened thus far this season has only proven how strong Carrie's instincts are...when it comes to law enforcement. But in last night's episode, she repeated her declaration of love for Brody, urging him to honesty by being honest with him, telling him she wants him to leave his family to be with her. But does she?!

Look, the heart wants what it wants, even if it's a crazy heart, and we've all known (or been) people who've developed feelings for partners that we know aren't right for us. It's not outside the realm of possibility that when Carrie says she loves Brody, she means it -- that, at one and the same time, she can believe he is an enemy combatant and want to be his girlfriend. The interrogation that followed suggested a perspective from which this could be true: unlike her colleague Peter (Rupert Friend), with the yelling and the stabbing, Carrie's approach to Brody was to understand how he was turned in the first place -- obviously, because she's done it with assets herself, she's good at her job, she knows how to make a compelling appeal to human nature. So if she has the imagination to put Abu Nazir (Navid Negahban) in her seat, she can project a pre-turned Brody -- the good man who enlisted to serve his country with honour -- and love that guy.

Or, Carrie just loves Brody. She's clandestinely observed him for hundreds of hours, so she's had ample opportunity to make an informed opinion. Maybe she admires his resourcefulness and commitment to his unpopular cause. Maybe she thinks he doesn't really mean it -- after all, she knows he had the chance to blow up a whole room of government officials and didn't do it -- but has been motivated by self-preservation into this crazy position he doesn't sincerely want to be in (remember, she didn't have cameras in the garage to see him clandestinely worshipping).

Or, Carrie is pretending to love Brody, and telling him over and over that she does because, as a good interrogator, she has a good idea of what will work on Brody. And by the end of last night's episode, she is finally able to break him, so there's our proof that the tactic -- if a tactic it is -- is effective.

But is it a tactic? She's a spy! She lies for a living! And as for him -- I mean, I guess he has lovable qualities, but could anyone truly love a man with a mouth that tiny?