‘Homeland’ recap: Carrie’s on the hunt; Allison’s in a panic

Russian spy Allison Carr (Miranda Otto) suffers a panic attack when she discovers former CIA official Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is alive and in possession of top secret documents that could expose an international conspiracy on “Oriole,� Episode 507 of Showtime’s espionage thriller “Homeland.�

Using her brains and cunning charm, Allison managed to infiltrate the CIA and rise to the lofty post of Berlin station chief. She also sabotaged a U.S.-backed coup to topple Syria’s president then, falsely put the blame on her lover, CIA European Division Chief Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin).

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But when questioning Saul in private, Allison is shocked to learn that her latest assassination attempt on Carrie failed. Moreover, Saul admits to stealing those ultra-sensitive CIA files and relaying them to Carrie via her philanthropist boss Otto Düring (Sebastian Koch).

What Allison and her Russian comrades desperately don’t want Carrie to know is that one-time CIA asset Ahmed Nazari (Darwin Shaw) was not killed in Baghdad but is hiding in Amsterdam. And Ahmed possesses critical information that could send Allison to prison for the rest of her life.

“Amsterdam is seven hours away by car,� Allison exclaims to her Russian contact Ivan Krupin (Mark Ivanir). She fears that Carrie is already in the city and closing in on Ahmed.

“We’ll be waiting for her in Amsterdam,� Ivan promises after praising Allison for accomplishing “the biggest penetration of American intelligence in history.�

Besides, Ivan emphasizes, Allison is a highly skilled “mole� who thrives on the adrenalin rush of acting as a double agent.

“It’s the getting caught part I’m not so crazy about,� Allison nervously says.

Allison’s nightmare is indeed coming true because Carrie is in Amsterdam. And with some help from her Iraqi friend Esam (Ori Yaniv), who works as a cabbie in the Netherlands, Carrie pinpoints where Ahmed resides in the Zeeburg District.

When Ahmed leaves home to walk his dog, Carrie breaks in through the back door and grabs a laptop computer. Unfortunately for Carrie, Russian agents are also on the move. They apprehend Ahmed in a park then enter his house and remove something from a hidden safe.

The Russians also open fire on Carrie, who barely escapes by jumping out an upstairs window. After hurrying back to Esam’s cab, she’s horrified to see that his throat has been slit.

On her drive back to Germany, Carrie unwittingly reaches out to the worst-possible person — Allison — to inquire about her CIA tenure in Baghdad.

“Can we meet somewhere?� Carrie naively asks over the phone.

“I’ll be waiting,� Allison replies. Count on that.

As for Saul, he’s been ordered back to Langley by CIA leader Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham). This would effectively end Saul’s distinguished career as a spook, for he’d exist in a state of purgatory after being framed by Allison.

“Is this really how you want to go out?� Dar asks Saul before he departs. “One of those poor old actors you literally have to drag off the stage?�

Saul counters that one day Dar will look back on this moment and realize he made a terrible mistake by failing to trust his longtime comrade.

“And it will shame you,� Saul angrily predicts.

But as he’s being transported to the airport by four CIA guards, masked gunmen “kidnap� Saul and speed him away in a van. Actually this was a daring rescue orchestrated by Saul’s buddy Etal Luskin (Allan Corduner), the Israeli ambassador to Germany.

“So what exactly are we doing here?� Etal asks Saul when he’s safely away from the CIA’s clutches.

“I don’t know,� Saul replies with a shrug. “I’ve never defected before.�