While we knew that Nazir used benevolence to turn Brody, we didn’t know exactly how he did it … until now. But, where Nazir is involved, I question everything. Was Issa really his son? Or, just a means to an end? The end being Brody teaching the boy, loving him and then losing him in a way to turn him against the United States.
As soon as I saw that the school was bombed, I believed Nazir was behind the bombing. Horrible, yes. Plausible, definitely! Though it would be more believable if Issa wasn’t really his son, but a village boy brought in as part of Nazir’s plot. The only reason I consider that is because it seemed like Issa was more a son to Brody. Where was Issa’s mother? Why didn’t Nazir father him? Maybe we and even Brody weren’t privy to that information. But, either way, Nazir is not beyond sacrificing people, even a son, for his plot.
Though, I then questioned my initial theory. Why? The video of the now Vice President Walden saying the terrorists were behind the plot. Also, when I re-watched the episode Nazir did look upset at Issa’s death. Of course, he could have been acting or really upset even if he planned it, but it gave me doubts. The Walden statement at face value provides credence to my theory, but with Homeland nothing has been as seems.
After much consideration, I’m going with the theory that Nazir had a plan and the only way it would work was for Brody to have a real reason to hate the United States. In order to make that happen, Nazir bombed the school.
I can understand why Brody wouldn’t have questioned it at the time, but why isn’t he questioning it now? Or, will he? Nazir faked Walker’s death to get Brody to look for penitence. What a better way to solidify his cooperation than to have the U.S. take something he loved after being isolated for so long? I feel horrible even considering it, but Nazir is ruthless, smart and has shown he will go to extremes to punish America.
In the end, my guess is that Brody is going to make Nazir think he is still loyal, but will end up working with Carrie and the CIA to bring down Nazir’s network. It’s not going to be an easy path for him to take, but deep down he is an honorable and patriotic man.
Odds and Ends
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Nov 28, 2011 @ 02:25 EST5EDT
it’s definitely ayca, not issa.
*POST AUTHOR*
I asked someone to check closed-captioning and they said it was Issa. I wasn’t sure.
I wasn’t sure until Nazir said “I never planned this,” and that it was all Brody’s idea. His sticking to his “man of peace” persona even after the death of his supposed son was completely unbelievable, but Brody has never known any better. The same with how easily he brushed aside his lie about Brody’s killing of Walker.
I don’t believe for a second that Ayca/Issa was really Nazir’s son. The kid was an orphan he picked up somewhere in Iraq and treated benevolently, the same as he did Brody, all the while planning to sacrifice him from the start.
I see two possibilities about the bombing, the location and timing of which was too serendipitous to be true. Either Brody never knew his exact location in northern Iraq, and Nazir waited until the U.S. bombed a school in the same region by mistake, then recreated the attack at the school near his own house, or he had one of his own assets feed good intelligence to the Americans until they became a trusted source, then leaked his own location, but identified the school building as his residence. That seems more likely as Nazir could control both the target and the general timeline of the drone strike (i.e., after Brody’s bond with the boy was as strong as it was going to get).
Nazir orchestrated every moment of Brody’s captivity. It’s so encompassing that I can’t even tell if he told the boy to knock over the platter with the soccer ball or if that was a real accident.
To be fair to the imam, he has no idea there’s an imminent attack against the U.S. being carried out. For all he knew, Walker’s relationship with the Saudi diplomat could have been completely innocent, and the FBI could be railroading Walker out of bigotry and fear. The FBI would only add to that opinion with their “shit happens” attitude toward the two innocent victims. In that case, an FBI apology and financial compensation would be less a tit for tat exchange, and more changing his mind about the lot of them being jackbooted government thugs. I believe he would regret not speaking up in time after a successful attack, but that airy possibility is not going to change his stance now.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt that way about the son. There was nothing concrete to show that he wasn’t Nazir’s son, but just felt like he wasn’t.
Sometimes, I wonder if I’m giving Nazir too much credit in the witty, smart, manipulative arenas, but I don’t think so.
True about the Imam. He was in an unfortunate position. And, good point about him not understanding the full situation.
Nazir bombed the school. Issa is a twin, later to be “resurrected” as the next terrorist assassin, with Brody expected to be conflicted about protecting vs. stopping him.
But I am appalled by the Liberal spin this of this show (and I’m a bleeding-heart Liberal!) I don’t understand how one hot bath could convert Brody – I was so angry that he didn’t snap Issa’s neck at their first meeting, then attack Nazir.
I also think Carrie was being overly sensitive to the Imam. The FBI agents were chasing a known terrorist. Sure it is very tragic and unfortunate that two innocents were killed. But how many more will die because the Imam is refusing to cooperate?
The idea was that Brody had already been broken by years of imprisonment and psychological torment before Nazir judged he was ready to be moved to the phase II residence. Not only did he not attack Nazir on first sight, which I was also really hoping he would do, he doesn’t seem to have tried even once to escape in all those months he lived there. And I don’t believe that Brody would have attacked Issa even on day one of his captivity, because he has always been a good and decent man.
I did think it was strange that in bonding with Issa, Brody never once told him about his own son, or the evil things that Nazir had done to him personally. Even if he could never go home, he could have convinced the son to reject his father’s path.
Actually, Walker was only suspected of terrorism, and had yet to commit any crimes beyond being homeless, visiting a private residence to sit on its roof, and then resisting arrest by a full tactical team. The CIA could easily have given the FBI bad intelligence so that they were chasing the wrong guy. We as the audience know that the imam is wrong in this case, but he does not.